Uber CEO Wants to Shift More Engineering Jobs to India, Sparking Internal Debate

Post by EdwinLarkin » Thu, Jul 02, 2020, 2:46 PM UTC

MichaelRazum wrote: post #88

atonse wrote: post #2

It's hard to ignore the siren song as a business person of comparing your 300k a year engineers to a senior engineer that costs $80k in India (regardless of the potential hidden costs of cultural and time zone differences). This gap should probably narrow as more remote work becomes normal, and more people move out of the Valley and can actually live decently on 150k, rather than 300k.

Just wondering why they don't want to outsource to europe. Here in Germany you will get good engineers for $80k. Or east europe is even cheaper + better cultural fit.

Post by JumpCrisscross » Thu, Jul 02, 2020, 2:46 PM UTC

gorpomon wrote: post #39

atonse wrote: post #2

It's hard to ignore the siren song as a business person of comparing your 300k a year engineers to a senior engineer that costs $80k in India (regardless of the potential hidden costs of cultural and time zone differences). This gap should probably narrow as more remote work becomes normal, and more people move out of the Valley and can actually live decently on 150k, rather than 300k.

This is well-trodden ground as far as discussion around here goes. The common points pro and con always come up: is the quality the same (some say yes, some say no), is co-location or time-zone location important (same parenthetical), what $ amount is ethical to pay, whom is it more ethical to pay (are you a nationalist or a global citizen, etc), what's sustainable, many more etc's. I've decided that's it's a persona…

Post by game_the0ry » Thu, Jul 02, 2020, 2:47 PM UTC

softwaredoug wrote: post #92

game_the0ry wrote: post #86

I don't think moving tech labor form US workers to Indian workers will have the desired effect that corporate decision makers are hoping for. For one, good tech workers are hard to find anywhere. A candidate needs a range of attributes to be effective at this type of work. That type of talent is hard enough to find in the western world, it will likely be just as hard to find in the east. Two, Indian tech labor isn't…

Maybe Indian tech labor isn't that cheap. But Silicon Valley tech labor is very expensive (perhaps overpriced!). Maybe the latter is the key factor...

Post by jupp0r » Thu, Jul 02, 2020, 2:47 PM UTC

taylorlapeyre wrote: post #28

atonse wrote: post #2

It's hard to ignore the siren song as a business person of comparing your 300k a year engineers to a senior engineer that costs $80k in India (regardless of the potential hidden costs of cultural and time zone differences). This gap should probably narrow as more remote work becomes normal, and more people move out of the Valley and can actually live decently on 150k, rather than 300k.

You can live decently in the valley on a lot less than 300k. Speaking from experience, even 90k is perfectly comfortable. Based on the salaries of my friends in SF, $150k is a very reasonable salary that allows a fantastic lifestyle.

Post by bitL » Thu, Jul 02, 2020, 2:48 PM UTC

ilaksh wrote: post #46

bitL wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Race to the bottom. No rewards for excellence, why bother studying/working hard when all you get is 80k? That's basically a life-time mortgage if you want to own a house.

In some places houses cost less than $150k..