Originally Posted by
Fanny Phelan
Andy RR, agree with much in your response, however I believe that you may be off the mark regarding low wage engineering in this instance.
Fanny, I base this on my own personal experience working on a high-technology (not-IT) product with a bunch of Indian engineers, many of them IIT grads. Some were really bright but most lacked a real-world easy familiarity with the modern "machinery" of life that allowed them to analyze engineering problems quickly and accurately - what I would term
good engineering judgement
A gross generalization perhaps, but IME whereas many "western" engineers would have grown up tinkering with stuff in the garage on weekends, even a familiarity with domestic gadgets like dishwashers, microwaves and vacuum cleaners, Indians seemed (to me) to live generally spartan lives, spend all their (very little) spare time going to the temple and with other long-standing family traditions. Almost none of them would get involved in DIY-type stuff.
I'm sure this will change with time and generations and that you can find contradictory examples (so can I) but this was my experience after working in India with them for a couple of years.
A