It Workforce In Thailand

[KM_FUBAR]

Hello,

I will start a branch office next year of a European IT software company in Thailand.

Does any of the forum members have experience with Thai IT people?

How good is their IT knowledge compared to Indian IT people?

Years ago the Thai government announced a cyberparadise in Phuket, is that idea still exsisting after the Tsunami?

brgds

[Khun Jean]

If the government meant you can sit on a beach with you laptop and have lovely ladies massage your feet and bring you cold drinks. Yes that sounds like cyberparadise. Who want to work in paradise anyway.

But seriously. Thai IT persons are often graduated and certainly have skills. It depends on the manager if he is able to speak Thai and explain the problem to be solved before any work can be done. If that manager will be you make sure you have those qualifications or at least have someone you trust that can do it for you.

Getting things done on time is somewhat problematic, that is what you have to focus on. Delegate good and good hearted and you will have loyal and hardworking employees.

[The Philosopher]

Hello,

I will start a branch office next year of a European IT software company in Thailand.

Does any of the forum members have experience with Thai IT people?

How good is their IT knowledge compared to Indian IT people?

Years ago the Thai government announced a cyberparadise in Phuket, is that idea still exsisting after the Tsunami?

brgds

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You are no doubt five years behind: Please read if you wish to be taken seriously

In English unbroken.

Next year I will be opening a European Software Company in Thailand. Do any of the Forum members have any experience of working with Thai IS professionals? (Yes it is now know as (IS Information Systems) not IT)

In reply to your enquiry you will not be accepted in Thailand as many Thais are more qualified and more experienced. Notwithstanding many can converse in joined up English.

Please do not see this as a personal attack just a demonstration of your how your approach and obvious limitations will be viewed.

[2 satang]

Hello,

I will start a branch office next year of a European IT software company in Thailand.

Does any of the forum members have experience with Thai IT people?

How good is their IT knowledge compared to Indian IT people?

Years ago the Thai government announced a cyberparadise in Phuket, is that idea still exsisting after the Tsunami?

brgds

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You are no doubt five years behind: Please read if you wish to be taken seriously

In English unbroken.

Next year I will be opening a European Software Company in Thailand. Do any of the Forum members have any experience of working with Thai IS professionals? (Yes it is now know as (IS Information Systems) not IT)

In reply to your enquiry you will not be accepted in Thailand as many Thais are more qualified and more experienced. Notwithstanding many can converse in joined up English.

Please do not see this as a personal attack just a demonstration of your how your approach and obvious limitations will be viewed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Maybe you write better English, however you do not understand the OP's question.

He wants to open an office in LOS, and is looking for Thai people.

He is, however, not looking for a job with an existing thai company.

Maybe pholophosy was your major ?

Please do not see this as a personal attack just a demonstration of how easily one can make mistakes.

just my 2 satang

[phuketsiam]

I've got over 6 years of experience working with Thai's in the IT/IS industry, what do you want to know

[pedro01]

My first piece of advice - ignore the ###### who's telling you that you can't say "IT" any more. He sounds like a frustrated nerd to me.

I still call it IT but then again after 18 years in the industry, old habits die hard.

I've been running an offshore development centre here for the past 4.5 years, before that I was regional technology director of a 4GL company, also in Thailand.

From your description - it's tough to tell what you'll be doing. Will you be selling software here & therefore be needing to set up professional services & support infrastructure ? Or will you be mainly developing and need to set up something similar to my current operation ?

What kind of skills will you be hiring, what kind of systems will you be developing ?

Thailand is well behind India in terms of skillsets - particularly English. So - India is cheaper & you get better staff BUT by moving to Thailand you have already made a massive saving over Europe/US. No-one wants to go to India which is why Thailand is a good choice for some. It's pretty easy to convince your EU/US staff to travel there on business.

The Phuket thing is a pipe dream - I'd forget about it. If you want the best people, you'd better sit yourself in Bangkok.

In fact - you'd better get yourself over to Bangkok anyway to brush up on things - start with Dr Rohm (sp?) at Software Park in Nonthaburi - he'll hook you up with the right people.

Cheers

Pedro

[KM_FUBAR]

My first piece of advice - ignore the ###### who's telling you that you can't say "IT" any more. He sounds like a frustrated nerd to me.

