I would recommend Transmission by Hari Kunzru. It is the story of a virus writer, who unleashes a virus called Leela.exe -named after his favourite bollywood actress, and the actress herself who basks in the new found international glory as the namesake of the virus. Pretty interesting story of body shopping in U.S. and kitchy culture of bollywood.
What we saw was talented programmers moving to the west and adjusting to it. But the west was a 'better' place to work in.. in the sense infrastructure was in place, political connections don't work there.. unlike in India.. and anyways the west was a 'developed' one. People actually value you for your talent and ideas. But I do not think it is so in India... not yet atleast.
Yes as somebody said, the toilets may stink, the people may cheat, the electricity might not be there all the time, and sometimes the air conditioners will not work.. we are talking about moving to a developing nation.. which means not everything is fine there as it was in U.S. It requires a lot more adjustment than wat an Indian programmer had to undergo when he went to U.S. Atleast in U.S they speak a language that an Indian can understand, but in India they will speak a language that an American will not understand (Hindi).
Moreover, with regard to having americans on board to teach them american culture, i think we are talking about consultancy here.. and I do not think there will be too many openings for that position. After all, one consultant per firm would be the maximum companies would want to have (given they are all new and growing).
Perhpas people are even willing to move offshore than lose their respect and work at BKs or McDonalds. But is India really willing to take them in?
Indian Culture is much different from the American one. Such migration might not help at all.. considering that the Americans will have tough time adjusting to the culture in the first place. Moreover, given India is such a big country, many companies would rather do with a talented Indian who understands the work culture and how businesses are run rather than a foreigner.
Your commitment to do good is impressive. Perhaps you could take a cue from this article. I guess Uganda might not be very different (given the Equatorial climate).
I guess I need to write 'people' instead of 'ppl' as well! But the comment was posted in haste, trying to stop the bigoted view of India that people seem to promote. Moreover, I am sorry for the typos and grammatical glitches that crept into my comment. I guess I now officially suffer from 'foot in mouth' disease!
I am Indian, who has drunk the milk of British English(!). Hence, my use of "labour" is valid.I just hope you have tolerance for English in its myriad forms and not just view American English as the 'Official Correct Version' of English.
There is a need for a recognition that has long eluded the Indian intellects. Agreed, there are a few worms who seem to have no knowledge of Software apart from Microsoft products. But people like Azeem Premji, Narayanamurthy and Sabeer Bhatia couldnt have succeeded like they have without the help of their Indian counterparts who helped them build their Software Empires.
I would also like to point out, that the amount of competition and variety that is found in India can only be rivalled by USA. Agreed, the political system is extremely flawed. But I guess USA may very well learn from the use of Voting Machines for elections which make much more sense than peering thro a small hole in a paper to see whether the vote is valid or not!
But this is drifting away from topic, I really want to clear up the muck that everyone seems to throw at India without any real data. Everyone seems to use the much abused words 'poverty' and 'illiteracy'. The number of people living below the poverty line is significant. But the bright side has always been the success that is guranteed for the intelligent and hard working, especially, in the field of Information Technology.
As an Indian, I beg to differ with you too.
The labour is NOT cheap coz of huge population. It is cheap coz of the inherent cheap labour force and the extremely low cost of living. Both, obviously dont emanate from 'huge populations'. I guess Thailand and Malaysia have "cheap labour " too. But no one talks about their population. Nor does anyone rush to the doors of Malaysia and Thailand for Information Technology. I guess that might give us sometime to ponder over why India is really THE destination for IT outsourcing.
I guess the discussion here is about the brains and not the poverty. If you have brains, you can succeed, especially in the field of Information Technology which is completely INDEPENDENT of government control . Thats another reason why ppl in india are embracing IT as never before.
Talking about brains,the whole concept of competition is so ingrained into every muscle of the Average Indian Guy/Gal [AVG] that with zillions of examination, and the peer and parental pressure to succeed, somehow, even the AVG is sound on his fundamentals and concepts.
