Siemens to move most software jobs to Asia, Eastern Europe

sfgate ^ | 02/16/2004 | by S. SRINIVASAN, Associated Press Writer

[Lazamataz]

The German firm Siemens will move most of the 15,000 software programming jobs from its offices in the United States and Western Europe to India, China and Eastern Europe, a company official said Monday.

"Siemens has recognized that a huge amount of software development activity needs to be moved from high-cost countries to low-cost countries," said Anil R. Laud, managing director of Siemens Information Systems, the group's information technology subsidiary in India.

[Lazamataz]

There ain't gonna be one programming or software job left in America or Europe soon.

Of course, computers are a "Buggy Whip" industry. We're way better off without anyone who understands computers.

Or engineering.

Or financial analysis.

Or medicine.

Or research and development.

[Lazamataz]

ping

[Lazamataz]

Yay for our team. YAAAAY!

< /sarcasm>

[Lazamataz]

How do you say "Would you care for fries with that" is Spanish?

We are SO headed to becoming Brazil.

[ryanjb2]

I guess I should change my MIS major and CompSci minor to something that will be useful in the future.

[Lazamataz]

I guess I should change my MIS major and CompSci minor to something that will be useful in the future.

Seriously.

[Glenn]

I guess I should change my MIS major and CompSci minor to something that will be useful in the future.

A wise observation.

[eno_]

So you'll have to learn "Would you like fries with that?" in Portuguese, too.

But seriously, the whole "learn to code and get a good job for life" thing was an illusion from the beginning. Lots of people with some training think they are actually educated.

And the whole End of the World in high tech has already happened a couple of times: when the minicomputer business collapsed, and when the Internet bubble collapsed and we somehow survived the realization that knowing HTML was not worth $120,000/year.

[Gekko The Great]

"It is a problem. They could lose their jobs," said J. Schubert, the spokesman for Siemens in 11 countries, including India.

Hey, why is it a problema? It's the "free market", it's "capitalism at it's finest", and it makes more money for the company and it's CEOs. So, by definition, this is a "good thing" (like greed).

People losing their jobs? Well, screw 'em. If they can't adapt, let 'em die. It's their own fault if they can't survive in the complete social Darwinism created by the global economy. Devil take the hindmost, that's what I say.

Let 'em eat cake...

[Swanks]

Hey; all the Phd from MIT engineers without a job? Take Bush' solution: retraining via free courses you screwed up and did not take, at Anywhere Community College. That's the answer.

[patriot5186]

how about archeology? i'm sure you could dig up a job somewhere.

[eno_]

MIS was a losing career path long ago. MIS is a cost. Nobody ever made or sold a widget with MIS. Very few companies even take MIS seriously. Wal Mart is a notable exception, as are eBay and Amazon. But most companies have sucky MIS that they might as well export to the lowest bidder in Bangalore for all the good it does them.

[Glenn]

But most companies have sucky MIS that they might as well export to the lowest bidder in Bangalore for all the good it does them.

Aw. What's the matter? A programmer pee in your corn flakes this morning?

[mrsmith]

How do you say "Would you care for fries with that" in binary?

Oh well, I can remember when IT people thought it was great that a person didn't have to be in the office to do their job...

[chimera]

Ph.D. in engineering? Well, you're not "trained" enough. Go back to school, you lazy bum! Get educated in something like...radiology. Oops. Scratch that. Being offshored to India via the Internet. Well, then, you lazy, good-for-nothing Ph.D., go back to school and get educated to be...a nurse. Oops. Scratch that. The newly-imported Filipina here is going to take that job at half the pay you'd ask. Well, then, by God, go back to school and get educated in the future industries. The future is...computers! Oops, sorry, I mean the future is...what do I mean?

Get the picture now? (/sarcasm)

[eno_]

No, but how many companies have MIS departments you would actually want to work for? How many CEOs actually know how to use MIS as a competitive tool? For the 80%+ who have no clue, having a cheaper lack of clue is just as good.