NYC hit by nerd job rob (city $$ for Indian hires)

[OhioChick]

Another poster asked me to X-post this here.

June 28, 2009

It's a geek tragedy.

While the city vows to save and create jobs for recession-ravaged New Yorkers, one of its biggest contractors is importing techies from India, instead of hiring local computer nerds.

IBM won a $1.9 million contract with the Department of Finance to analyze its old main databases so they can be improved, but the company has transported "consultants" from Mumbai and other parts of India to do most of the work.

At least 17 employees hired by an IBM subsidiary in India have worked in New York since October, inspecting the city's computer systems, which hold property and other tax records, insiders said.

"It was a dream come true," said Sunny Amin, 25, who traveled from his Mumbai home to the Big Apple -- his first US visit.

Amin, who has an engineering degree from a college in Aurangabad, landed his first job with IBM-India.

While a bit lost at first, Amin said, he rented an apartment in Parsippany, NJ, and commuted by bus. After nine months on Wall Street, he's being sent to another IBM job, in Minneapolis, on his three-year work visa.

Amin would not reveal his pay but did say, "I make about 10 times more than I would in India."

In contract documents, IBM says it pays its technical consultants at rates ranging from $26.24 to $278 an hour, not counting travel and living expenses.

It could not be learned whether IBM pays its Mumbai recruits the same rates, though watchdogs say US firms hire thousands of workers from India because they come cheap. IBM did not return calls.

But Amin's fortune means US citizens get shut out of well-paying jobs, critics charge.

"It's like a slap in the face," said Robert Ajaye, president of Local 2627, a union of city-employed computer specialists. "We have people in house who could do this job."

Instead, he said, some city staffers have had to "translate" for Indian techies lacking English skills.

Finance spokesman Sam Miller defended the contract.

"Our systems are so old that there are not many companies that have the ability to work on them. IBM does," he said.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06282009/news/regionalnews/nyc_hit_by_nerd_job_rob_176570.htm

Fucking nice...

[-..__...]

1. Micheal Moores next project...

should involve the devastating effects outsourcing, H1-B visas and illegal immigration have had on this country and the economy.

[mamaleah]

10. I just don't see it.

H1B's, outsourcing, and employers who hire illegal immigrants and the illegal immigrants themselves seem to be a taboo subject. Can't touch it or else you will hear the kneejerk scream of "racist!".

Meanwhile, the UI rolls grow.

[PSPS]

2. "Our systems are so old that there are not many companies that have the ability to work on them"

Finance spokesman Sam Miller defended the contract.

"Our systems are so old that there are not many companies that have the ability to work on them. IBM does," he said.

What a crock. We "work on," "update" and "replace" systems that are thirty years old and older on a regular basis. Of course, we charge more than $26.24/hour for our work too. I'd bid the job sight-unseen with a 100% performance guaranty for $1.5 million because I know we could do it easily for that price.

IBM landed this $2 million contract, likely no-bid because the mental defectives at "Finance" decided only they could do it, and they'll spend maybe 10% of that on the actual work using imported Indian low-wage low-skill scabs. The other 90% can be divided up between shareholder profits, a big bonus for the IBM sales rep who pulled this fast one and his boss, political contributions, and a new set of gold-plated faucets for the executive washroom.

[SharonAnn]

3. IBM nearly always uses off-shore techies or h1-B staff for these jobs.

That's how they low-bid the job and still make money.

And, on some that I worked with, they failed - big time! Their much vaunted expertise turned out to be just clocking hours nd billing. There were no decent deliverables.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

5. I doubt any of them are H1-B

If the described individual is typical - their probably all on L-1 visas.

[ChromeFoundry]

4. Simple solution...

Dump IBM and go with a highly scalable solution running atop of Linux. A whole hell of a lot of citizens are qualified to do that job.

Didn't they just let go about 5000 employees earlier this year? I bet one of those unfortunate pink-slip recipients could have done this job... oh, wait... they actually have a family that needs to eat and live in a house...

[Egnever]

6. What I dont get is

How come if these Indian techs are so great. Why is the tech support they provide in the call centers over there so damn horrible. I have yet to get one on the phone that could solve any problem other than what my name and password is.

[OhioChick]

8. If you think that tech support is bad, try trying to fix their code.

:banghead:

[high density]

11. They aren't great

They are cheap and that is all that IBM, et al care about. There is no other reason to hire them. They are not brain trusts by any means, yet Microsoft, WIPRO, Satyam, and all the other H-1B whores would love congress to believe otherwise.

[Hannah Bell]

7. public jobs outsourced. can't make this stuff up.

[AndreaCG]

9. Typical of Bloomberg

He couldn't give a shit about working people. The reelection ads he runs practically 24/7 make me want to vomit. Unfortunately a lot of "Democrats" are supporting him.

[high density]

12. Systems are so old that nobody else can work on them

If an Indian that has been flown in from Mumbai can figure it out, I'm guessing people that the city already has on staff could probably figure it out as well. This shows the sort of problems that arise when you have people from finance making these decisions instead of the tech staff. It seems $1.9 million would've been a good down payment on new hardware plus a couple of savvy engineers to perform the data migration.