Few American Jobs are Safe from Outsourcing

Doesn't surprise me.. I cannot understand why people aren't up in arms about this issue. I hate to use the frog in warm water because it's so overused but it applies. Why are citizens just standing by and letting this happen? Not only are we losing jobs here but the largest stream of income for Mexico is the dollars that are being sent back to Mexico from the illegal workers here. We are allowing our country to be taken over by nothing other than ILLEGALS.. which is unheard of anywhere else in the world. The argument that the US is a nation of immigrants is an empty argument as it can be applied to most any other nation in the world.

Look at California, Californians are voting with their feet. Soon there will be no place to run to.

If you're a plumber, electrician, construction worker, contractor, bricklayer, you're secure for now.

No you're not ... check out most any construction site - bring your Spanish Dictionary.

Jobs requiring security clearances can't be outsourced.

That's true for now. However, there are lobbyists in Washington right now working feverishly to have that requirement changed. Their arguments:
1) "It'll save the government lots of money." (It won't)
2) "To which of your PACs, should I write the check?"

These same agruments persuaded Congress to allow the Defense Industry consolidation of the past decade.

You're right! What's wrong with utilizing coal, oil, etc
if you do it intelligently.

Indeed, The computer industry has seen the worst wage infaltion ever(in my experience). The jobs of these $60, $70, and $80K computer experts can be done by any highschool computer geek. When the FBI arrests some hacker its always a 17 yearold, who knows the system he's hacking better than the $75K IT Specialist who built it.

Indeed, The computer industry has seen the worst wage infaltion ever(in my experience). The jobs of these $60, $70, and $80K computer experts can be done by any highschool computer geek.

When companies require a degree before they will even talk to a potential emplyee, it usually means that the worker enters the workfoce with a burden of debt to pay off. It doesn't make sense to pay $50,000, or whatever, for a $24,000 a year job.

Thank you for the post. This is a GROWING problem in this country. We need enough concerned patriots to turn this around. I had to quit my professional job and find something else because my job was going overseas. Now, I am working with someone on a visa and this person is handing me resumes for their Asian family members to take more jobs from Americans. I'm sorry that they don't live in a capitalist society but is that our fault? I believe that they don't understand what makes the American way work so well. We need to keep the American way ALIVE for our children and grandchildren. Join the fight. There are several sites that fight these issues one is http://www.usfairtrade.com

Outsourcing is an experiment, it works or it doesn't. In the IT industry it isn't working, bad codes cost the company money. In the call center area, bad customer service is costing the companies money. The trend is shifting. It's still scary, but it's shifting.

I share your optimism, but understand those still in the "doom and gloom" mode. Losing your job sucks. And having newpapers and industry rags tell you your entire field is going away makes it worse.

However, those of us who have been involved in offshored IT work, and compared the actual result to the laughable PR image can spot this as a fad. A painful fad, but a fad nonetheless.

If you measure the value of IT in terms of productivity, quality, and speed to market, no one offshore can touch American IT workers. If you measure IT value in terms of hourly billing rates, then by all means send the work offshore. Just don't be surprised when your marketshare shrinks and your investors demand the head of the idiot who made the offshoring decision.

PING!

I respectfully disagree (to a certain degree)...especially since you sort of just put down my career. I am an 18+ year veteran in the IT industry. Its very competitive. You either keep up with technology or lose out. It cost money to keep up. And because the industry doesn't have many standards, you will find a vast array of programming languages, system platforms, hardware configurations, network schemes, etc. Most 17 year old hackers are focused on one thing in their infantile experience... how to get around network security protocols.

I would agree that there might be facets of my job that a 17 year old computer geek could accomplish, but there are many more facets of my job that I am sure he would fail. What's the true threat? I'm scrambling to keep employed because of the huge influx of foreign nationals and the huge number of jobs going overseas. How can we compete against Asian cultures whose citizens live to serve their governments? I would like to add the problem is rising in more areas than just the IT area.
For example, small American manufacturing businesses are getting crushed because their customers are sending the work overseas or near-shore. You see, it's much cheaper to have a hammer-n-sickle worker to make the parts rather than a citizen of our free country. The problem is only getting worse.
Someone in this thread stated that we need to learn how to adapt? Why do some people feel its necessary that we open our trade to Communist countries? America continues to strengthen our biggest threats by forfeiting our principles and trading with them. Providing them with our highest technologies.
http://www.usfairtrade.com NOW!

"If we don't do something and do something quick, it's going to be too late. Our lifestyle and our wealth will cease to exist, as we know it. The wealthy few will be the corporate entities that outsourced their workforce"

Amen to that. GE IT was outsourced to India but I'd say that it's far from being a success. The Indians were doing sales calls to sell IT equipment to the states. These Indians were trained to change their Indian names and adopt American names and to feign an American accent. As far as Dell is concerned, they stopped selling to the general public with outsourced workers but the sales to companies is continuing from what I've been reading.

I respectfully disagree (to a certain degree)...especially since you sort of just put down my career. I am an 18+ year veteran in the IT industry. Its very competitive. You either keep up with technology or lose out. It cost money to keep up. And because the industry doesn't have many standards, you will find a vast array of programming languages, system platforms, hardware configurations, network schemes, etc.

Welcome to FreeRepublic. You are always welcome to disagree, and your respect is deeply appreciated.

I would agree that there might be facets of my job that a 17 year old computer geek could accomplish, but there are many more facets of my job that I am sure he would fail. What's the true threat? I'm scrambling to keep employed because of the huge influx of foreign nationals and the huge number of jobs going overseas. How can we compete against Asian cultures whose citizens live to serve their governments?

I wasn't intending to put down anyone’s career or job, just to point out that companies (the one I work for included) have discovered that most day to day IT work does not require an MS or even a BS in computer engineering/science. Hence most companies are laying off high paid employees in favor of cheap, sometimes overseas, labor. As a consumer I benefit. As an employee I must adapt. I don't believe in protecting jobs (my own job included) at the expense of the consumer. We all have to work hard to keep ahead of the curve and stay valuable to our employer. We didn’t protect the buggy whip industry/jobs in 1910 when the automobile began to take over the horse cart market. If we followed your model we still have whip makers producing useless whips for the government to buy and throw away. You complain about the Asian worker forced to serve his government, but then turn around and ask for you government to protect you just like them. We don't need nanny state socialist protection, it only hurts our economy. We can and will compete, because American ingenuety will outpace communism every time.

I would like to add the problem is rising in more areas than just the IT area. For example, small American manufacturing businesses are getting crushed because their customers are sending the work overseas or near-shore. You see, it's much cheaper to have a hammer-n-sickle worker to make the parts rather than a citizen of our free country. The problem is only getting worse. Someone in this thread stated that we need to learn how to adapt? Why do some people feel its necessary that we open our trade to Communist countries? America continues to strengthen our biggest threats by forfeiting our principles and trading with them. Providing them with our highest technologies

The manufacturing issue that you bring up is international. Manufacturing jobs have been lost in China too. The job losses are due to improved efficiency rather than movement.

The dot com bust has created a flood of over qualified computer industry specialists. I’m sorry for your plight, but I am confident that you will overcome. You’re a Freeper now, it’s what we do.