Re:Crappy programmers (Score 3, Interesting)

This is true, and it's a problem which needs addressing. Keep in mind that they didn't say "yes" because they're ignorant, stupid, or bad coders. They may in fact be some or all of those things (which is a different issue), but those things are most likely not why they said "yes"; they did it because they're Indian.

Note that I say this not as an Indian but as an expat who's been in India for a bit more than a year now. There are ridiculously complex reasons why this behavior exists (it's a multi-thousand year-old culture with a billion people; nothing's simple), but the treatment of the summary of the precis of the cliff's notes (which is pretty much all a single year here will give you) is that the junior folks, especially those who have not worked for US companies before, make the assumption that if they're being asked to do something then it must be doable because the people in power asked them to do it. Or at the very least, they're not going to call out the people in power of for thinking that it's possible.

My advice? If you're working for a company which is running into this problem, make a very concerted effort to convince management to invest in Indian cultural training for your staff (both domestic and Indian) and ensure that management takes these classes as well. The cultural disconnect which exists between India and western countries in general (and the U.S. in particular) is huge, and throwing folks into a stewpot together and thinking things will just work is foolish.

Having been to India twice (once on short-term assignment with no cultural prep and now again on a long-term assignment with several days of cultural prep), I can tell you the training makes a world of difference.