THE DIN OF OVER A 1,000 ATTENDEES crowding the halls of the event location could be heard quite a distance away. The first ever fair of its, siliconindia organized the “Jobs in India” career event for Indians in the U.S. It started off as a small trickle, and a few companies in the services business were interested in looking at the resumes that would come in. Eventually, word got around, and the project suddenly blew out of size, attracting heavy weights like Microsoft, Intel, Cadence, Synopsys, National, Veritas, Adobe and a host of others.

The presence of such big names started attracting registrants and the attendee list grew exponentially as the day drew near. Two days before the Santa Clara event, online registrations were closed. And yet, there were more who wanted to get in and meet the companies.

As the first ever event that was held in the U.S., this career fair managed to deliver to the participants three key information: job opportunities, new technologies, compensation and lifestyle issues. Chidanand Rajghatta at the Times of India wrote, “...In the mid-1990s, the hot topic of conversation was the stock market boom. In the late 1990s, it was start-ups. Then it was the melt down. Now everyone is talking of relocating back to India...” The topic was a true reflection of the state of the economy and the reality of the emerging powerhouse India.

Arjun Batra, Manager of the Intel India Development Center, who was a panel speaker at the career factory, extols the virtues of a Silicon Valley-replica of Intel’s development center in Bangalore. Intel, he says, is committed to the IIDC and is expanding the facilities to a 43-acre campus in the next few years. Batra says that Intel is willing to relocate any interested applicant, and assures that the work done out of India is viewed intrinsic to the global office’s development work. Jayant Nagda of Synopsys claimed that the Synopsys India office could throw many hundred CPUs for every designer in its offices. “There is virtually no difference between working in the U.S. and in India. The technology is cutting edge, the work is in real time and for leading development work, not just support,” says Nagda.

Amit Zavery, director at Oracle was very clear on the kinds of resumes he was looking for. “Pure coders won’t get much response, but if the applicant has management skills, product lifecycle experience and so on, Oracle will be very interested in this person.”

Veritas was overwhelmed with the response. The company seeks to hire over 200 people for its office in India and was hoping to find a few matches. The staffing people from Veritas claimed that with the responses they got from the Santa Clara fair, they had enough and more to fulfill that 200-people need.

Slated to be held in August in Chicago, the career fair has brought to light what has always been a doubtful thought in an applicant’s mind: India is hiring. Not just junior level, but mid- to very senior level experience. Applicants were asked if they could relocate in 30 days!

As Rajghatta says, “...According to Indian tech-heads in the U.S., typically people who have family issues in the India tend to head back first. There is also a large constituency of people whose temporary work visas (H-1B) are set to expire after six years and who have not moved into the Green Card category.

The compensation ranges from one-fourth of U.S. salary to even half, enough they believe for a comparable lifestyle in India...”

While many came to just see what offers were being made, many of them left with appointments of follow-up. “The event is incredible,” said an attendee who had flown in from Florida. “I had always wanted to go back to India, but did not have access to the kinds of opportunities or companies. This event was an exploratory one for me. I had come to see if there was any work for me, and now I am going back to see if I can sell my house in Tampa. I have a definite offer and I see no reason why I should not be heading back.”

Many of the companies have attracted strong resumes, from their multi-location offices. “Work today is not restricted to geographic borders,” says Anupam Bhide of CalSoft. “We expect these people to come to the U.S. often and possibly for long spells if the projects grow. Not just the U.S., these people could travel around the world. We seek their senior experience in aiding our company’s growth.” The issues are significant because many potential Indian returnees seek to retain a toe-hold in the U.S. while they test the waters in India.

Sequence Design’s VP, Sushil Chandra urged senior designers to consider his company, as Sequence expands into a wholly-owned subsidary in Noida, near New Delhi. “We saw some terrific resumes, and I am more than happy to talk to these people,” says Joyce Lee, HR manager at Sequence. Chandra expects to shift increasingly responsible work to India, even as Sequence is expaning its portfolio.

What was unthinkable a deace ago is now happening. While the U.S. still remains a hotbed for invention and exciting work, India has emerged a strong player in the space, especially now, by attracting U.S.-experienced talent back home.

Is the brain drain coming a full circle? Maybe not. But it sure is showing signs of it in the coming years.