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Uber wants to cut costs by shifting its engineering to India

businessinsider.in

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Re: Uber wants to cut costs by shifting its engineering to India

#51

Post by vsskanth »

breitling wrote: post #2

Shift innovation to India? Have they seen India's track record on tech innovation? The education system there does not produce very innovative people or engineers. However they are great at following exact instructions so I'm sure that part of engineering team will do well

Hard disagree. Most of the talented Indian engineers in top N tech companies in the US came from the Indian education system. They all migrated here in search of better opportunities.

Things are however changing in India due to the rapidly growing startup ecosystem which eventually lead to good careers and high salaries for software engineers back home. This is giving people less of a reason to move.

Re: Uber wants to cut costs by shifting its engineering to India

#52

Post by just-juan-post »

ageofwant wrote: post #25

Well this has worked great for Boeing, a once great American engineering company. On the other hand India has an excellent education system and highly skilled engineers, and any capital flow away from the five big cities in the world that sinks the vast majority of it can only be a good thing.

> India has an excellent education system and highly skilled engineers

This year old article disagrees.

https://www.businesstoday.in/current/corporate/indian-engine...

Re: Uber wants to cut costs by shifting its engineering to India

#53

Post by thrawa934234 »

joefourier wrote: post #23
katbyte wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. To get the same amount of quality in india you’ll be paying roughly the same - and then have cultural and timezone barriers.

What about moving to Europe? Salaries in the UK, Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands are much lower than in the US, and even lower in Central/Eastern Europe. While the timezone barrier is still there (although lower than India), the work culture is basically the same as in the United States (except with more work-life balance). Actually, why not Canada? Salaries are again much lower than Silicon Valley, the timezone…

The difference b/w salaries in EU/E.Asia and India are not that large for FAANG-like companies IMO. It's likely the case that Uber will allow its Indian employees to relocate back to India, in light of both Covid and the new visa restrictions.

Re: Uber wants to cut costs by shifting its engineering to India

#54

Post by itake »

felixarba wrote: post #43
mabbo wrote: post #36

A better option: shift it's engineering to everywhere else in America , and go full-remote, but pay less. Imagine if Uber told it's developers: we're cutting salaries by 40%- but you are now full-remote, and we want you to live somewhere less expensive than SV. Spread out across America! A lot of folks would quit. But some would see the incredible opportunity. In that situation, I'd move somewhere like Chattanooga TN…

This is not as good as it sounds just because it works for you. People don't love moving, and they usually move for better work opportunities, not to accomodate a pay cut at their current job. Moving to a lower cost of living area also means moving to an area with less opportunities, and not to mention moving away from your social circles and the life you have established somewhere. The only way I can see this workin…

To add to this when I worked remotely for two years I was always worried that if I move to a low cost of living city and I lost my job I will be screwed. No one would hire me at the rate I was paid with the SF company.

Re: Uber wants to cut costs by shifting its engineering to India

#55

Post by yesplorer »

temporarysdwvit wrote: post #31

How is code quality control in India?

No, it's cheaper because of huge difference in cost of living.

$10,000/month may not go far in SV, but in parts of India, you can live like a king, literally, with servants and such.

Rent for a studio apartment in India will cost less than $200. I'm not kidding. But a similar space in SV can cost 10 times more of that.

Re: Uber wants to cut costs by shifting its engineering to India

#56

Post by raverbashing »

joefourier wrote: post #23
katbyte wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. To get the same amount of quality in india you’ll be paying roughly the same - and then have cultural and timezone barriers.

What about moving to Europe? Salaries in the UK, Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands are much lower than in the US, and even lower in Central/Eastern Europe. While the timezone barrier is still there (although lower than India), the work culture is basically the same as in the United States (except with more work-life balance). Actually, why not Canada? Salaries are again much lower than Silicon Valley, the timezone…

They already do what you're saying, by some extent (maybe not Canada right now, and of course, finding English-speaking developers in Quebec is a non-issue)

Re: Uber wants to cut costs by shifting its engineering to India

#57

Post by bhaavan »

_tw9j wrote: post #35
ageofwant wrote: post #25

Well this has worked great for Boeing, a once great American engineering company. On the other hand India has an excellent education system and highly skilled engineers, and any capital flow away from the five big cities in the world that sinks the vast majority of it can only be a good thing.

> India has an excellent education system Explain in which way is it excellent? Which part do you think Indian education system does well relatively?

A significant portion of the current SV crowd on H1b, is a product of the indian education system.

Re: Uber wants to cut costs by shifting its engineering to India

#58

Post by _tw9j »

varshithr wrote: post #27
breitling wrote: post #2

Shift innovation to India? Have they seen India's track record on tech innovation? The education system there does not produce very innovative people or engineers. However they are great at following exact instructions so I'm sure that part of engineering team will do well

I am from Hyderabad and one of my friend works at Uber Engineering here. From what I understand, the quality of engineers matches to that of his US counterparts, if not better. He got his degree from IIT, a tier 1 college in India. I agree that India has not been the best in terms of tech innovation but the situation is changing. The start up ecosystem is booming here and investments are following too.

Relative to what? India has 1.34 billion people. If other countries put a million self selected students to compete with each other in a dog fight, I am sure the resulting 50k might have good chance of being similar.

Startup ecosystem is booming on foreign investment especially from china. Local investment is still dire.

Re: Uber wants to cut costs by shifting its engineering to India

#60

Post by _tw9j »

bhaavan wrote: post #57
_tw9j wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> India has an excellent education system Explain in which way is it excellent? Which part do you think Indian education system does well relatively?

A significant portion of the current SV crowd on H1b, is a product of the indian education system.

> A significant portion of the current SV crowd on H1b, is a product of the indian education system.

Could you be more elaborate?

I can see that statement meaning wildly different things on HN and it doesn't answer my question.

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