India's future success

While reading The World is Flat, it seemed as if India was a utopia for technology. I believed there was an abundance of well educated engineers seeking employment. These individuals were willing to conform to American norms; they changed their names and practiced speaking English eliminating their accent. These cooperative individuals also worked for less money than the average American would. In my mind, I was able to logic why so many firms from various countries, especially the United States, began to move parts of their business there.

However, after reading the article “India's successful high-tech world needs more workers” in the UsaToday I began to question India’s technological utopia. Many of the universities educating the eager young adults in India actually have no electricity, computers or even current text books. If the resources are not available to teach students about the most current trends in technology, how will they be able to work for a successful technology company in India? Do they only have the potential to work in call centers? Do you really need to understand technology to answer telephones? I envisioned many engineers in India working in more challenging sectors of the economy such as software design and programming.

According to the article India may face a shortage of available educated workers by 2010. “Indian schools churn out 400,000 new engineers, the core of the high-tech industry, every year — but as few as 100,000 are actually ready to join the job world, experts say” (Sullivan, 2006). If India does not have enough people to fill open positions in the technology firms, companies may be forced to find employees in other countries. People from other countries may not be willing to work for the same salaries as the people in India. While seeking educated employees from other countries such as Poland and the Philippines would flatten the world even further, it may increase the prices of goods and services in the technology industry.

Technology firms remain optimistic about the future of their industry in India, but only time holds the truth. Can India continue to grow as fast as the technology industry is changing?

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/industry/2007-04-06-india-workers_N.htm