AMERICAN - Quality Control at it's finest. Indians are cheap labor and not so good in Quality Control. Granted they can mass produce and get things down dirt cheap, but quality is lacking when you have to check all that much.
You are seriously going to be in hot water for asking this question. Way to fail dude. Now you're going to have a rampage of personal attacks... have fun with that!
Well it depends on their skills, qualifications, etc. If they were the exact same in all aspects I guess American, just because I'm American.
Oooh a nice controversial thread. If you say the American you'll be accused of hampering the economic growth of the Indian sub-continent. If you say the Indian you'll be accused of political correctness and exploitation of cheap labour. I say... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxmUKVrT0iI
It really depends... Would you prefer to hire a indian, that has 10 years experience, in lets say PHP? or some American teen with 1 year? Yes, maybe indians do not have the best English skills, yet..some do amazing work, including American workers. Yet, personally if an American and indian developer both had 10 years experience, i'd usually go for the American, since they'd have more understanding, and understand me better in general. I'm British btw.
Honestly, this is a stupid poll. Hire the person that is the most qualified and can work under your terms. Who the hell cares what their nationality is if they can do the job and do it well?
Whether if someone is capable or not doesn't depends AT ALL on his/her's nationality. An indian could be so well prepared as an american, and vice versa. In fact, between an experienced indian and an ignorand and naïve american, I'd choose the indian guy...
One of the major factors in me hiring a contractor, or in myself working for someone else is communication. All things being equal (skills, pay rate) I will hire or work for the person I can understand. I just finished being a team lead for a project that had developers in Russia, India, France, and America. Although my employer placed financial pressures on me, I was able to hire people in all four countries that had considerable skills and good communication.
I agree, but I think the question was more directed to the generalization of American and Indian labor. All countries have competent people it’s just a matter of whether you want to risk quality in cheap labor where details may be misunderstood vs. having somebody who speaks English in a fluent manner and can better understand your situation to produce exactly what you want/need. Also, I’m not saying India doesn’t have people who speak fluent English and can completely understand your situation to get the job done accurately; I’m just speaking in terms of the majority. The same thing goes for American labor, there are lazy and incompetent American workers who will not understand you and do a poor job; like I said, everything is being put in terms of the majority.