Well, the chinese, no doubt, have comparative pool of intelliigence. But I think, the ability to articulate in good English, to write neat reports and comprehend the needs of the west, needs more than a decade of learning. Till then, India should seize this opportunity for development. IT is something that can create zillion rags to riches stories and be the prime-mover of Indian Economy.
About Linux, I have this to say: Indians are the most thrifty people you can ever find. If they have a free software, they will take the trouble to master it and exploit its full power rather than waste money on other softwares. Which might explain the affinity for Linux in Work Environments.
Slashdot Mirror
I would recommend Transmission by Hari Kunzru. It is the story of a virus writer, who unleashes a virus called Leela.exe -named after his favourite bollywood actress, and the actress herself who basks in the new found international glory as the namesake of the virus. Pretty interesting story of body shopping in U.S. and kitchy culture of bollywood.
Yes as somebody said, the toilets may stink, the people may cheat, the electricity might not be there all the time, and sometimes the air conditioners will not work.. we are talking about moving to a developing nation.. which means not everything is fine there as it was in U.S. It requires a lot more adjustment than wat an Indian programmer had to undergo when he went to U.S. Atleast in U.S they speak a language that an Indian can understand, but in India they will speak a language that an American will not understand (Hindi).
Moreover, with regard to having americans on board to teach them american culture, i think we are talking about consultancy here.. and I do not think there will be too many openings for that position. After all, one consultant per firm would be the maximum companies would want to have (given they are all new and growing).
Indian Culture is much different from the American one. Such migration might not help at all.. considering that the Americans will have tough time adjusting to the culture in the first place. Moreover, given India is such a big country, many companies would rather do with a talented Indian who understands the work culture and how businesses are run rather than a foreigner.
Your commitment to do good is impressive. Perhaps you could take a cue from this article. I guess Uganda might not be very different (given the Equatorial climate).
I am Indian, who has drunk the milk of British English(!). Hence, my use of "labour" is valid.I just hope you have tolerance for English in its myriad forms and not just view American English as the 'Official Correct Version' of English.
There is a need for a recognition that has long eluded the Indian intellects. Agreed, there are a few worms who seem to have no knowledge of Software apart from Microsoft products. But people like Azeem Premji, Narayanamurthy and Sabeer Bhatia couldnt have succeeded like they have without the help of their Indian counterparts who helped them build their Software Empires.
I would also like to point out, that the amount of competition and variety that is found in India can only be rivalled by USA. Agreed, the political system is extremely flawed. But I guess USA may very well learn from the use of Voting Machines for elections which make much more sense than peering thro a small hole in a paper to see whether the vote is valid or not!
But this is drifting away from topic, I really want to clear up the muck that everyone seems to throw at India without any real data. Everyone seems to use the much abused words 'poverty' and 'illiteracy'. The number of people living below the poverty line is significant. But the bright side has always been the success that is guranteed for the intelligent and hard working, especially, in the field of Information Technology.
I guess the discussion here is about the brains and not the poverty. If you have brains, you can succeed, especially in the field of Information Technology which is completely INDEPENDENT of government control . Thats another reason why ppl in india are embracing IT as never before.
Talking about brains,the whole concept of competition is so ingrained into every muscle of the Average Indian Guy/Gal [AVG] that with zillions of examination, and the peer and parental pressure to succeed, somehow, even the AVG is sound on his fundamentals and concepts.Well, the chinese, no doubt, have comparative pool of intelliigence. But I think, the ability to articulate in good English, to write neat reports and comprehend the needs of the west, needs more than a decade of learning. Till then, India should seize this opportunity for development. IT is something that can create zillion rags to riches stories and be the prime-mover of Indian Economy.
About Linux, I have this to say: Indians are the most thrifty people you can ever find. If they have a free software, they will take the trouble to master it and exploit its full power rather than waste money on other softwares. Which might explain the affinity for Linux in Work Environments.