I still call it IT but then again after 18 years in the industry, old habits die hard.

I've been running an offshore development centre here for the past 4.5 years, before that I was regional technology director of a 4GL company, also in Thailand.

From your description - it's tough to tell what you'll be doing. Will you be selling software here & therefore be needing to set up professional services & support infrastructure ? Or will you be mainly developing and need to set up something similar to my current operation ?

What kind of skills will you be hiring, what kind of systems will you be developing ?

Thailand is well behind India in terms of skillsets - particularly English. So - India is cheaper & you get better staff BUT by moving to Thailand you have already made a massive saving over Europe/US. No-one wants to go to India which is why Thailand is a good choice for some. It's pretty easy to convince your EU/US staff to travel there on business.

The Phuket thing is a pipe dream - I'd forget about it. If you want the best people, you'd better sit yourself in Bangkok.

In fact - you'd better get yourself over to Bangkok anyway to brush up on things - start with Dr Rohm (sp?) at Software Park in Nonthaburi - he'll hook you up with the right people.

Cheers

Pedro

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks to all for the advice:

I wil still call it IT, for over 10 years I lived in SE Asia and never met anyone who did not understand me.

My story is: I have set up software operations in Singapore and India for a multinational corp, I met my Thai GF in Singapore and she travelled with me as much as she could until 1.5 years ago when I started my own IT sofware company in Belgium. She could not get used to the life in Belgium so she moved back to Asia and picked up with her old company and now works at Nestlé HQ in Bkk.

After 2 years of intence R&D we now have mastered a state of the art software that will be deployed in Europe and in three years will be also deployed to the US.

The R&D was done by Indian developers that we had transfered from India to Belgium on consultancy bases. The skillset of Indian IT people is much higer then any of the European. So for 2006 the only development still to be done is integration development and that is less demanding then what we did in R&D.

So thats when I came up with the idea of opening a branch in Thailand for many reasons, I could be with my GF again, I like the Thai people and the country.

My biggest worry will be do you find loyal Thay software developpers with the MS dotNET skilset?

Any way I will find my way eventually, and sorry to the people who take offence to the way I write in English, IT = Information Technology....

[phuketsiam]

lots of dotnet developers in Bangkok, you will struggle to find good people in Phuket, also internet, infrastructure is much better in BKK, but be prepared for the traffic. Not do difficult to find english speaking Thai's, but be prepared to pay more, as for loyalty, depends on how you treat them, Thai's tend to change jobs frequently, but if they have a good reason to stay ...., same as any other country where IT skills are in demand

[think_too_mut]

I can only talk about system engineering and break-fix in Thailand.

My company has an office there, supporting big names like BKK Bank, Kashikorn, THAI, Siam Cement, GM, Toyota, Nissan, Lotus...

The skills of the local staff are OK, they all received corporate training.

Through a personal friendship with one of our Sys Engs there I know what problems they face and how they slolve them. Quite OK.

I would say they would work out of the box in Oz or anywhere in the West.

As for developers, I would agree with other posters that India has much more capacity in that regard.

With Unisys, 15 yrs ago, whenever I dug through the source code there were mostly Indian names in revision control. Same with HP-UX.

A cost factor: if a call comes to our headquarters, on average, solved at level 1 it would cost us 127US$.

When it comes through India, solved within the same timeframe, it cost only 2.47US$. No customer interaction in neither case, only automatic dial-home from the servers.

[Butterfly]

If you guys think that Indians are good and cheap developers, then you need a reality check. Indians might be good for call centers but they are absolutely crap when it comes to design and developing software. Many US and Euro companies have come back from India with their big projects because they were big disappointment and total cahos to manage. The Indians will tell you anything to get those contracts and then when they have them, they will piss on them. I have a few nightmare stories and scams involving big names like IBM, Motorolla etc...

Now, why would you want to go Thailand for IT ? their infrastructure sucks, their IT people are a little behind and difficult to manage, and they are not cheap because of those factors.

