[dirtboy]

You are just plain wrong. Logical thinking is not rote. Tightening nuts on bolts is rote.

I've got nearly two decades of experience in IT. I've seen plenty of programmers who work at rote tasks. I've seen very few who understand how to make IT an integral, strategic asset for a company, and they usually don't stay programmers for very long.

[GingisK]

I've got nearly two decades of experience in IT. I've seen plenty of programmers who work at rote tasks.

I've got over three decades doing the same. Of course, I'm not in IT per se, I'm in embedded systems programming ... hooked right into the hardware and new product development. Yes, there are rote programmers, but there are creative ones as well.

There are rote businessmen, rote real estate agents, etc. Creativity is an individual asset that must be cherished and nurished whereever it is found.

I do agree with the tone of the post. If employers give all of the jobs to people overseas, there will be no one to purchase the products in this country. The proper approach for a business is to locate in another country in order to produce products for consumption in that country.

I was recently laid off, and it took four months to find another job. My skills are top notch, and my work has made many an employer a lot of money.

[Elric@Melnibone]

I'm with GK; software engineer with over 25 years experience, mostly in embedded. If you have a car/truck/motorcycle/snomobile less than about 15 years old, it runs because of me and my associates.

I, too, was laid off last year. Had a 3-month contract within a month. After that, I was off for 5 months before landing my current job.

In all cases, I was hired because of TECHNICAL skills. Managers in my business couldn't care less what your business skills are, they want to know what processors you're familiar with, what tools you use, what languages, how flexible.

Software engineering, ANY engineering, is an ART. Despite what SEI and other agencies try to promote, managers forget this at their own peril. My value to the company is in solving problems, meeting requirements, meeting schedules.

As for CMM, it's a joke. Virtually everything I've ever done has been one-off, every company involved in research and development. If everything you do is one-off, it is impossible to get beyone CMM level 2 legitimately. You may play the game and shuffle the papers but it's fake.

[GingisK]

Oh, yeah. You seem to be another one of those Americans who says "united we stand" simply by rote.