Their rate was a fraction of teams in the US and communication was great.
Perfecting remote work during covid showed companies how easy it is to hire cheaper developers in other countries.
Yes means yes, no means no, "how was your weekend" and then down to business. It's a pleasure interacting with them.
Funny story, the lead on our Eastern European team told me a while back that he had to tell his team:
When the North Americans ask at the beginning of a meeting "How's it going?", they do NOT really want to know how you are doing. It's just social lubrication before getting to work.
Before that, we were getting to learn that their mother in-laws in town or different medical issues.
I can’t imagine ever working with India, etc again though. If you’re already eating the time zone cost Eastern Europe is much better.
Right. And this, IMO, is not a bad thing. We had a long, multi-year bubble and bubbles are not good for anyone. Deflating bubbles can be painful, but they are less painful than bursting ones.
And the current software bubble is deflating, not bursting -- there are still plenty (say, compared to the last 50 years average) of jobs where a good engineer comfortable with programming will make a very good living. So do still learn CS or SE in college, but as a minor to another STEM field. My 2c.
What other STEM field, if I may ask?
And, as a complement, pick up a "computer-ish" minor to learn how to make a machine do your bidding. My 2c.
It sure is. If I said that it is not it was a typo.
What I was saying is that today I see a non-CS STEM major plus a CS-like minor as a better ticket for an undergrad (who will enter the job market in the next 2-4 years) than a CS major. Which was not the case for the last almost 30 years, when a pure CS major gave many folks an excellent start. My 2c.