[BangPypers] Internationals getting Python/Programming Jobs

[steve]

Hi Rory,

On 02/05/2010 04:16 PM, Rory Hart wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm an Australian who is considering living/working in Bangalore, I work
> with a lot of Indians here in Australia and figure why should they have all
> the fun of coming to another country to work.
>
Makes sense. In my previous jobs, a lot of international colleagues who came for 
short business visits, noted that India isn't all that bad as a place to stay, 
work and grow professionally for a few years (despite things that people from 
developed nations take for granted ie: good roads, regular water and electricity 
and overall predictability and reliability of general infrastructure).

This sort of thing is best done in the early years of your career.

> The main questions I have are:
>
>     - Do Bangalore IT companies hire many internationals?
Well, as others noted, getting a work visa might be tough. Not due to any 
underling protectionist agenda but due to the sheer chaotic and utterly 
frustrating bureaucratic machinery. That said, if you do manage to get one (or 
convince an Indian company to get one for you), you'll find the job market 
pretty good. Most 'good' companies won't really care if you are an 
international. More about the 'good' part later.

>     - Can you get by with English only? (I note with happiness all
>     the correspondence on this list appears to be in English)

Absolutely ! I'd say 98% of software business gets done in English here in 
India. The accent though might be a problem initially (not only yours but the 
varied ones that we have here :) ).

>     - What are the Python job prospects like in Bangalore?

Umm, widen your choice beyond Bangalore. Consider places like Pune, Delhi 
(including NCR) and Hyderabad.

Python job prospects in India are mainly web application development related. 
Although there are a few companies that do use python for non-web application 
development. I don't think there are any stats available though.

>     - Do any of you work with/are internationals working in Bangalore and
>     would be willing to talk to me about it in more depth?
>
In an earlier job I worked with a French guy who decided to take up a job in 
India to help him stay, travel and experience India. He managed to pull it off 
for 4+ years (i think). I'll put you in touch with him.

> Any other insights people have would be much appreciated, for example: am I
> mad?
>
Not really. The work part makes sense, the only possibly mad bit is thinking 
that you can survive India, without ever visiting this beautifully dualistic(*) 
county. Nothing can prepare you for the cultural and social shock that you get 
when you first visit. How you'll handle it will tell whether you were mad or not.

Now, about the good company part -- note that most big software firms in India 
are code monkey farms, with production line engineers, ejected into our industry 
by the don't-think-just-cram education system of our country. So, if you are 
unfortunate enough to land up in one of those, you'll become frustrated very 
quickly. I think this explains the work culture of the majority of Indian 
software firms:

http://sivers.org/book/SpeakingOfIndia

So, choose wisely. Rule of thumb -- In India, working at a product development 
companies is better than working at service oriented companies (yes, that might 
be a flame bait, but what the heck, that's my personal experience).

cheers,
- steve

(*) Whatever you can rightly say about India, the opposite is also true.
                                - Joan Robinson
-- 
random non tech spiel: http://lonetwin.blogspot.com/
tech randomness: http://lonehacks.blogspot.com/
what i'm stumbling into: http://lonetwin.stumbleupon.com/