Chevron, BP, others moving work to the country, where engineers are paid salaries about a third or fourth of U.S. counterparts’
https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/big-oil-is-offshoring-its-prized-engineering-jobs-to-india-2e487fd0
Without paywall: https://archive.vn/xSXwW
11 replies (most recent on top)
Wael is a mo--n
that’s hilarious. the same thing happened with wipro, ping id/simaas/sso, mulesoft etc. i could go on forever
things go to india and then either everyone gives up on support even bothering to reply to emails(sso) or it comes back to better countries with skilled labor.
what’s going to really throw a wrench in things is ai permanently eliminating support roles or shrinking them enough to get the remaining responsibilities slapped onto another job. the idea that india will become a giant off of digital services is ridiculous. the demand for humans in digital services have already begun permanently shrinking. straight line down on a graph. silly thing to bet your country and career on.
you have to factor in that our ceo is a short-sighted self serving loon who treats the businesses like black boxes.
less money go in = good
… if same money come out.
no concern about if that can last.the only concern is numbers going down on paper.
the average shell ceo tenure is is 4 years and he’s 2.5 in. he will golden parachute into the sunset after making bonus on cost cutting targets. he won’t stay to see the real numbers and second order effects of literally doing nothing but cuts.
In shell, you’ll get told you’ve got some ‘free’ Tao support to do the boring/easy stuff from India. You say ok, contact them and they can’t do or help with anything. And they really don’t want to do anything without training etc. even though they’re supposed to be ready to work and take the jobs. You spend time training them for months and get zero benefit. Eventually you say no thanks to the ‘support’ and try to make move on, but the local people that had 20 years experience have been fired and it’s tough. Meanwhile they offer the useless people in Tao to another asset to get rejected a few months later. And Wael will no doubt talk about the big success of Tao and wrfm ‘standardisation’ cost savings yawn
What, is this a WSJ archive from 2005?
The truth is that the offices in India do the paper work that isn’t really needed. Smaller companies do that stuff a lot more efficiently. In big companies, Yes, they cost 25% of USA and 50% of uk head office staff, but contribute 10% of the equivalent full time work due to less experience and being out the loop. You also need to add in the fact they have to call people in the production locations for info all the time. So really, the cost saving is a big fat zero if not a cost!
you misspelled “cheaper”
Shell is still a bureaucracy compared to the Big Tech companies. If you're well networked at Shell, you don't need to worry too much about your job. There will be plenty of jobs for the next 10-20 years.
Good. India does enguneering better. It is Indian standard time to shine.
All this political huffing, puffing and posturing about bringing jobs back to the US is based on fantasy. Global synergies and economies of scale are, and have been, the future and will win out. Shareholders and investors demand returns, like it or not.
Today, engineering skills and expertise are becoming another commodity in a global economy so get ready.
The faithful will be up in arms if they have to pay $35/pair for the kiddies’ shoes at Walmart, made with 100% US materials and labor. Same for petroleum and petroleum products. $1.98/gallon for US gasoline? Dream on.
wow that’s crazy! shell employees had no idea that india was a growing job hub in the industry! what a truly remarkable insight