Reverse Off-Shoring

punkish writes "India is becoming more attractive to information technology workers from Western countries. Some local IT companies, such as Infosys Technologies in Bangalore, are now able to offer salaries and other perks that are comparable to what Western IT talent would find in their home countries. Infosys, which is currently training 126 Americans at its cutting-edge complex in Mysore, expects to employ 300 Americans by the end of 2006 and add a large contingent from Great Britain next year."

Comments

Indians will complain about foreigners soon

[LiquidCoooled]

Its not exactly reverse outshoring, but it shows how tides change.
Which country will be the next cheap target?
When will we come full circle and realise that there are dedicated capable individuals in the original countries?
I speak to people from all around the world and there are examples of in-country outshoring occuring (jobs in London being replaced with staff in Manchester - its simply cheaper up North) and the London staff were just as outraged, its peoples lives the managers are playing with and sometimes the bottom line isn't that important.
I would make a terrible manager because as long as I could break even in my field I would be happy.

Why not?

[nz_mincemeat]

The cost of living in India would be lower than the home country + comparable wages = ability to save.

Re:Why not?

[Darkman, Walkin Dude]

Crappier infrastrcuture??? At 300 million mobile phones, i wish to think different.

You can wish all you like, but you'd still not understand what he was talking about. He means things like roads, indoor plumbing, you know... infrastructure. Not mobile phones. This whole story is laughable in any case, I mean what, in 2004 25% of India's population was below the poverty line, which is, wait for it, about 8 dollars a month. Indians won't be getting western wages anytime soon, and if they do, you know what will happen? The companies will move straight on to China. Or south east asia. Or Russia. Companies don't go to India because they like the curry, they go there because its cheap. Thats what we call the bottom line.

Wow, this article is about me!

[PeteyG]

This is a surprise - I am actually in the program discussed in the article. I just graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle, and took this job. I'm typing this from the company's campus in Mysore, India. It's a fun experience, I'm seeing the sights, eating a lot of curry, getting my technical skills rounded out a bit, and then I will be headed back to the States in while to work for them.

If anyone has any questions about the article, wtf I'm doing in India, what it's like, etc... post here and I will do my best to answer them!

Re:Wow, this article is about me!

[PeteyG]

The article seemed a bit hand-wavy as to what we were actually doing over here... but it's basically half training (most of us didn't major in computer science) in programming, databases, etc, followed by time with the Indian-side of the development team that we'll be working with back in the States. The hours really aren't bad at all for those of us with programming experience, and I think the company wants it that way; part of the reason we're out here is to go out and about and experience India. You know, take in the culture and such, so we're more effective on whatever developmeant team we end up working on.

Most of the people I work with day to day are in the US group, with the people leading the training (or whatever HR seminar) being Indian. That'll change when we start working on the actual development teams here.

After hours, we interact a lot with locals... typically Indian trainees going through the same process we are. We're all on the same campus, and there's a lot of recreational things to do (bowling, badminton, basketball... blah blah blah) together. We're actually trying to get together a US vs. India Counter Strike match right now. At the same time, we usually go out to eat, drink, and explore India in groups of US folk.

It's definitely not an internship... (for some reason I have to keep reminding my mother this). It's a real, live job. I honestly don't know what the advancement path will be like down the road, but the company is expanding pretty rapidly, so I would assume there's a path there should I want to keep going down it.

Why not Costa Rica Instead

[coldcanofbeer]

I recently outsourced myself to Costa Rica and am enjoying it. Unlike the people in the article who work for companies in India, I do not work for any companies here in Costa Rica. The pay would be lousy. Instead I do the same software development work I did in California.

Here is link to a writeup I wrote recently on the experience:
Outsourcing Myself to Costa Rica

REAL reverse off-shoring

[Colonel Panic]

This isn't reverse off-shoring, this is Westerners moving to India for Jobs that have been offshored from the places they come from.

In a real example of reverse off-shoring, I was contacted a few months ago by someone from an Indian consulting company that needed someone to do some development work for them who was "closer to the customer" (in this case closer to their customer in the US - I'm in the US). I basked in the irony for a while and then decided against it.