Alan S. Horowitz

Do you tell IT insider jokes that users don't understand? Do you sprinkle technical jargon through discussions with business people? Do you find that you've usually got the right answer to any problem and you let everyone know it? If so, you may be something you didn't think you were: annoying.

Americans tend to view Mexico as a Third World country, which is technically the case. Less appreciated is Mexico's rank as the 11th-biggest economy in the world. With an important economy so close to the U.S., it's no surprise that Mexico is a player in the global market for IT outsourcing services.

You want to hire a hot-shot programmer or systems analyst, but given today's information technology skills gap...