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Comment by MarkMc | Hacker News Reader

I have been seriously considering moving to India to set up an IT development shop for my UK company. It seems the bureaucratic path of least resistance is for my UK company to hire an Indian company to do the work. But I don't want to outsource the work - I want to be the lead programmer and have day-to-day management control.

So here's my proposed solution: I would say to an Indian accountant, "Please set up an Indian company which you own and are the director. The company would (a) rent an office of my choosing; (b) hire employees of my choosing; (c) pay the director's fees; (d) issue a contract to help me get a 5-year business visa. The company would make a profit of exactly zero because its sales to my UK company would exactly cover its costs."

Is this a reasonable approach?

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Why the development shop in India at all?

Is it just a cost benefit - cheaper developers?

Because there is some truth in "you get what you pay for". The ratio of good to bad programmers in India is the same as anywhere else[1]. But the pool is quite a bit larger than anywhere else, and there is a massive push of people into IT and IS because of the disproportionate pay. This combines to make very, very difficult to find significant talent[2]. It's comparable to the sudden influx of people into comp sci tracks in the US in the late 90s, but with a population base that's triple the size.

If you're looking for people to follow an exact, detailed, spec that you or other senior developer has written -- without exercising any independent though[3]; or if you have already located skilled individuals then it's worth going ahead.

Otherwise, make sure it's the right move for your business. The cost can easily run deeper than expenses. The talent is there, but you're going to have a hell of a time finding it if you don't have an connections.

[1], [2]: experience in hiring while working for a large US company that employed multiple large indian hiring mills, most notably TCS and InfoSys. [3] the vast majority of the remote hires out of India that I've worked with both at the company above, and subsequent employment.

Thanks for the feedback! I have other non-business reasons to be in India, but yes 'cheaper developers' is certainly one reason.

You are right that you generally get what you pay for, and I've heard numerous horror stories from foreigners who have tried to hire Indian workers. I have no IT-related connections and would be looking to hire programmers who show initiative and are capable of independent thought. That might sound impossible but I think it's worth a shot - I guess I'm trying to be the Oakland A's of software development [1]. If I couldn't find an excellent programmer in a year I would give up and go home, but even in that case I don't think I'd regret the experience.

[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1210166/

Cool, sounds like you're going in with eyes open and reasonable expectations.

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