Why I think Google’s move matters
I read the recent coverage that suggests Google (Alphabet) is quietly assembling a very large presence in Bengaluru — leasing and optioning some 2.4 million square feet that could house as many as 20,000 people Times of India and Economic Times / Bloomberg. That headline — an "India plan" to counter rising friction in H-1B hiring — is shorthand for a much larger strategic logic. I want to explain that logic in plain terms, reflect on why it matters for engineers and managers, and connect it back to ideas I've written about before.
The simple case for the pivot
- U.S. work-visa pathways are more uncertain and more expensive than they were a few years ago. Consular delays, extra vetting and policy changes are already disrupting travel and renewals for many visa holders (India Today; Hindustan Times).
- Bringing large engineering teams directly to India reduces the cost, friction, and legal risk of moving talent onshore. It also gives companies direct access to deep pools of technical skills without the lottery, paperwork risk, and travel risk that come with cross-border sponsorship.
- Office-scale commitments — long leases, multi-tower campuses — are a signal that this is not a temporary fix. If implemented, such moves change hiring geography in a durable way.
What this means for engineers and leaders in India
- Opportunity: More senior, high-impact engineering roles — including AI, chip design, core infra, and product domains — will be built where the people already are. That means better career ladders, richer role variety, and higher-paying innovation work available locally.
- Choice: For professionals weighing relocation versus staying local, the calculus shifts. Staying in India can now mean parity of technical challenge and, in many cases, competitive compensation without the uncertainty of visa churn.
- Mobility & bargaining power: Local hiring at scale strengthens negotiating positions. Teams that used to be limited to support or commodity work can now own product features and IP from day one.
What this means for the global tech ecosystem
- Decentralization of talent: Talent will be distributed more evenly. The old binary — move talent to where the work is, or accept limited scope locally — is dissolving.
- Organizational design will change: Companies will need to rethink collaboration norms, leadership development, and career paths across time zones and cultural contexts.
- U.S.-based hiring windows will still matter for some roles (security, certain legal/regulatory functions), but much of R&D and product engineering can happen anywhere with good management and tooling.
A pragmatic playbook for engineers and teams
- If you are an engineer in India: look beyond job titles that historically were labeled “offshore.” Ask about product ownership, release responsibilities, and roadmap influence.
- If you are an engineer in the U.S. on a visa: know that employers will try to retain critical talent — but the options may include local transfers, hybrid setups, or roles that keep critical work in-country. Plan contingencies: skill breadth, networking, and exploring second-country residency options if that matters to you.
- If you are a manager or leader: design roles that are compelling regardless of location. Invest in distributed collaboration, synchronous overlap hours, and leadership training that works across cultures.
Where I’d place this in a wider arc
This is not entirely new. Long ago I wrote about the resilience and reinvention capacity of India’s technology workforce and argued that global talent strategies would adapt to policy shifts (my earlier essay on how Indian IT must re-invent itself). What feels different now is scale: when a handful of large employers pivot substantial engineering headcount, the effect is systemic rather than incremental.
I see three likely medium-term outcomes:
- A permanent expansion of high-end roles in India, especially in AI and cloud infrastructure.
- Faster career progression opportunities at home for local engineers, reducing the automatic aspiration to relocate.
- A more multipolar tech landscape, where breakthroughs and ownership occur in more places than just a few coastal cities.
My final, practical thought
Policy shockwaves — travel disruptions, higher costs, longer backlogs — are inconvenient for companies and painful for people. But they’re also accelerants for change. If companies are serious about product and talent, they’ll invest in local leadership, build meaningful career ladders in-place, and treat global offices as centers of innovation, not just delivery nodes.
For the engineers reading this: your choices matter. The purest path to a fulfilling career is less about physical geography and more about the scope of work, the ownership of problems, and the ecosystems you join. If more of that scope can happen in India, that should be celebrated, not mourned.
Regards,
Hemen Parekh
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