I Worked in Bangalore (India) -- The Heart of IT Outsourcing

[Vehl]

10. Not sure

I'm sure there might be some who do not have computers at home, bt from my experience most of the IT workers in India do have a personal computer at home....often at lest a Desktop. Yes some might even share it with their family members, but in today's day and age its hard to find IT workers in India without computers of their own.

However, I do agree that not everyone is economically well off to have computers of their own, but at least amongst my generation (the ones who graduated from high school in mid 2000s) the amount of people who own a computer(and even personal laptops) are pretty high.Hell....more than half of my classmates seem to be on FB 24/7 .

I got my first computer when I was in 10th grade,however I was programming for at least an year then. Often this was the same for those of my generation...it was the era of the Pentium PC's and they were slowly making inroads into the subcontinental homes...nowadays kids get computers when they are in grade 1.lol.

You might wonder about the ability of a person who does not own a computer of his own to learn programming, and it is a valid concern. However, most of the developing world does not have as much disposable income as the US, and students have to make do with what they have. Often the ones who have a computer, and the ones who do not, both go to computer training centers to learn programming/computing skills. After their classes, they have "lab hours" where they get to use the computers in those training centers if they so wish. With good time management skills it's not impossible to get about 10-20 hours of computer time each week(often more). From my own experience based on the observation of my friends who did not own a computer, about 20 hours or so a week, of dedicated programming practice is more than enough to enable a person to become a good programmer. Also i have to stress that this is "on machine time", these students spend hours and hours more each week studying the textbooks and theory behind their subjects.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and the lack of computers have forced a lot of students to improvise new ways to brush up their skills. One of the most popular method during my school days was to write the code by hand, on a notebook/sheet of paper. This code is then given to a friend who would go over it, and try to spot any bugs, and vice versa. Its amazing how many bugs we can find just by going over code.When sch a written code is deemed "buggless" by peer review(lol often it still has a bunch of bugs which show up only when its compiled on a computer) and set aside to be compiled and run when the student gets his "computer time/access to a computer". Thus, in the day/days he/she has no access to a computer, the student will still be writing code, literally. He would then run all these accumulated programs the next time he has access to a computer. Due to limited computer time, a lot of students develop good coding habits...it also ingrains good software engineering principals. Instead of "just coding" without thinking much about the problem at hand, the lack of computer time forces students to put a lot of effort into the initial design and methodology of the program, as they often will not have time for multiple attempts in one day.

While I do agree that having access to a personal computer/laptop will definitely be a boon for students/programmers, it is not necessarily a deal breaker to have only limited access. Ive seen students here in the US college classes I attended fall asleep/play world of Warcraft/post on FB while the professor is lecturing on compiler design. Often these students also change their major and do something totally unrelated like psychology.As the old saying goes, if there is a will, there is a way.