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136 - You made some good points, and you have an advantage being a Canadian (your dollar is worth less right now - but the US dollar is going down so fast I haven't checked the values lately).

However, a few points -

1. Microsoft is now sending its programming to India - so the Indians there will learn, fast, to make good code. And there are nearly a billion of them to compete against, so even the culling the top .0001% will give them far more programmers.

2. Almost no one knows how to program today. The skills are gone, pretty much. Now people learn how to run computer programs which do the programing. And those programs (programmed by the few real programmers left) are getting smarter and smarter and easier and easier to use. Which means dumber people with lower standards can take your job. As the error trapping/checking gets better, the great need for great programmers is disappearing. And the people who wrote the code initially are getting dead, so many of these compiled programs, no one on earth any longer knows how to debug. They just work. Particularly some of the small utilites, which make the basics of so many programs.

3. A friend of mine designs off shore oil rigs for a living, and business is way down, even in this high priced market, as more and more of his work is offshored. In fact, he told me, as of the first of the year, his company's (one of the top in its field in the world) remaining clients are now asking for bids if they do the job, or if they just 'supervise' the job while getting the Indians to do most of the actual work. So, they must now submit two bids. And this means generally about 50 americans on a job to about 5.

While this isn't computer programming, it is an indication of the competition all these free-traitors are entering you into.

4. You are entering a never ending race to stay ahead of more and more competition, most of it which has nothing to lose, where you have to study endlessly just to keep up with the changes, learning new languages, and finally competing against computer programs rather than people. And as you get a bit older, with wife, kids, house, mortgage, and other expenses, your race to remain with your head above water will get harder and harder.

So, think about it. And think about how you will pay for that house if you lose your job. These free-traitors seem to think that people should know better than to take on any debt they cant pay for with no money, is being a real spendthrift. But without a job to pay your mortgage, you can lose your house in a few months.

I found out from my own work, building petro-chem plants and manufacturing plants, more and more automated each year, that what the real story is, is that with what we build now, we can pay a guy 10cents an hour to push a button to process chemicals on the other side of the world or we can pay an american 20 dollars an hour to press the same button, and they both turn out equal quality product, except, generally, the one on the otherside of the world can make a better product, because that's where we built the newer better plant.

Just some points to think about, and good luck.

These free-traitors seem to think that people should know better than to take on any debt they cant pay for with no money, is being a real spendthrift.

To the extent that this is true, it is quite ironic. Under the system of "free" trade which they defend, we are running a massive trade deficit which is the key indicator of of our trading problems. This massive deficit means that we are spending more than we earn, consuming more than we produce, and trying to build a sound future for our country by borrowing money and selling assets.

You are entering a never ending race to stay ahead of more and more competition,

isn't that always the case? Without competition we'd have a communist state.

Some good points

1.It is not that their code is bad by itself, some of it is but normally it is good enough. What they lack is good architects and designers with good understanding of business processes. This is just from my experience. Also overall organization on their projects is normally lacking. I have no doubt they will get better, but as they get better they will start charging more. In fact it is happening already.

2. I completely disagree about this. There are tons of new stuff being developed atm. Quality of the code and designs produced been improving steadily. One look at site like sourceforge.net (open source) shows how many new projects people are starting just for the heck of it. There are dozens of areas where lots of software development is needed.

3. This does happen alot. People who are being replaced with indians need to probably look at how to upgrade their skills to become more competitive again. I am trying to do this continuously, if I am not working on the project I try to learn new system, new approach etc

4. Well I already been in this race for a bit. To have the skills I can bring these people need to work as hard as me if they are as smart as me(some are some are not). In fact they keep me awake and not able to take stuff for granted that makes life more exciting.

Reason I waited to buy house is that I am saving money(nothing very risky just 4-5% annual return) as a backup for when I lose my job and need to have mortgage paid(I aim for 1 year of comfortable life). Also being a contractor it is a necessity, I am never totally employed sometimes I work 70hours a week sometimes I have nothing to do for a month. I am not sure that as I get older(more experienced too) the race will get harder. Senior people do get paid much more, until I retire I want to try and push up see how far up can I get. In current economy it is hard to stay in one spot, best to work in one spot for 2-3 years then move on to something else