Things to consider before you hire Indian programmer
I’m writing this post after recently having some problems with Indian programmers hired by my client to be my coworkers. My filings were so bad that I started to ask my Indian friends what do they think about their countrymen. Things I have heard made my hair gray instantly. Here are two examples what you can expect.
Fake experience
Sandhya (one of my Indian friends) said that about 70% of Indian programmers put a lot of fake experience in their resumes. So when you came to the point of reviewing ones:
- sum the years of experience. If it turns out that the guy started to work as a programmer when he was 8 years old, the big red lamp should go off in your head. Off course it is possible that he was working for couple companies at the same time – but it also isn’t good forecast of good cooperation.
- Always, I repeat always, check that experience with their employers. 5 minutes spent on a phone call can save you a lot of nerves in the future.
- Ask about examples of their work. They usually are very cooperative and show you a lot of code. I won’t tell you how the good code should look like – if you have any good programmer you know – compare the styles.
Switching people during phone interview
So you think you are smart, because you called him and from what he told he it looks like he is a good programmer? Are you sure that you were talking with the person you want to hire?
And finally remember the golden rule:
Only poor people can afford cheap things.
Technorati Tags: Indian programmers, bad, Fake
That’s just as likely with any person you may hire though.
I’ve known programming companies who hire people and asl for “ideally someone who programs in X” where X is a language that does not exist just to weed out the fakers. :roll:
I like that you provide advice though (i.e., add up the years in someone’s resum??©) and not just rant, it’s the mark of a good blogger. You can have a place on my blogroll ;)
My own experience leads me to agree with you.
However, it’s very important for you to not sterotype.
For example, going with the title of your post, I could ask you to consider her skill set before you question your friend Sandhya. Like the other programmers you interview, and like me she is Indian too, right?!
There is such a demand of programmers in India that even medicore ones can easily get hired and it takes months to remove a wrong-hire.
Still, that does not mean that there are more good programmers in India compared to all programmers in total in many other countries. So interview smart.
the key point is the interview,
give the candidate a white board and ask hime to write simple code ,like reversing a linked list ,or finding a substring.
Guess what ,fakes cannot easily pass thru easily when ur interview becomes more practical orineted.
and dont be skewed by seeing the certificates of the candidate
This works :grin: