[dclowd9901]

You say this like it’s that easy. We have remotes working in Singapore and Australia, and it is a far cry from “easy” to work with these people either due to timing constraints, language barriers or other aspects that disrupt fluid communication.

[BeetleB]

> language barriers

Americans couldn't comprehend the perfect English spoken in these countries?

(Sorry - couldn't resist!)

Edit: In case people don't get it, it used to be a common joke that Americans had poorer English than well educated foreigners. Definitely for written, but even occasionally spoken English. I've worked with at least 3 people who were either from Singapore or from Malaysia but educated in Singapore. All had great English, and with 2 of them you'd never know you weren't speaking to a native English speaker - you'd think you were speaking to a British person.

[hkai]

Ay mate I couldn't catch ya?

[hedora]

Timezones are the biggest issue from what I’ve seen. People can learn English, and get used to video calls / written communication.

I wonder why more companies don’t outsource to Canada and South America (or the Midwest, for that matter.)

[kache_]

They do. I've been seeing a lot of remote companies hire aggressively within Canada.

[padiyar83]

I agree that is a concern with a US centric team. Imagine a globally distributed team - 3 engineers are in Asia pacific region, 2 in Europe and 2 in US. Everyone in the team is equally affected by timing constraints and language barriers, so it becomes more palatable. And in such a world even the notion of coming to US and working on an H1B visa does not exist.