What do you think of the US corporations drive to outsource tech jobs to India at the expense of US workers?

Question

I'm myself techie from India and connected with outsourcing and would like some unbiased opinion on this. To the lay man, outsourcing would conjure up images of phone support workers in night shifts but it's really beyond that. Almost each and every Giant corporation in the US is not only realizing huge profits due to the exchange rate values between the USD and Indian currency Rupee, but outsourcing has brought greater scientific expertise - today many mission critical applications are done cheaply in India but also the quality of service is the reason the US companies are able to be competitive in global market and everyone buys US products - ultimately, it benefits US economy which otherwise would not grow.

For example, if you have ever used GE consumer appliance products such as washing machines, refrigerators and ranges - I used to work in one of those "outsourced" units connected with design of the appliances.

My argument is it's not about just jobs - it's about INNOVATION

It's not a good argument to suggest American workers go unemployed but the key to your survival is to innovate more - American tech workers need to move up the value chain and invest more in original research (no doubt US universities are the best for it) - i.e. spend more time in college and leave the programming jobs to Indians instead of going unemployed.


What has happened to American workers today can happen to same Indian workers in say 2025.

PRIOR PREPARATION is the key to avoid major shocks in life - luckily, I have started saving for a rainy day.

Answer 1

It was a sad day for America when companies like Dell for example decided to outsource to your India.
You can justify it all you want but it definitely had a negative impact on our economy, putting many good people out of work and finding it necessary to accept lesser paying jobs just to be able to survive....hence, they suffered and their families suffered as well.
Call it "innovation" if you want, I call it highway robbery.
Subsequently, when a product owner finally does get through seeking telephone support and finally gets to talk to one of these CSR's (after waiting 45 minutes on the phone), you can't really understand what they are saying...leading to a lot of frustration on the caller's part...
not only does he have a problem with his product, but he can't understand the instructions being given him to fix it...
that's the reality of the situation.

Also, I find your comment for Americans to "leave the programming jobs to Indians instead of going unemployed." very condescending and frankly, rather rude and offensive and certainly doesn't solidify or reinforce any positive views one might have had of your country.

Answer 2

If the option is to outsource some of the jobs versus go out of business entirely to foreign competition, this is a "no brainer" -- outsource!