I’ve heard of that. What did you think of their English and communication skills? Being in Microsoft, I presume you saw the best. Were they fawning over you because of your ethnicity (bluntly put, “white skin”?)
In India, there is a strong class system. If someone was born into middle or upper class, they speak English (taught in every level of school). I didn't have any issues communicating. Interestingly enough, Microsoft had movie nights that they attended where they were pretty much required to watch American movies (Clint Eastwood, etc) to learn about our culture. We did see some talent at Microsoft, but you have dumb asses make it into every company. Not only that, but the really smart ones looked to move to the USA as quickly as possible to get way better money. They can work in the USA for a few years, save their money and retire back in India a very rich life. Microsoft spent a LOT of money hiring over there. That means they went through THOUSANDS of interviews. I remember doing some phone screens trying to spin up the India site. I would do 3 each morning before work. I probably recommended about 1 in 30 to come in for a second round. That was just phone screens. In some cases, I literally felt like my IQ dropped 30 points talking with a few of them. Finally, I told them that if I had to do another phone screen that I would quit. But worst of all, we would pay them about $14K when we found a great one. They would work at Microsoft for a year and HP which was across the street would offer them $15K. They would be out the door a day later. It was tough. And that was with the Microsoft brand. Imagine a normal company.
And yes, you get attention being an American over there. They know you have enough money in your pocket to feed a village. T
Very interesting perspective, thanks Jason. I have heard about loyalties between companies and people jumping jobs purely based on salary. How do educated software engineers feel about a white guy though? Did you have any kind of 'discrimination", either good or bad. I’ve also heard that they spend more hours at work there and kind of, hang around unlike many of us who head home to our families and friends after work. Did you make lots of friends at work as well?
But worst of all, we would pay them about $14K when we found a great one. They would work at Microsoft for a year and HP which was across the street would offer them $15K. They would be out the door a day later. It was tough. And that was with the Microsoft brand. Imagine a normal company.
This is interesting. I found the exact same thing happening in ShenYang, China a few years ago when I was there. A company would advertise for engineers. A roomful would show up the first day. After 3 days, half would not come back. After a week, maybe 3. The last one would hang around long enough for the next western company to come to town and offer more money. All the talent would quit and go to the next company. Can’t really blame them. Salary inflation was rapid and you could tell it wouldn’t be long before the economics of overseas hiring no longer made sense. A nightmare for the hiring company. No loyalty or ability to retain talented engineers.
Also, on a side note, the construction quality was awful. The building across the street had half its fascia literally fall off down to the street. The building I was in had very uneven floors, etc.
Different world.
Sorry I don’t mean to further hijack your thread. Great trip and pics by the way!
All these low paying overseas jobs and lack of loyalty, no talent etc. kind of puts a smile on my face. That’s what these “corporations” get for outsourcing our jobs. As their wages go up, ours go down. I guess that may have been the grand plan. The end result will be that we the middle class will have less. Oh, and those guys that move here when they can for a better job,they’ll be taking a job of a recent american college graduate who spent a lot of money on his education and now moved back in with mom and dad.
There must be other great places to try for fishing. Going once, maybe, going back again, I’d look for another fishing paradise.
The last night there we went out to eat. Eleven of us total. It was the first real meal in about a week so we crushed it. Doubling the order every time the waiter walked by. Chicken tica, boni’s and rice washing it all down with cold beers. We feasted for an hour. I am not sure anyone else at the restaurant got any food while we were there.
The bill came and I pulled out $100 bill to pay my share. The total bill turned out to be 6850 rupies. That is about $100 total! For all of it! Dinner was on me to say the least.