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Fury and fear in Ohio as IT jobs go to India: IT workers are training their replacements
Computerworld ^ | Nov 9, 2015 | Patrick Thibodeau

Posted on 11/09/2015 11:39:23 AM PST by ConservingFreedom

The IT workers at Cengage Learning in the company's Mason, Ohio offices learned of their fates game-show style. First, they were told to gather in a large conference room. There were vague remarks from an IT executive about a "transition." Slides were shown that listed employee names, directing them to one of three rooms where they would be told specifically what was happening to them. Some employees were cold with worry.

The biggest group, those getting pink slips, were told to remain in the large conference room. Workers directed to go through what we'll call Door No. 2, were offered employment with IT offshore outsourcing firm Cognizant. That was the smallest group. And those sent through Door No. 3 remained employed in Cengage's IT department. This happened in mid-October.

[...] The employees were warned that speaking to the news media meant loss of severance. Despite their fears, they want their story told. They want people to know what's happening to IT jobs in the heartland. They don't want the offshoring of their livelihoods to pass in silence.

[...] Offshore outsourcing is having "a fairly strong impact" on IT employment, said Janulaitis. Students coming out of college are facing trouble starting a career "and a lot of that is driven by jobs that are taken by non-U.S. nationals in our economy, and a lot of that is H-1B [visa holders]," he said.

"Why are we talking about more H-1B visas for people when we have people who are unemployed?" said Janulaitis.

The IT offshore industry relies heavily on H-1B workers to deliver services, and large offshore firms, both in the U.S. and in India, are the largest users of this temporary, non-immigrant, work visa. [...]

(Excerpt) Read more at computerworld.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; US: Ohio
KEYWORDS: aliens; cengage; corporatewelfare; h1b; ohio
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To: setha
That's not a case of qualifications

That's unclear. Training encompasses everything from architecture, data structures, file structures, standardization, production and test systems, SLAs, policy and procedures, etc. Documentation, where it does exist, is often badly out of date.

It could be, as well, that changes were necessary to key systems that would involve development in systems for which the workforce would need retaining, for example replacing a legacy system with a purchased package or moving to a new platform including cloud computing. If the existing work force had no existing expertise, it could easily be that the cost of retaining would cost justify outsourcing. Add to that that many IT workers don't keep up on their skills so that retaining is even more costly.

61 posted on 11/09/2015 2:57:32 PM PST by FourPeas ("Maladjusted and wigging out is no way to go through life, son." -hg)
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To: setha
First of all, where would the graduates do well to start if you're not wanting them to get up to speed?

Not the issue. When new grads don't have the skillset means that an H1-B who does fits the purpose of the program. It's often argued that college grads can't find jobs yet we're bringing in foreigners. There's a reason for it: universities are doing a poor job preparing their IT grads to work in the real world.

62 posted on 11/09/2015 3:07:19 PM PST by FourPeas ("Maladjusted and wigging out is no way to go through life, son." -hg)
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To: ConservingFreedom

Cengage Learning produces educational curriculum/materials. If enough people spoke up they could stop this by demanding an official boycott of all their books and study materials as far as any taxpayer funded institutions of learning are concerned.


63 posted on 11/09/2015 3:18:15 PM PST by nomad
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To: setha
Finally, if employers want the best prepared individuals,

Employers want to spend as little as they can to get the job done they need done. They need people who can be productive ASAP. Six months to a year is just too costly. In every IT shop I worked or have ever heard of there's a massive list of important projects and the bottleneck is manpower. Budgets are tight. There's no money for training existing employees let alone new grads. Add to that that young IT workers tend to change jobs every 2-3 years. It's simply not cost effective to hire a lot of new grads.

64 posted on 11/09/2015 3:19:02 PM PST by FourPeas ("Maladjusted and wigging out is no way to go through life, son." -hg)
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To: wbill

That’s a great post. We’re office furniture. That’s how I feel at times.


65 posted on 11/09/2015 3:56:15 PM PST by miliantnutcase
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To: setha
Short of working in a clearance-required role for Wright-Patterson, no good words can be said of the conditions of the job market.

Even that hasn't been as sturdy as it once was...I did that at WPAFB for nearly 7 years, and when ODumbass got into office, every year (from 2009 through 2011 when I finally left) it was the same thing - everything was going to get cut, no one knew if the contracts would get renewed, etc etc etc.
66 posted on 11/09/2015 3:57:33 PM PST by MikefromOhio
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To: CptnObvious
Level 1 in India still pisses the customers off.

