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Kind of. If the call center started paying dramatically more, it would solve its hiring problems overnight. In fact, customer service quality would go through the roof as IIT grads and extremely smart folk joined.

Then Google, IBM, et al in India would be starving for talent.

On a micro scale you are correct - the hiring problems are a function of how much they are willing to pay. But that's not really the crux of the problem - the problem is that, on any pay scale, the supply of competent/qualified people is smaller than the demand.

That's the way I've experienced it in the US anyhow. If you want a software engineer and are willing to pony up a lot of cash, you will find someone good. This doesn't change the fact that the supply pool is still woefully undersized relative to the demand.



My disagreement with this perspective is that demand is measured in dollars, not desire. The perception of a problem in the supply pool is a problem with the quality expectation (or need) per dollar of salary, rather than a problem in the workforce itself.

I think that programming is just at a difficulty level where employers really either have to spend the money, or realize that their business model really isn't viable if it depends on a large supply of competent $36K programmers.




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