Replies

China has very low labor costs, and its educational sturcture is a bit inferior to India's when it comes to Hi tech, probably why they have almost no software industry to speak of. And if you did stop the H1B, the software companies will find loops holes, like putting skilled indian engineers in Chinese cities where the infrastructure is more developed. No, the only to re-establish dominance is through superior training and superior technology. Currently an expert software engineer can be 30 times as efficient as a newbie with our OO languages, but if the aspect based languages comes out, then the difference jumps to 100 times. The key is the produce superior talent, capable of always updating to the latest technology. When a new language comes out, its always american, it'll take years for indian institutions to master, so we must always stay ahead of them, both technologically and educationally to prevail.

but if the aspect based languages comes out...

This discussion is way over the head of the average freeper, but if use of tools is an advantage for an american, it doesn't take much (if at all) for it to be an advantage to anyone else. As for all these new-fangled languages, all I can think of them is the more things change, the more they resemble...lisp.

I certainly don't feel very productive lately...I've only billed about 500 hours this year to date. But things are beginning to look up...The actual value I add seems to be increasing. It's still difficult to convince people to take on any risk at all.