Techies see jobs go overseas - Opposition to offshore outsourcing beginning to grow

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 06/02/2003 | Carrie Kirby

[NCjim]

Daniel Soong waited in line at the dingy, low-ceilinged Employment Development Department in Pleasant Hill, hoping to find some clerical work or any kind of work at all.

At 30, this is not where the thin, neatly dressed computer programmer expected to be. Nor did he expect, after seven years in the technology industry, to have to move back into his parents' Pleasanton house.

"I would like to meet a girl and start a family, but that's not really possible unless you have a good job," he said.

Unlike many people who have lost their jobs during the economic slump, Soong does not hold out much hope that his career will get back on track when the economy picks up. He belongs to a growing contingent of technology professionals who believe that prospects for their field have permanently dimmed because companies are sending work overseas.

Soong and others like him are forming the beginning of an anti- offshoring movement. In California, Connecticut, New Jersey and Washington, groups of computer professionals are searching for ways -- from legislation to tax incentives -- to somehow slow the flow of high-paying jobs overseas.

[henderson field]

If Soong is an oriental and the programming jobs are going to orientals, what's the difference? He came here for a job and now finds they are elsewhere? Two wrongs don't make a right.

[TalonDJ]

.... the differance is he is an american and they are not. If he lives with his parents in THIS country then his did not 'come here for a job'. This is getting to be a big issue. The company I work for outsources tech jobs to India, China, and Russia. Putting American engineers out of work. If our manufacturing jobs all go to mexico and the engineering to China, what are we left with? just managers and accountants?

[TopQuark]

If Soong is an oriental and the programming jobs are going to orientals, what's the difference?

If race matters most, there is no difference.

How do you know that this gentleman came here to get a job? He may be native-born, and he may have come here for because he shares our ideals.

[oceanview]

I see no evidence in the article that he is a non-citizen H1B, so that means he's an American just like you and me, and he is unemployed. And since the number of IT positions in the US is actually falling because of offshoring, he is in a field where at age 30, he will likely never hold a job in his field again.

I've said this on every thread on this topic I've posted on: this issue is the Republicans achilles heel, Bush will skate by in 2004, but alot of freepers will be crying in 2008 when Hillary is elected president, asking "who would vote for her?". these folks whose jobs are being gutted by these visa and offshoring practices, add them to the list of people pulling the lever for her.

[Moleman]

I too am greatly concerned with American jobs going over seas. I call on Ford as one of my largest customers who is almost insisting that we move our plants to comunist China. First manufacturing jobs went to Mexico, now to China and other "low cost countries." We better understand that it's not just union and manufacturing jobs going away.

[oceanview]

the accountants, the HR staffs, medical techicians, they are going to. the freepers who poo-poo this issue because they don't see it first hand, have no idea what is going on. check out the construction spending numbers released today, down .3%. There is ZERO office space being built in this country right now, because these "desk jobs" are all going overseas.

[dfwgator]

what are we left with? just managers and accountants

Managers and accountants can be offshored too. If you can do your job from home, it can be offshored.

[StockAyatollah]

If our manufacturing jobs all go to mexico and the engineering to China, what are we left with? just managers and accountants?

The accounting jobs are going offshore too. And managers who aren't in the right cliques at their respective companies, should be very worried too. With all of the off-shoring, that means less in-house management is needed. I'd be especially worried if I was a white, male, over 40 management-type. Its not likely Walmart will be hiring many of these guys.

[Fish_Keeper]

I agree with your second point - it won't be a big issue in 2004 because the long term impact will not be well known by then. It WILL be a major issue by 2008 and beyond, with the potential to make or break an election.

[oceanview]

Hillary will grab this issue for 2008, with promises of programs and free healthcare; no real fixes, but the people displaced by these practices will pull the lever for anyone promising anything to help them. People always vote for self preservation first above all things.

[Pukin Dog]

"If a decade ago we discovered that manufacturing can be done anywhere, in this decade we are learning that knowledge can be learned anywhere."

Instead of taking this fact to heart; there are Freepers who would stand on the same side as ZOE LOFGREN? Has anyone forgotten that this woman is probably the second greatest socialist in Congress?

So much for those core-conservative values, when it comes to keeping a high-paying job, eh? The term "Fair-weather Conservatives" comes to mind.

I hope this wont just became another 1000+ post/screaming match, but it probably will. Ho-hum.

[SwordofTruth]

So much for those core-conservative values, when it comes to keeping a high-paying job, eh? The term "Fair-weather Conservatives" comes to mind.

What do you do for a living? Do you think it is conservative to let foreigners take our jobs? Are you really this stupid? No need to answer.

[illumini]

Get ready for miswired & improperly maintained aircraft coming from overhaul centers in China, Mexico etc. Airline execs are firing higher paid personnel and supervisors, outsourcing the work to foreign "chop shops", and eliminating anyone with spine enough to refuse siging off work. WHERE's the FAA?

Guess what congressmen, YOU RIDE THOSE AIRCRAFT TOO!

[oceanview]

as on the other threads, you aren't providing any answers to these real problems. how many lawyers, teachers, and government employees can our system support? you don't see this happening everyday like I and other posters do, the rate at which these jobs are moving overseas is 10 times that for manufacturing, because you don't need to build any factories. Just setup small cubicles in India with a PC, and its done. tell us who is going to be left to pay taxes into our system when its done?

[pwatson]

I was in manufacturing for 15 years helping run factory’s in Mexico. When I was laid off and went to work for the state and got an internet account in 1993 most folks on internet were programmers and network admen’s many saying they were Libertarians for total open free borders and markets. I tried to tell them then someday the internet and computer jobs will move to India. They all made fun and said they were too important and did things that can’t be done remotely. Well guess what the tide has turned everything except for service and delivery trucks can be done in Red China just about. I tried to tell them that in Mexico it was rabid with un-employment and Communism movements to fill the gap. Well now in America the Democrat Socialist are filling the gap. Have no jobs, have no insurance well big Government will fill the gap for you vote Communism, I mean Democrat..
The founding fathers understood this we just fought a war with England over a tax on tea and all imports and all American exports to England. When they wrote the Constitution it supports free trade between states, only the Feds can regulate commerce between the states. They also did not have an income tax, instead they used duties on all foreign imported goods to help raise money and protect the domestic producers.

[oceanview]

don't you follow the news, the elites are all buying fractional jet ownerships now.

[motor_racer]

Don't worry! There will be plenty of American lawyers to sue them and get uneducated juries to award huge lottery prizes to the families of the dead!

[motor_racer]

VF 143?

[oceanview]

thats exactly how its going to go down with Hillary! 2008.