In short: Writing software that actually does what the customer wants is really difficult when everybody is in the same building and communicates really well. When they’re half a world away it’s almost impossible.

On the ground outsourcing doesn’t have nearly the return people thought it would. And the market for good developers is still (even as the economy tanks) really strong as a result. I personally think it’s likely the Indian economy will become strong enough to provide a market for home grown companies to move from trying to get US business to servicing Indian clients. No data there, just some anecdotes from Indians I know.

I also came over from TNC’s place, and if you’d like to trade links, I’m glad to do it. Good work on getting into the blog game.

The Bangalore/Mumbai connection isn’t a big a worry to me down here among the weeds. I do have the math/physics stuff with my degree, which is indeed a big help. I also try to specialize in areas which need good English skills, like requirements gathering and project management. Hard to fake that, though some try.

Guy,

My main problem with theater is that I sucked. Work hard, make connections, just like anything else. Also, to quote David Mamet, having a fall back plan is a plan to fall back.