InfoWorld's guide to following your job overseas These days when you think of high tech overseas, India is usually top of mind. And for most people, the first Indian city associated with high tech is Bangalore. But although Bangalore has historically been the “Silicon Valley” of India, says Rajul Garg, vice president of people and corporate development at GlobalLogic, other regions such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Chennai all have a substantial technology workforce.Hyderabad is always looking for strong .Net skills because Microsoft is there and you will find a ready market for .Net skills. The city of Noiter is big for telecommunications skills.[ Use InfoWorld’s interactive map to learn about 12 hot cities and 6 regions you should consider for tech jobs abroad. This region’s hot cities: Bangalore and New Delhi. ]Foreigners, especially Americans, are attractive to Indian companies because they have great language skills and a greater sensitivity to the client point of view, otherwise known as customer service skills. In addition, Garg says, they have the domain skills India needs. If, for example, a company wants to build a health club, a local programmer may not have the kind of experience to understand the business requirements of that type of enterprise. Other skills that are a real plus at the moment are knowledge of Ruby, mobile technology, and streaming media.Salaries range from $5,000 a year to $100,000 a year, a range much wider than Americans are used to. India has a paucity of specialized and experienced technicians and managers with domain-level experience under their belt. Thus, they command high salaries, comparable to U.S. levels.The cost of living varies widely as well, although one can get by cheaply if needed. New Delhi is one of the most expensive cities in India along with Mumbai and Bangalore, Garg says. “The beauty of going to India is you can live like a millionaire. You can have a chauffeur, a cook, a nanny for each kid, and do all of that just as a programmer,” he notes. Americans also benefit from India’s colonial past: “In a country as diverse as India, speaking English is the only way a northerner can talk to somebody in the south,” Garg says.There’s a range of ways to get into India, from coming into the country with a backpack and a tourist visa to signing up with one of the big consultancies like Tata, which has a policy to regularly send its U.S. employee to India and other countries so they get a better understanding of different cultures and markets. A work permit is required, although getting one is trivial. “If you were to show up on a tourist visa and say you are looking for a job we would fix the rest,” Garg says.Most of the major software companies are there and companies like Adobe, Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo all have R&D centers as well. In addition, the largest consulting firms have all set up shop: Accenture, Bearing Point, IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Siemens, and Unisys are all there. There are also the home-grown giants: Infosys, Tata, and Wipro. But, according to Garg, the most exciting new trend is the rise of small to medium software companies doing their innovation work in India. It could be an Internet startup that set up its own 20-person captive operation, says Garg, more often than not housed inside a global R&D provider such as GlobalLogic. “These are truly the hot jobs since they offer the excitement of true product innovation combined with cutting edge technology work,” Garg says.If you’re looking for after-hours fun Mumbai probably has the most active nightlife. It houses the Indian version of Hollywood and is Los Angeles-like in that sense, Garg says. New Delhi comes second.New Delhi is probably the closest to a western city in India, with a better infrastructure in terms of living conditions and transportation. New Delhi also has the largest nightclub in the country. Pune, Hyderabad, and Chennai tend to be more conservative. Going to the movies remains probably the No. 1 source of entertainment there. Pune, however, has many good universities and so has a young student population. “What makes a good night life is the universities,” Garg says.Prospective employees should seek out employers that provide background on the history, politics, and culture of the people, and tell them what day-to-day living is like. “It makes a difference,” says Sangeeta Gupta, a partner in Gupta Consulting Group, which consults on doing business on an international level. Careers