Russia may still lag behind IT-outsourcing powerhouse India, but its programmers are
seeing foreign contracts roll in The phrase "the Russians are coming" was popular
with then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan's anti-communist hawks throughout most
of the 1980s. Now, the warning is coming true, but not in the sense of threats
of destruction. Instead, the Russians in question are bearing advanced skills
in programming and other IT areas. And, what is more, Western companies and
institutes are waiting with open arms. The technical skills of Russian programmers
and scientists are so advanced and inexpensive that they are already leaving
footprints in space research, Silicon Valley and cyberspace, where Russian teenagers
won the World Cyber Games Championship in South Korea in 2002. Several global
corporate giants, including Microsoft, Siemens, Samsung, Boeing, Intel and several
other IT-related firms, have already set up offices in Russia, with Intel even
promising to triple its workforce here.
