It's India calling for US white collar exodus

NEW DELHI: The United States of America is currently facing a double whammy, thanks to the growing tide of "outsourcing" worldwide. While high-paying tech jobs are moving overseas - especially to India, US workers are being replaced by their less demanding (in terms of dollars) foreign counterparts.

Just as millions of American manufacturing jobs were lost in the 1980s and 1990s, it's now turn for the white-collar American jobs to disappear. Foreign nationals on special work visas are filling some positions but most jobs are simply contracted out overseas.

A US media report said that till now nearly half-a-million American tech jobs have already found their way offshore, and India has been the hottest spot for these migrants. The other destinations include Philippines, Malaysia and China.

A survey done by Gartner Inc. says that one out of 10 jobs in the US computer services and software industry could shift to lower-cost emerging markets by the end of 2004.

Research director at Forrester Research, John McCarthy, who has studied the exodus of white-collar jobs overseas, was quoted as saying in ABC TV, "The train has left the station, the cows have left the barn, the toothpaste is out of the tube... you're not going to turn the tide on this in the same way we couldn't turn the tide on the manufacturing shift."

After all, it's all about cost savings that matters. Indians are all working at a fraction of the cost paid to the American workers. For example, American computer programmers earn about $60,000, while their Indian counterparts only make $6,000.

California-based consulting company - NeoIT - that advises American firms interested in "offshoring" jobs previously held by Americans feels, "They need to significantly reduce their cost of doing business."

While, Wipro's Vivek Paul notes that American workers might resent the "offshoring" trend, but all Americans will benefit in the long run.

Last year we displaced an Indian company. The American company thought they got a deal, except the Indian company nickle and dimed them to DEATH!

Company: "We need to move a list over a few pixels"
Indians: "Dat will take ahhh 72 hours, yes. We must document the change, send it for approval to New York, get the VP signature, den send it to our coders in India, convert it to English,......" A 5 minute change always became a 72 hour adventure.

Needless to say, their $25/hour became $225/hour (seriously) by the time the extra hours were added to everything. On top of it all, their quality SUCKED! I mean SUCKED! NOTHING worked well, nothing!

Halfway into the project we took over. We finished 2/3 of the project for 1/3 the cost the company already paid to the Indians. We also tackled the hard parts. The Indian company didn't have anything but those 6 week wonders who could think past the simple stuff.

Remember, the Indians usually have little education but will lie and claim each person has at least a Masters and 10 years experience. No kidding. They lie, and big time. They get a 6 week programming course, spend a few years banging out code in sweat shops (not kidding, again), then, if they can hold it together, get to come to America, Japan, or England as their Golden Ticket.

Remember, the Indians usually have little education but will lie and claim each person has at least a Masters and 10 years experience. No kidding. They lie, and big time. They get a 6 week programming course, spend a few years banging out code in sweat shops (not kidding, again), then, if they can hold it together, get to come to America, Japan, or England as their Golden Ticket.

IIRC, this is how about 30% of Silly-Con Valley's millionaires got started :o)

This ticks me off. I can't stand seeing how happy India is for getting our US IT jobs. I lost my job to an Indian June 1st and am trying to figure out what I should do next. I'm calling the UE office today to sign up for job re-training.

My friends/family ask me how the job hunt is going...I don't EVEN feel like sending out one more resume for an IT job.

I'm thankful that my husband has a meeting coming up with a record label. The chances of him getting a deal and going on tour are getting better each day!! I used to joke about his chances of getting a record deal and me getting an IT job are the same and the very next week he lands a meeting with a record label. I'm studying to become a tour manager/business manager....Do you think musicians jobs will go to India??? I sure hope not.

You know, you can take 5 or 6 of your friends and make an appointment with your congressperson to talk to him/her in person. Even if they are dems, you'd be suprised at the pressure they feel when a group of the opposition very civilly approaches them with an issue. And if you can show there are a whole lot more people you can get to complain, they will start to listen. The thing they fear the most I think, is when you go door to door in your neighborhood and get other people to complain. Also, a lot of people don't know or forget that this is how our system of government is supposed to work, citizens are supposed to request face time with their representatives, and they often choose convience of phone calls or emails over that which limits their influence. Face time will get you places. After you meet privately with them go to one of their public or townhall meetings. If you've informed them of the facts and they go on pretending they don't know a problem exists, you can call them on it and also inform other constituents at the same time. This really ups the accountability factor in a hurry.

One caution. You must be civil. Bring facts and don't back down.

The people have more freedom than China, but the lower class/caste is still kept down and they work for squalor with little or no chance for advancement into either management or ownership.

They also believe in the "mother government" (their words not mine). Many of the H1B people that have come here and stayed have this perception of governemnt and if they become citizens and voters, for many(although not all in my experience) American principles just don't mean anything.

On the other hand, we could open a consulting firm to teach Americans how to deal with Indians: Praise them to the skies constantly, Never send them a memo (they will reply with 3,000 absolutely unintelligible pages), never blame them for anything bad that happens, never ask a question that presupposes a "Yes or No" type answer, never expect closure in any negotiation, or fulfillment of contractual obligations... good solid intercultural stuff like that.

Hell, that's nothing. Once I did business in California.

As I've said, when I hear that Indian programmers can do a better job than American programmers, I'll get more worried. Right now, I think it will be a bad.

The two other things that could ultimately work against India are (A) terrorist attacks or other social instability and (B) price inflation in India as these outsourcing firms compete for good labor. Nothing screws up a software project like having half your staff leave for a competitor half-way through the project.

Of course those cars made in the 1970s didn't need air bags, computers, catalytic converters, lightweight materials to save fuel milage, etc. (as well as little things like air conditioners, FM radios, etc.). There is a reason why the new VW Beetle isn't as cheap as the old one -- it isn't nearly as simple. I don't think most people would be willing to go back and live like they did in the 1970s (one television, no computer, no cable television, no cell phone, no CDs, one basic car, etc.).

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