October 18, 2006
Trespassers will be Recruited

Nandan Nilekani can’t find enough talent over at Infosys. No one can. Employees are jumping from one firm to another, taking incremental raises and leaving projects half-done.
A Bangalore tech firm currently has a “trespassers will be recruited” sign on their front window.
The sign is hilarious. The global lack of talent? Not funny.
Somini Sengupta (my vote for NY Times MVP) tells us more in today’s paper:
As its technology companies soar to the outsourcing skies, India is bumping up against an improbable challenge. In a country once regarded as a bottomless well of low-cost, ready-to-work, English-speaking engineers, a shortage looms.
Here in San Francisco, we like to recite surveys about the poor education children receive in the US.
Many students are unable to name our Vice President. Or tell us whether Saddam or Osama were responsible for 9/11. Or, even when 9/11 happened.
Those of us who are Indian often talk about this with a sense of pride. Indian education is just far superior, we think to ourselves.
Think again:
A study commissioned by a trade group, the National Association of Software and Service Companies, or Nasscom, found only one in four engineering graduates to be employable. The rest were deficient in the required technical skills, fluency in English or ability to work in a team or deliver basic oral presentations.
read more> (registration required)

