In my personal experience, I haven't come across a non-US trained programmer who lives up to my expectations.
One thing that I see frequently and deeply disturbs me is a trait I've seen among nearly all of the SE Asian and Indian developers I've met: they won't think for themselves.
I don't mean that they can't solve problems. No, they can eventually produce something that fits the bill most of the time. Rather, there is a deep-rooted cultural mindset that is dead-set against exploratory learning. It's a respect thing. Knowledge is considered something that is passed down to you from someone who is elder/wiser.
Americans, on the other hand, are very much geared towards asking questions and exploring them on their own. For example: an American student might not think twice about questioning what a teacher in school is saying. For an Indian student that is absolutely out of the question.
Maybe? Dunno? Just a thought.
P.S. This also explains "plz send me the codes" syndrome, where people flood a message board or blog with a similar plea and their email address.
What sample size of non-US trained programmers have you worked with?
I've worked with many from all parts of the world, including many SE Asian/Indian devs. And I can't think of one who I would qualify as 'not thinking for themselves'.
Of course, I wouldn't generalize this to all s/w devs from these countries, but I'd be willing to bet that the proportions are similar to devs from other countries.
Disclosure: I'm a 'non-US trained' programmer, having graduated from a Canadian university.
One thing that I see frequently and deeply disturbs me is a trait I've seen among nearly all of the SE Asian and Indian developers I've met: they won't think for themselves.
I don't mean that they can't solve problems. No, they can eventually produce something that fits the bill most of the time. Rather, there is a deep-rooted cultural mindset that is dead-set against exploratory learning. It's a respect thing. Knowledge is considered something that is passed down to you from someone who is elder/wiser.
Americans, on the other hand, are very much geared towards asking questions and exploring them on their own. For example: an American student might not think twice about questioning what a teacher in school is saying. For an Indian student that is absolutely out of the question.
Maybe? Dunno? Just a thought.
P.S. This also explains "plz send me the codes" syndrome, where people flood a message board or blog with a similar plea and their email address.