Facebook hires software engineers from India to fill US posts

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Facebook hires software engineers from India to fill US posts - The Times of India



MUMBAI: Facebook, the world's largest social networking site, is doing something that no domestic or multinational company has done before - hire software engineers from India for positions based in the United States.

Typically, global firms such as IBM and GE hire in India for positions here and send some of these recruits abroad for specific projects. However, Facebook's open invitation in a newspaper advertisement last week seeking applicants "to work in the US" is being regarded as a first.

"It is unusual and I haven't seen anything like this," said Sharad Sharma, the chair of industry body Nasscom's software product forum. The advertisement in The Times of India pointed applicants to an online coding challenge for 86 open positions in software engineering in Chicago, Dublin ( Ireland), New York and Seattle.

Those who solved the puzzles were promised a phone interview. The online test is being done in partnership with InterviewStreet, a startup founded by Vivek Ravhishankar, a graduate of the National Institute of Technology in Tiruchirapalli. Facebook is a client of InterviewStreet.

Facebook declined to comment for this story. The California -based company has filed for an initial public offering which is expected to value it at around $100 billion. India, where it has some 46 million users, is one of its fastest-growing markets and an important source of talent.

Facebook has a development centre in Hyderabad and last year it hired an NIT-Warangal graduate for its office in Palo Alto in a campus interview. Ajit Isaac, chief executive at Ikya Human Capital, a Bangalore-based HR solutions company, was of the view that Facebook might have conducted a survey to find out what kind of people work well at their company.

"The desired results at their Hyderabad office might have made them to hire some talent for the US." Ganesh Shermon, country head for the human capital practice at the Indian arm of audit and advisory KPMG, described Facebook's move as an "interesting development" if the company is willing to get those hired from India a work permit.

According to Prabhakaran Murugaiah, founder and CEO at Corp-Corp, a Virginia-based technology staffing company, companies hiring from India for jobs based in the US is rare, but this will probably increase because of talent shortage in the world's largest economy. "Unemployment in the technology space is only 3.7%, which is virtually zero talent available for the current skills in demand," he said.

"The current wave and exponential growth in cloud, mobile, big data and IT security will create several thousands of jobs in next 6 to 18 months." IT services and business process outsourcing firms employ some 2.5 million people in India and are stepping up hiring in the US in the face of strong sentiment against offshoring of jobs.

Facebook's hiring plan and its ability to get the India hires work permits will happen in the backdrop of complaints by domestic software firms about higher visa scrutiny.

 

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NIT-Allahabad student bags Rs 1.34-cr Facebook offer

You may not have heard of the Allahabad-based Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT). But Mark Zuckerberg's social networking giant, Facebook, has.

Facebook has 'liked' an MNNIT student and made him a job offer with an annual pay package of Rs 1.34 crore ($262,500), the biggest offer ever made at the institute, so far. The earlier high when Facebook hired at a crore-plus salary was in 2010 when it picked up an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras student at an annual package of Rs 1.7 crore.
P Chakrabarti, director, MNNIT, said generally average salary offers at the institute are Rs 12 lakh with exceptions of Rs 19-20 lakh annual packages at times.
"This is the highest in the recent past. We have approached Facebook in the past also, but this time the student could clear the nine rounds of interviews over the phone," said Chakrabarti.

Facebook has been recruiting students from technology institutions in India, especially IITs. This is the first time it has recruited someone from NIT. Chakrabarti refused to divulge details of the student citing privacy reasons. The student, said the director, would join Facebook in June after his final examination.

Many core companies, in addition to software companies such as Microsoft, Amazon and Adobe among others, have visited the campus to recruit students this year. The institute has 850 students across 11 branches and 820 have been placed. The 45-year-old institute is funded by the Union ministry of human resource and development. Inspired by this success, director of the institute is planning to rope in the British Council to provide professional and social skills to the students.

"Our students have sound technical knowledge. But being a government institution, we get students from all strata of society; some from very poor families. Thus, general feedback from companies is that students are technically very sound, but have poor professional skills. We need to address that issue," said Chakrabarti.

He took over as director 10 months ago and is planning to develop the institute and its infrastructure. There are a little over 30 NITs in the country. An average NIT funding is Rs 50 crore. On an average, they also receives Rs 20-25 crore under the World Bank-funded Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme.

Facebook thinks Indians are smarter than Americans | Firstpost



Getting a job with a multinational company and then getting sent abroad for a project is something many Indians dream about. But now a lucky few are going beyond mere projects and getting posted overseas!

The move has been introduced by Facebook, which is doing something that no other company has done before. The social networking site is hiring Indians for positions based in the United states, reported The Times Of India.

Last week, in a newspaper advertisement, Facebook asked for applications from software engineers who wanted to be a part of the company in the US.

Facebook, is doing something that no other company has done before. Reuters
Facebook has a development centre in Hyderabad and last year it hired an National Institute of Technology (NIT)-Warangal graduate for its office.

Reports suggest that companies hiring Indians for jobs based in the US is rare. Why then is Facebook hiring them?

Is it because there is a dearth of talent in the US? Well, that’s what Prabhakaran Murugaiah, founder and CEO at Corp-Corp, a Virginia-based technology staffing company tells TOI.

He says, “companies hiring from India for jobs based in the US is rare, but this will probably increase because of talent shortage in the world’s largest economy.”

So, can we now firmly conclude that Indians are smarter than America