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IBM Now Has More Employees in India Than in the U.S

nytimes.com

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Re: IBM Now Has More Employees in India Than in the U.S

#2
Honestly I'm surprised this is just now the case. Last time I was in Bengaluru(Bangalore). There were ads on billboards for programming jobs. Everyone walking down the street had backpacks from major tech companies. The sheer number of tech work there has to be massive

Re: IBM Now Has More Employees in India Than in the U.S

#3

Honestly I'm surprised this is just now the case. Last time I was in Bengaluru(Bangalore). There were ads on billboards for programming jobs. Everyone walking down the street had backpacks from major tech companies. The sheer number of tech work there has to be massive

I've also heard IBM is becoming the default for pretty much all Indian companies when it comes to consulting work for complex projects.

Re: IBM Now Has More Employees in India Than in the U.S

#4

Honestly I'm surprised this is just now the case. Last time I was in Bengaluru(Bangalore). There were ads on billboards for programming jobs. Everyone walking down the street had backpacks from major tech companies. The sheer number of tech work there has to be massive

I love India but lots of non-tech people have backpacks that say "Apple" with an attempt at an apple logo on it :) i always smile when i see those

Re: IBM Now Has More Employees in India Than in the U.S

#5
I think that this is a good example of how racism, conscious and unconscious is making us worse at predicting the future. Ten years ago, so many Americans were making jokes about poor quality Indian code and Indian accents. The idea of Indians actually working innovative jobs seemed laughable to many Americans. But there wasn't actually strong evidence that Indians were less good at doing cutting edge research.

This racism is again mirrored in the huge salary difference. Are those Indian workers really worth so much less?

One thing is certain to me, that low salary is hurting IBM. By not paying a competitive salary, those IBM offices in India are lacking the deep experience of western programmers. In a way, they have to re-invent the wheel. In the pictures, everyone there is Indian, and that hurts the company as a whole. Diversity is more than just not being all white. Diversity means not being exclusive to any background and ethnicity.

Edit: I have yet to hear of anyone (European or American) from the sectors I work in, being poached to work in India.

Re: IBM Now Has More Employees in India Than in the U.S

#8

Honestly I'm surprised this is just now the case. Last time I was in Bengaluru(Bangalore). There were ads on billboards for programming jobs. Everyone walking down the street had backpacks from major tech companies. The sheer number of tech work there has to be massive

I've also heard IBM is becoming the default for pretty much all Indian companies when it comes to consulting work for complex projects.

OLD saying is you never get fired for hiring IBM.

Re: IBM Now Has More Employees in India Than in the U.S

#9
I've heard some B-school grads refer to this as some "inflection point". They were talking about more overseas workers for IBM in 2006 or so. The more important question is in which direction does the money flow? It has to be net positive for the US albeit not to US upper middle class programmers. My simple rule of thumb is if the move is not filling up CxO level coffers, it won't happen.

Re: IBM Now Has More Employees in India Than in the U.S

#10

I think that this is a good example of how racism, conscious and unconscious is making us worse at predicting the future. Ten years ago, so many Americans were making jokes about poor quality Indian code and Indian accents. The idea of Indians actually working innovative jobs seemed laughable to many Americans. But there wasn't actually strong evidence that Indians were less good at doing cutting edge research. This…

In the tech sector at least, the relative salaries of employees located in India is still significantly lower than those in most America metropolitan locations.

This overall reduced cost to a company is significant enough to invest in the market. As India is still considered a developing country, the quality of life, while debatable, would be considered a downgrade for many who could potentially be poached from other regions.

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