Walk down any street in Bangalore, India -- if you don't require a wide swath of personal space -- and you will hear practically every language from around the world. But you may have to listen hard because the traffic noise is tremendous and very difficult to get used to.
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It's not particularly a pretty city. Rather, it's like a typical American suburban town where the roadsides are filled with Pizza Huts, Mickey Ds, and the whole gamut of fast-food emporiums.
Regionally, Bangalore has historically been the Silicon Valley of India, says Rajul Garg, vice president of people and corporate development at GlobalLogic, though other regions such as Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Chennai all have a substantial technology workforce.
[ Use InfoWorld's interactive map to learn about 12 hot cities and 6 regions you should consider for tech jobs abroad. If you're thinking generally about India, learn more about India itself and its other tech hot spot, New Delhi. ]
What's hot: India has a paucity of specialized and experienced technicians and managers. Thus, they command high salaries comparable to what they would make in the United States.
According to Garg, the most exciting new trend is the rise of small to medium-size software companies innovating in India as well. It could be an Internet startup that establishes its own 20-person captive operation, says Garg -- a startup more often than not housed inside a global R&D provider like GlobalLogic. "These are truly the hot jobs since they offer the excitement of true product innovation combined with cutting-edge technology work," he says.
Foreigners, especially Americans, are attractive to Indian companies because they have great language skills and an acute sensitivity to the client point of view and customer service. In addition, says Garg, they have the domain skills India needs. If, for example, a company wants to build a health club, a local programmer may not have the kind of experience to understand that business.
Domain skills are at a premium, in other words. Other skills that are a real plus at the moment is a knowledge of Ruby, mobile technology, and streaming media.
U.S. and multinational tech companies: All the major software companies are in Bangalore, and companies such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Adobe have R&D centers there as well. In addition, the largest consulting firms have set up shop, including home-grown giants like Tata Consulting Services, Infosys, and Wipro, as well as American firms Accenture, Bearing Point, IBM Global Services, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
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