The end of India’s ‘IT miracle’? • Hacker News Board

Re: The end of India’s ‘IT miracle’?

#21

Post by resurge » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 7:36 AM UTC

collyw wrote: post #17

reacharavindh wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, silly questions are fair game from everybody on SO and GH. There are just so many of us Indians, which makes us more visible. I browse SO just for curiosity, I have seen plenty of silly questions with all sorts of usernames.

Ok generalization again, but I see a lot more Indian names asking questions rather than answering them.

I encounter answers now and then by Indian names, and unfortunately my first thought is "can probably skip this one and look at the next answer". The reason is that the answerers _very_ often didn't read the question properly (or misunderstood it) and consequently are giving a completely irrelevant answer.

Re: The end of India’s ‘IT miracle’?

#22

Post by whatyoucantsay » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 7:51 AM UTC

It is telling that the defining book of the decade on tech startups—Zero to One was a runaway best-seller in China but didn't even sell 50,000 copies in India.

India has, perhaps, relied too heavily on the 1 to N promise of globalisation and, in the process, won in a race to the bottom.

Re: The end of India’s ‘IT miracle’?

#23

Post by factorialboy » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 7:52 AM UTC

collyw wrote: post #17

reacharavindh wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, silly questions are fair game from everybody on SO and GH. There are just so many of us Indians, which makes us more visible. I browse SO just for curiosity, I have seen plenty of silly questions with all sorts of usernames.

Ok generalization again, but I see a lot more Indian names asking questions rather than answering them.

Nothing wrong with asking questions and seeking to learn.

Re: The end of India’s ‘IT miracle’?

#24

Post by superflyguy » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 7:57 AM UTC

icebraining wrote: post #19

collyw wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok generalization again, but I see a lot more Indian names asking questions rather than answering them.

I'd bet every country has more people asking questions than answering them.

Yes but the ratio is different. Americans produce most of the most popular services even if most Americans consume rather than create them.

Re: The end of India’s ‘IT miracle’?

#25

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 7:59 AM UTC

icebraining wrote: post #19

collyw wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok generalization again, but I see a lot more Indian names asking questions rather than answering them.

I'd bet every country has more people asking questions than answering them.

[deleted]

Re: The end of India’s ‘IT miracle’?

#26

Post by ramblerman » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 7:59 AM UTC

reacharavindh wrote: post #10

ramblerman wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Indian engineers are street smart If we are going to generalize, I would have to say the exact opposite. In my experience they are definitely smart and capable, but usually extremely naive and somewhat sheltered by western standards.

Yeah. My generalization is of no use in a discussion. I only meant to say a lot of them(that I know) are. I can't vouch for billions of us :-) Could you elaborate "sheltered by western standards"?

I can also only speak for the friends I know :)

But I mean overly protected to a late age, and very strongly influenced by their parents.

The flip side is that on average my Indian friends are also the politest people that I know, which makes me realize it's really a lost quality.

Re: The end of India’s ‘IT miracle’?

#27

Post by gaius » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 7:59 AM UTC

A company will outsource because it’s cheaper, in the short term at least. But an outsourcer runs on billable hours, so they are disincentivised to automate repetitive tasks.

So here’s the new competition: outsourcer who can do the job for 1/10th the cost, or In-house engineers with advanced automation who can do 100x the work at the same cost.

It’s not about West vs India, it’s about business models.

Re: The end of India’s ‘IT miracle’?

#28

Post by jcbrand » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 8:01 AM UTC

reacharavindh wrote: post #13

jcbrand wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pick up new tech and tools very quickly And then they go on StackOverflow and Github issue trackers, begging anyone and everyone to help them and appearing completely out of their depth.

To be fair, silly questions are fair game from everybody on SO and GH. There are just so many of us Indians, which makes us more visible. I browse SO just for curiosity, I have seen plenty of silly questions with all sorts of usernames.

(Let me preface by saying that of course there are world-class Indian devs, and ones who contribute to FOSS and who answer questions on all kinds of forums. What follows is obviously a generalization based on my limited and flawed perceptions. I've never been to India, so might lack some cultural insight here.)

For better or worse, Indian developers in general have positioned themselves in the bottom of the market by working for rates lower than anything devs from developed countries can accept.

By doing so, they're under a lot of pressure to implement things as quickly and cheaply as possible and to cut corners where-ever they can.

On top of this, they are happy to accept jobs which require expertise in tech stacks that they simply don't have.

Due to this, I sense a level of desperation that other devs usually don't have, hence the annoying spamming of SO and Github and the begging for help.

This combination of pressures to be cheap and quick, and not being able to know all the tech stacks but still taking on jobs for those stacks, contribute to shoddy quality and workmanship.

Probably this is a development phase, and as India becomes wealthier and more developed, this trend will reverse, which will be a good thing for all of us.

Re: The end of India’s ‘IT miracle’?

#29

Post by frozenport » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 8:01 AM UTC

gaius wrote: post #27

A company will outsource because it’s cheaper, in the short term at least. But an outsourcer runs on billable hours, so they are disincentivised to automate repetitive tasks. So here’s the new competition: outsourcer who can do the job for 1/10th the cost, or In-house engineers with advanced automation who can do 100x the work at the same cost. It’s not about West vs India, it’s about business models.

They did a lot of publishing stuff that was billed by the page.

Re: The end of India’s ‘IT miracle’?

#30

Post by ilarum » Thu, Jun 07, 2018, 8:01 AM UTC

I personally know someone really smart who was on an H1B visa in the US with his family. Recently, when hit with an RFE (request for evidence) during a routine renewal of his visa, he decided that it just wasn't worth the trouble of living in perpetual fear (settled status wait time is about 15 years) and shifted his entire family to Canada.

I bring this up because while Trump may attempt to target visa abusers, some smart people are also trapped in the crossfire which I feel affects the country negatively.