us programmer's at Indian rates

[zephyrprime]

Here's something new

business week

And then Jon had a brainstorm. What if he offered Americans the jobs at the same rate he would be paying for Indian programmers? It seemed like a long shot. But it also seemed worth the gamble. So Jon placed some ads in The Boston Globe, offering full-time contract programming work for $45,000 annually. (He had decided that it was worth adding a $5,000 premium to what he'd pay the Indian workers in exchange for having the programmers on site.)

The result? "We got flooded" with resumes, about 90 in total, many from highly qualified programmers having trouble finding work in the down economy, Jon says. His decision: "For $5,000 it was no contest." Jon went American. And the outcome? "I think I got the best of both worlds. I got local people who came in for 10% more (than Indians). And I found really good ones."

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
Here's something new

business week

And then Jon had a brainstorm. What if he offered Americans the jobs at the same rate he would be paying for Indian programmers? It seemed like a long shot. But it also seemed worth the gamble. So Jon placed some ads in The Boston Globe, offering full-time contract programming work for $45,000 annually. (He had decided that it was worth adding a $5,000 premium to what he'd pay the Indian workers in exchange for having the programmers on site.)

The result? "We got flooded" with resumes, about 90 in total, many from highly qualified programmers having trouble finding work in the down economy, Jon says. His decision: "For $5,000 it was no contest." Jon went American. And the outcome? "I think I got the best of both worlds. I got local people who came in for 10% more (than Indians). And I found really good ones."

I wonder what rjain thinks about that?

 

[Zebo]

That's what they want. That's what all this free-trade, outsourceing stuff is really all about. We'll become a cast system here too with no middle class and superrich 1%. Robber Barrens all over.

 

[dmcowen674]

Thanks Zephyr. But this can't be, this must be made up. According to the AT experts in here wage are going UP and only LOW paying jobs have been going overseas to India.

 

[Martin]

Something to think about: Who will donate more money to the charities that purchase cMarket's software. People making 80000 or people making 45000?


I really do wonder whether companies are loosing or making money as a result of all this outsourcing. I am not aware of anyone really tallying up all the figures and comming up with a solid conclusion, though I imagine it would be quite hard to do that.

 

[athithi]

$40,000 per programmer in India? The folks I know make between Rs.10,000 and Rs.72,000 per month - that's from $222 to $1600 per month - before tax. Translates to about $20,000 p.a for Project Leads with 7+ years of experience, including experience abroad. The article mentions how the American high standard of living might come down, though. American standard of living is a study in waste. IMHO, a little frugality wouldn't hurt Americans.

 

[alchemize]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Thanks Zephyr. But this can't be, this must be made up. According to the AT experts in here wage are going UP and only LOW paying jobs have been going overseas to India.

Or perhaps it could be that programmers wages & job #'s were artifically inflated by Y2K/Internet boom, and now what we are seeing are the results of supply and demand? An adjustment in what a college grad with 4 years of experience is really worth? You mean they aren't really worth 150K to crank out code and complain about testing and not using the "cool" coding language?

 

[miguel]

If Inida's startups become hugely successfull, they too will have higher and higher wages to attract the best of the best. It's not rocket science. Flood the market with out of work programmers and they will rush to $45k jobs. If you have a shortage of programmers, the salaries go up to lure the best ones from your competition.

If this were a communist country, then all programmers would be paid the same, automatically, when they get out of school. When they retire, some 50 years later, they would all get the same retirement package. Thankfully, we are not a communist country.

 

[alchemize]

Originally posted by: athithi
$40,000 per programmer in India? The folks I know make between Rs.10,000 and Rs.72,000 per month - that's from $222 to $1600 per month - before tax. Translates to about $20,000 p.a for Project Leads with 7+ years of experience, including experience abroad. The article mentions how the American high standard of living might come down, though. American standard of living is a study in waste. IMHO, a little frugality wouldn't hurt Americans.

The costs of this, I believe, would be based on hiring an On-site programmer, versus outsourcing to an offshore provider. An offshore provider roughly doubles the salary as profit margin. So $40,000 is about right.

Concur on the frugality...we don't all need SUV's

 

[zephyrprime]

According to the AT experts in here wage are going UP and only LOW paying jobs have been going overseas to India.

wages are going up but nonly for the rich. Here's something from the cia:
Since 1975, practically all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20% of households
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html

An adjustment in what a college grad with 4 years of experience is really worth? You mean they aren't really worth 150K to crank out code and complain about testing and not using the "cool" coding language?

that's such an exageration. programmers were never paid that. I couldn't find figures from back then unfortnately but I do know that nnew computer sci grads in 2001 (the peak) was $50K but has now dropped to $42K. This is significant but not the huge renormalization you imply. And this only applies to people that got offers, not people that went unemployed for a while or worked a non-csci job.

http://www.iseek.org/sv/46001.jsp?id=151021

 

[zephyrprime]

Concur on the frugality...we don't all need SUV's

So are you saying people are too rich? Because if people were more frugal in the way you mean, we'd get poorer.

 

[zephyrprime]

I really do wonder whether companies are loosing or making money as a result of all this outsourcing. I am not aware of anyone really tallying up all the figures and comming up with a solid conclusion, though I imagine it would be quite hard to do that.

There are plenty of such figures. They are profitting. But only people at the top anre benefitting.

 

[tnitsuj]

That's about what computer programmers should be making isn't it? Thier are like a zillion comp sci graduates from Asian immigrant families every year.

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn

Originally posted by: zephyrprime
Here's something new

business week

And then Jon had a brainstorm. What if he offered Americans the jobs at the same rate he would be paying for Indian programmers? It seemed like a long shot. But it also seemed worth the gamble. So Jon placed some ads in The Boston Globe, offering full-time contract programming work for $45,000 annually. (He had decided that it was worth adding a $5,000 premium to what he'd pay the Indian workers in exchange for having the programmers on site.)

The result? "We got flooded" with resumes, about 90 in total, many from highly qualified programmers having trouble finding work in the down economy, Jon says. His decision: "For $5,000 it was no contest." Jon went American. And the outcome? "I think I got the best of both worlds. I got local people who came in for 10% more (than Indians). And I found really good ones."

I wonder what rjain thinks about that?

Sounds like there are too many programmers in the boston area.