India Becoming a Major Hub for Western Job Seekers

picklepak

There have been some interesting discussions on Slashdot recently (900+ comments), in response to a 7-page article in Wired magazine about IT (computer) jobs being outsourced to India. This was only a matter of time, in my opinion, based on the large number of smart people working in IT. As I was traveling through Maharastra and Karnataka a few years ago it seemed like every fourth guy I'd meet was a software engineer.

More interesting to me, however, is another Slashdot discussion entitled, "India Becoming a Major Hub for Western Job Seekers" (with almost 600 comments). There is talk of various headhunting firms that recruit Westerners for jobs in Mumbai, but there's no mention of who these firms are or what their contact info is. I can surely do some searching on my own but as a longtime member of Indiamike, I would like to pose the question here. Does anyone have experience working in an IT job in India? Are there any expats in Mumbai/Bangalore/Pune that work in IT and read Indiamike?

There is nothing I would like better than to get back to India and work in my chosen field too. FYI my background is primarily in enterprise IT sales working for a vendor, but I have technical experience too, primiarily with architecture, IT infrastructure, network security, desktop management, Linux/BSD/Windows, Web app servers and Unix admin. I'm not a programmer or a computer engineer, so those more common jobs wouldn't appeal to me.

Any thoughts or words of advice? Can someone point me in the right direction? How do you go about getting a good job in Mumbai when sitting in your underwear inside a warm house in cold, dreary Canada? I've looked at jobs through the United Nations that are located in India, but I don't really want to work on "population control" and somesuch. Advice from expats or those with experience in Indian jobs would be most appreciated!

Regards,
Kelly Martin

jay_m_222

I would imagine it would be tough for westerners to find work in India. There seems to be such a strong workforce already there and eager to work.

I will say that, if I saw this opportunity 5 years ago, I would be trying to get a job and move there! Have you found any of these headhunters?

picklepak

Jay, just the thought of it is exciting and cool. Mumbai is a cosmopolitan city, and if it's anything like Delhi there are many foreigners who come to live and enjoy the city. I would imagine a fashion show in Mumbai would be pretty hot. ;-D

On the flip side, there are many Indian nationals in Canada and elsewhere who come here on work visas and then return. I'd like to do the same for a year in India... not just for the experience but also because I happen to love India. I think the IT industry is particularly suited to this kind of exchange, and I'd like to work with some great minds. Much of the best software written by Microsoft, Novell, IBM and many others is written in India, and so they are certainly world-class engineers and businesspeople. I haven't located any of the headhunters yet, but one day soon.... I was hoping somewhere here could point me in the right direction.

volga_volga

I agree with picklepak on Mumbai being cosmopolitan and fairly comfortable place to be based for an expat in India.

However, I only spent a day there (after three weeks of working in Delhi). It reminded me of London, for some or other reason, and I felt more at home there in Mumbai vs New Delhi.

Some buildings are absolutely stunning; if you want to see some beaufitul and "modern" (as if not 1,000 years old but 100-200 yo) buildings Mumbai seems to be the place.

radz

Volga:
Hi,I agree with you Volga,Mumbai fort area if you walk down you feel like you
were walking in London street.No WONDER ,Mumbai was under british rule for long time,
so the similarity.
Had you been Flora fountain,Mumbai's "Picadilly Circus".
Yah that place in and around has amazing archiecture.
Definitely Mumbai is cosmopolitan city,so anyone from outside feel at home.People are friendly too

Picklepak:Good to hear you,you would like work in India..As you mentioned every fourth
person is software enginner,ehehehe very true now here Indiamike you met one ,ofcourse am sure you will meet more IT ppl here .

Ya ,as you mentiond we are produsing more Engineers,
software/computer we are the best ),hehhe its not me telling, others .
My opinion is,the firm who is going to hire only,
if they dont get any person from India.
Hey it all luck ) So can try .All the best.
Ok If you wana job at,Mumbai usually as you mentioned skills,
one need technical degree,Engineering 4 year degree.
But if you had vast expericence ,theN you will be taken for consideration.First be prepare GOOD CV,with small explanation of all projects you did. As you are out of India,you can send ur CV to Mumbai Job consultants/head hunders.
Few top firm you send directely urself.
Send u address if you want.
My suggestion is other than Mumbai ,you can try Bangalore.Its Silicon valley of India.