Now China is another game. Even though talented engineer would go as high 2000 dollars a month, their IT people are cheap and they want it BAD. For those in this industry, it's time to think career change because the Chinese are ruthless and they will leave no casualties behind

[~G~]

Now China is another game. Even though talented engineer would go as high 2000 dollars a month, their IT people are cheap and they want it BAD. For those in this industry, it's time to think career change because the Chinese are ruthless and they will leave no casualties behind 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Writing algorithms and manufacturing T-shirts is hardly the same thing.

In software, creativity, not cheap labour, is the name of the game. 100 cheap IT people cannot do the work of one inspired and gifted software engineer.

Having said that, I did see some very talented Chinese developing cutting edge stuff. However, these people spent years in western universities before being able to do that.

[phuketsiam]

Both the Chinese and the Indians have the numbers behind them, if you can find them they both have very talented software people, the trick is finding them. Thailand is much smaller and as such have less of a pool to draw from, I think tho the average developer in Thailand is better than the average Indian from India (as opposed to western educated, western born etc) Vietnam is developing these skills rapidly I hear

[Butterfly]

Now China is another game. Even though talented engineer would go as high 2000 dollars a month, their IT people are cheap and they want it BAD. For those in this industry, it's time to think career change because the Chinese are ruthless and they will leave no casualties behind 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Writing algorithms and manufacturing T-shirts is hardly the same thing.

In software, creativity, not cheap labour, is the name of the game. 100 cheap IT people cannot do the work of one inspired and gifted software engineer.

Having said that, I did see some very talented Chinese developing cutting edge stuff. However, these people spent years in western universities before being able to do that.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

These days it seems that the Chinese are covering everything, from clothes to high tech.

The general experience is that between Indians and Chineses, the choice is clear. You don't want the Indians.

[The Philosopher]

If you guys think that Indians are good and cheap developers, then you need a reality check. Indians might be good for call centers but they are absolutely crap when it comes to design and developing software. Many US and Euro companies have come back from India with their big projects because they were big disappointment and total cahos to manage. The Indians will tell you anything to get those contracts and then when they have them, they will piss on them. I have a few nightmare stories and scams involving big names like IBM, Motorolla etc...

Now, why would you want to go Thailand for IT ? their infrastructure sucks, their IT people are a little behind and difficult to manage, and they are not cheap because of those factors.

Now China is another game. Even though talented engineer would go as high 2000 dollars a month, their IT people are cheap and they want it BAD. For those in this industry, it's time to think career change because the Chinese are ruthless and they will leave no casualties behind 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for your comments and the reality check - WELL DONE - Us Nerds are Reality and always will be. Today it is IS tomorrow who knows - keep in touch or but out -But do not encourage dinasours to become fossils

[britmaveric]

Chinese/Vietnamese would be best sort of employees. India is known for their scripted call centers.

[jimbob]

Hello,

I will start a branch office next year of a European IT software company in Thailand.

Does any of the forum members have experience with Thai IT people?

How good is their IT knowledge compared to Indian IT people?

Years ago the Thai government announced a cyberparadise in Phuket, is that idea still exsisting after the Tsunami?

brgds

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Phuket is the IT hub of Thailand outside of Bangkok.

But the infrastructure is stretched. Water and Electric supply work but have the potential to meltdown.

Broadband is a joke. My IT guy told me there is only one cable/hub/whatever they call it connecting Phuket to the mainland. And onyl some parts of the island can have phones and ADSL.

Phone and Mobile systems are also overcapacity.

Penang is meant to be great for IT and infrastructure but less nightlife.

Phuket is OK for for business if you set up right. Bureacracy is a nightmare all over Thailand.

[phastmike]

If you guys think that Indians are good and cheap developers, then you need a reality check. Indians might be good for call centers but they are absolutely crap when it comes to design and developing software. Many US and Euro companies have come back from India with their big projects because they were big disappointment and total cahos to manage. The Indians will tell you anything to get those contracts and then when they have them, they will piss on them. I have a few nightmare stories and scams involving big names like IBM, Motorolla etc...

Now, why would you want to go Thailand for IT ? their infrastructure sucks, their IT people are a little behind and difficult to manage, and they are not cheap because of those factors.

Now China is another game. Even though talented engineer would go as high 2000 dollars a month, their IT people are cheap and they want it BAD. For those in this industry, it's time to think career change because the Chinese are ruthless and they will leave no casualties behind 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

At last, someone that knows what he's talking about.