One thing that I wish more people would be aware of is that in India there are literally hundreds of 'engineering colleges' in every city. 90% of these colleges are junk, institutions started only to profit from the crazy demand for an engineering education. What that means is that there are too many people graduating with a 'Computer Science' degree.
I'd be willing to bet that in a lot of these 'outsourcing experiences', they tried to hire the cheapest possible people and ended up with a crappy product.
Conversely, even the so called 'prestigious universities' produce graduates who are completely incapable of coding even if their life depended on it. But I've seen graduates from unknown universities with great talent and work ethic. They just didn't study that hard to get through the incredibly competitive exams when in high school.
I understand the reason for the bad reputation; but I think a HUGE opportunity is being wasted. There is a lot of talent out there, and some companies I'm familiar with have quietly recognized that. If you're building a team in India, make sure you're first employee can recognize talent and not just degrees.
Coming back to the original point: if, say, an American were to get a degree from some of the better known institutes, she would probably miss a lot of the exposure that being in a US university gives. Her professors wouldn't be that good. But if she's studying CS, she doesn't need the superb labs that I've seen in the US universities. The best universities use textbooks written by American authors, and have students that are quite proficient in programming.
I'm not sure how it would turn out, but it's not something that you can dismiss that easily.
No doubt true--but sorting out the reputation of colleges is hard enough when one can drive there in a day. I imagine that evaluating an Indian school would be very hard for most Americans without prior connections to that world.
Conversely, even the so called 'prestigious universities' produce graduates who are completely incapable of coding even if their life depended on it. But I've seen graduates from unknown universities with great talent and work ethic. They just didn't study that hard to get through the incredibly competitive exams when in high school.
I understand the reason for the bad reputation; but I think a HUGE opportunity is being wasted. There is a lot of talent out there, and some companies I'm familiar with have quietly recognized that. If you're building a team in India, make sure you're first employee can recognize talent and not just degrees.
Coming back to the original point: if, say, an American were to get a degree from some of the better known institutes, she would probably miss a lot of the exposure that being in a US university gives. Her professors wouldn't be that good. But if she's studying CS, she doesn't need the superb labs that I've seen in the US universities. The best universities use textbooks written by American authors, and have students that are quite proficient in programming.
I'm not sure how it would turn out, but it's not something that you can dismiss that easily.