radz

__________________
My Photo gallery

absolut

my thinking rather is the opposite. i stayed longer periods in both cities, Mumbai and Delhi. it is very true that mumbai is a more cosmopolitan city and with all its buildings of the colonial time reminds you far more of for example london, but it is just for that reason that somehow out of the two cities i like delhi more because it gives you much more the feeling to be far away from home and isn't that one of the main reasons of travelling? Another thing is that delhi, at least old delhi, is set much more in a historical setting of the more ancient india while almost everything in mumbai refers to the colonial period.

volga_volga

absolut: "i like delhi more because it gives you much more the feeling to be far away from home and isn't that one of the main reasons of travelling?"

i have been away from "home" since 1998, and am travelling non-stop in the last 12 months (and all work related). i put London as place where i live because this is where i pay my rent but i only spent two weekends there since november... may be i feel homesick (but for which home?) and that was why i liked Mumbai

volga

__________________
Tibetan Orphanage School in China
My other favourite place is Pakistan Travel Forum

Jeroen

Have you people heard of the anti-Indian jobs movement in the US? There are a couple of sites like this one:
http://www.yourjobisgoingtoindia.com
It all seems very unreasonable, insulting to the Indians who get singled out, and with a nasty patriotic taste to it. Because in the end it gives consumers around the world better and cheaper products, and that's what capitalism is all about in the end.

__________________
'To see the world in a grain of sand; and heaven in a wild flower; to hold infinity in the palm of your hand; and eternity in an hour'

picklepak

Yeah, unfortunately there are several sites like that. Prejudice exists everywhere in the world, but that American-style patriotic propoganda makes these rather hateful sites sound ever more bitter to me. I'd be surprised is the site's creators have ever traveled outsite the borders of their own country... I agree that it's totally unreasonable and I don't like that narrow view of the world either.

For Information Technology work in particular, not only is the work cheaper in India, in many cases it's *also* of better quality. Americans who take issue with this need to upgrade themselves and their skill sets, instead of creating sites that banally complain in a woe-is-me fashion. People who sit back and don't keep themselves up to date, particularly in a technology field, will become obsolete. Hmm, I wonder if, as a Canadian who could live in Mumbai, I might be a part of those American jobs going to India...

LuAnnandJawahar

A. India does not need an influx of foreign workers to populate their IT workforce. Even if an "outsider" could land a job it would be for a fraction of the salary one would receive in the US or Canada, and even adjusting for standard or living, would barely be enough for sustenance.

B. Capitalism is not about providing the world with better and/or cheaper products. It's about private ownership and gathering the largest amount of profits into the fewest pockets possible.

C. In many cases, jobs are not leaving the US and Canada because there aren't people qualified to do the job, it is simply that a corporation can get the same work done at much less cost in a country that doesn't have to deal with messy things like providing health care, OSHA, minimum wage, and those pesky labor laws.

__________________
Reject violence.

jay_m_222

NAMASTE:

That is quite an extreme view of capitalism. If it is so hideous, why do people flock to the U.S.? Why is it that these 'selfish' companies from the west are infusing money and opportunity to India? Would you prefer the socialism of Cuba? The communism of N. Korea?

There are flaws, yes and a long way to go to right all wrongs, but Capitalism allows someone like yourself that has an idea to turn it into a business, create a profit, expand, employ others and therby give them an opportunity......

beach

Nothing can substitute raw greed!!! .....that is the real market force.
Call it cute names like capitalism,globalization, etc etc.

__________________
Hampi info

jay_m_222

So wanting to be successful and get money for that work is greed? Is Ravi Shankar greedy? He makes alot of money for the work he does. Should he just do everything for free?

I just don't think everything should be summed up in this blanket statement. Are there evil, selfish greedy people out there.....absolutely! But it is them, not the systems of economy that need to be attacked.

volga_volga

I am surprised there are still people who divide the world into „capitalist“ and „socialist“. I thought these were artificially created during the Cold War and are no longer relevant.

Terms themselves were invented more than a hundred years ago in a different society.

Volga, a lost child of communism

*Off topic: interestingly, the majority of the people fascinated with socialism and involved in various anti-capitalist movements have never close to experienced the "greatness" of socialism

jay_m_222

The greatness?

How else could these different systems be identified other then the names they were given? After all they are all pretty different....