It remains the mystery at the heart of Boeing Co.’s 737 Max crisis: how a company renowned for meticulous design made seemingly basic software mistakes leading to a pair of deadly crashes. Longtime Boeing engineers say the effort was complicated by a push to outsource work to lower-paid contractors.
The Max software – plagued by issues that could keep the planes grounded months longer after U.S. regulators this week revealed a new flaw – was developed at a time Boeing was laying off experienced engineers and pressing suppliers to cut costs.
Increasingly, the iconic American planemaker and its subcontractors have relied on temporary workers making as little as $9 an hour to develop and test software, often from countries lacking a deep background in aerospace – notably India.
In offices across from Seattle’s Boeing Field, recent college graduates employed by the Indian software developer HCL Technologies Ltd. occupied several rows of desks, said Mark Rabin, a former Boeing software engineer who worked in a flight-test group that supported the Max.
The coders from HCL were typically designing to specifications set by Boeing. Still, “it was controversial because it was far less efficient than Boeing engineers just writing the code,” Rabin said. Frequently, he recalled, “it took many rounds going back and forth because the code was not done correctly.”
And Apple wants to move phone manufacture there? Good luck.
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[–] 19458111? ago
I can confirm this in Australia. They keep the white people out and hire the shitskins only but of course they are inept and ended up ruined many businesses.
t. Aussie
[–] 19482634? ago
I can confirm also. As an Australian mathematics and computer science lecturer, Indians all slip through programming without error checking. This problem is both from reducing standards (allowing people to still pass without comleting necessary skills) and that Indians are frequently caught plagarising or hiring others work from them.
[–] 19489784? ago
Aus STEM undergrad here. Whilst a small percentage are up to standard and have westernized okay, the overwhelming majority of pajeets in my school are indolent street shitters, naive milchcows for the education industrial complex. Being compelled by the school to collaborate with them has been a valuable education in equality politics. This i am thankful for.