offshoring is a different issue, i think. while, say, indian
Agreed. Many people seem to think that all Indian programmers must
necessarily be less intelligent or less able just because they are paid less
money. That isn't the case at all. Many Indian (and other nationality)
programmers are very intelligent and very well educated people and in many
cases they are far more capable than the average American programmer. I
would agree that there is a bit of a language problem due to the fact that
English is not their first language, but judging by the appalling grammar
and spelling in many newsgroup messages written by native English and
American programmers I can't see that being too much of a problem for them!
Mike
The level of intelligence isn't as much a factor as some would assume
regarding the outsourcees (?). One factor is that many of the overseas
outsourcees are little more than code factories, where quantity takes
precedence over quality. Also, most working for such a facility are
probably young recent grads since they cost less. Thus they may be the
brightest, smartest, most book-knowledgeable there is, but may be lacking in
the type of knowledge and wisdom one acquires through experience. They may
code like whizzes, but may not yet know the "why's". And when volume is the
priority, even the best programmers will produce bugs.
I read an article in one of the major business publications a while ago
analyzing the development of the tech sector in India. India is in the
early stages of building a substantial venture capital base. Taking into
consideration India's growing venture capital base and plenty of HB visa
holders returning home with entrepreneurial ambitions, India is expected to
become the technology leader of the world in around 10 years. IOW, India
will be the home of the majority of software companies and where most future
innovations will be coming from. Heck, even Microsoft is investing
financially in India and also employs a lot of HB workers from India in
Redmond.