We kind of have a way around that in Canada. When one calls tech support the first option we get is, "press 1 for English, or press 2 for French". If you press "2" the call goes to someone in Quebec, not India. As soon as they say "bonjour", apologize for pressing the wrong button. They will then ask if they can help you, anyways. 90% of the folks in Quebec are bilingual and most are very nice people.

67 posted on 11/09/2015 4:18:53 PM PST by Dartman (Canada 10/19/15 Santa Claus won.)
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To: ConservingFreedom

I don’t get companies moving customer-facing jobs to India or the Philippines. Customers absolutely hate dealing with these people, who are obviously just reading a script.


68 posted on 11/09/2015 4:21:55 PM PST by NYRepublican72 (Democrats -- it's always someone else's fault.)
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To: FourPeas
Much of what drives outsourcing is a result of an overreaching government.

Like what?

69 posted on 11/09/2015 4:28:51 PM PST by DoodleDawg
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To: stylin19a
How do they get away with this?

By outsourcing the functions to a separate company. That way they aren't firing an American worker and replacing him with an H-1B. They are firing the worker because the position isn't there anymore. It's with the outsourcing company, who can hire whoever they want.

70 posted on 11/09/2015 4:31:31 PM PST by DoodleDawg
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To: DoodleDawg

Obamacare
FICA / Medicare
EEOC
OSHA
plus see #50 above


71 posted on 11/09/2015 4:34:43 PM PST by FourPeas ("Maladjusted and wigging out is no way to go through life, son." -hg)
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To: FourPeas
When new grads don't have the skillset means that an H1-B who does fits the purpose of the program.

You hire new grads for jobs that require no experience.

An h-1b that "fits the purpose" is just undercutting an American with the experience you need. There is an American for EVERY job in the USA as long as the salary is commensurate with the persons experience and knowledge level. You don't set a price then look for a person. You look for a person then make offers and find the correct price point.

72 posted on 11/09/2015 7:29:59 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: FourPeas
bottleneck is manpower

Pay more.

73 posted on 11/09/2015 7:31:10 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: ConservingFreedom

The same thing happened in 2008-2009 at Thomson/Reuters in Independence, OH. We were called to the conference room the first year and told we were to train Filipinos and Indians to “help us”. The second year, we were called there and told our office would be closed in one year and the work shipped to (surprise) the Philippines and India.


74 posted on 11/09/2015 7:32:56 PM PST by mak5
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To: DoodleDawg
It's with the outsourcing company, who can hire whoever they want.

The need to hire Americans, set the H-1b quotas to zero. Kill this damn thing.

75 posted on 11/09/2015 7:32:56 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: ConservingFreedom

Sun Trust Bank, same deal!


76 posted on 11/09/2015 7:35:59 PM PST by jennings2004 ("What difference, at this point, does it make!"!)
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To: central_va

Do you work in IT?


77 posted on 11/09/2015 7:48:11 PM PST by FourPeas ("Maladjusted and wigging out is no way to go through life, son." -hg)
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To: Resolute Conservative
I beg to disagree -- Agile works -- if you keep it as agile is supposed to be, rather than "chaos is agile", it really delivers faster and better

Cloud is not crap - why set up an entire infrastructure when you can just pay per consumption?

78 posted on 11/09/2015 9:37:32 PM PST by Cronos (Obama�s dislike of Assad is not based on Assad�s brutality but that he isn't a jihadi Mosl)
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To: FourPeas

If I’m hearing you right, you see that something is wrong but there’s too much of an incentive to use it that way. Further, they’re not getting what they want out of citizens (whatever that might be) and turn to foreign help.

With that aside, what exactly are new graduates lacking that isn’t in these equivalently experience-lacking guest workers? Both start from a general lack of organization-specific experience. Both end up leaving after 2-3 years. Yet the foreign help ends up receiving training that is apparently “too costly” for a citizen to receive.


79 posted on 11/10/2015 4:43:29 AM PST by setha (It is past time for the United States to take back what the world took away.)
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To: FourPeas
Do you work in IT?

Yes. Doesn't matter about that as the laws of supply and demand work for wages and employment too.

80 posted on 11/10/2015 4:46:48 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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