Outsourcing to India

Many people who run internet businesses or software companies outsource to India as the labor is much more affordable.  I highly recommend doing this as the caliber of work that can be accomplished for the price is outstanding.  Obama isn’t too fond of companies outsourcing, but business is business Obama.  We have worked closely with a team from India for the past few years now and have grown a great relationship.  At some point, it is a wise decision to actually visit and meet your team to further grow your relationship and trust with your team.  Finding a team of highly trained programmers can be done by using a couple different services like Rentacoder.com or Odesk.com.   It is also wise to know about the culture of the country where your workers are located.  How they live, how they work, etc.  I recently visited India to visit with our team to learn more about the culture and grow our relationship further.

I arrived in Delhi which is just nuts. Crazy airport, crazy city.  Took a long train ride across half of India to Lucknow.  A large part of country is extremely poor and many houses I saw were about the size of a very large doghouse.  Most bathrooms are something else. Pretty much a hole in the ground.  There are no showers in India really, just a faucet to fill up a bucket with most of the time.

Most people who drive have a Medallion on their window to represent their God and there are over a million Gods. It’s Kind of like everyone has their own specific one.

People drive crazy. Not crazy like NYC or Atlanta or something like that.  But actually crazy. They also drive on the wrong side of the road and honk their horn every 2.3 seconds. Most people drive 3 wheeled cars, mopeds, or bikes.

It seems that about 99% of men have big bushy mustaches. Actually, I didn’t see a man who didn’t have one so it stands at 100%. I kind of feel left out with a bare upper lip.

Probably about 95% of women have nose piercings and where colorful tapestries that cover their whole body. I find the attire appealing.

I have yet to see anyone even remotely obese.  It seems the diet in India is much healthier than that of the USA.

Nearly everyone wears nice clothes. Even people tending fields and driving tractors have collared shirts. Even many of the homeless.

The Hindu people tend to have very kind eyes and good hearts.

Most people don’t have anything against Americans as they are too busy dealing with their own lives. Only those who are a bit more educated have something against some American ways. I have been received very well though and get a lot of funny looks as I am the first white person many people have seen here in person.  Nearly everyone is very intrigued by an blue eyed American boy and I got the feeling that most people really were most curious about how deep my pockets were.  Making money is of huge importance to many people I spoke with.

Monkeys, goats, pigs, cows, buffalo, camels, and elephants just roam the street like they are humans. It is odd seeing elephants walking down the road. Our car almost got rammed by a buffalo the other day.

When we arrived in Lucknow we were picked up by a couple of our team members who treated us like royalty. We then went to the office and got a standing ovation upon entering the office. This was a great feeling.  Got more work done with coders in a matter of 30 minutes that usually takes a full day. It was good stuff.  They love us and know all about us. I took a bunch of vids and will eventually throw em up somewhere.  The team works in a big office building and the set up kind of reminded me a computer lab that you would find in a college.

Sanjays dad has been cooking authentic spicy Indian cuisine. For desert it is usually shredded carrots, milk, and sugar – roasted over fire. Weird but good. I love the food but I also love just about all food.  Much of the food that I ate was very spicy.

I toured Lucknow and went to some of the coolest places on earth.  It seems that India has some of the most amazing views around as well as some of the trashiest.  Much of the country is littered with trash.

Most all of the mosques (sp?) have those cool domes and they are scattered everywhere you look.

First we went into a giant labyrinth. It was a monster castle with miles of crazy tunnels.  I got lost in it for about an hour before the guide showed us the way out. I imagine that I would have never found my way out if we didn’t have the guide looking out. It was straight out of a movie this thing. Extremely long hallways with doors and paths every 5 feet going in all different directions.

We toured the picture gallery, clock tower garden, shahi hammam, boull & rummi gate.  All were some of the most amazing places my eyes have seen yet. Most people have only seen pictures or heard of the taj mahal, but all of these places seemed even more beautiful than the Taj.  The Taj Mahal is definitely a great site to see.  It is epic and gave me the chills.

Took our team out to lunch and that was really fun. They all brought their cameras and wanted pictures with me. Gave the crew schoolbridge t-shirts which they enjoyed.

Passed a billboard with this guys picture and it said “Man of the year” I learned that the man of the year is the guy who threw his shoe at George w Bush. Needless to say Bush is pretty disliked here. Obama is not.

Got my ass handed to me by a 70 year old man in a round of golf today. Sad, but he was also really good. There were wild animals all over the golf course which made for an interesting 9 holes today.

The US dollar goes very far here and you get about 45 rupees for every dollar. (so you get the idea a pack a smokes goes for about 40 rupees.) I say about because the prices for everything are negotiable. I have found that they tend to ask me to pay much more than the Indians but I’m no fool so I negotiate the hell out of everything till a good bargain is reached.

Music is something else. Much of it is kind of like club music with a weird twist. I get woken up every morning with hums and religious chanting. Kind of comforting in an odd way.

All in all, I highly recommend anyone to come and visit India. It is a great place. I will be back very soon and plan on visiting other countries in Asia as I have grown quite fond of this country.

To check out some photos from my trip to India you can visit here.

Marc Horne
HC Consulting Group