Tech jobs leaving home

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ^ | Tuesday, July 15, 2003 | Rachel Konrad - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

[lelio]

probably about the same so I've decided to become his manager/promoter

Sounds a lot more exciting than waiting around for the axe to fall. Congrats!
If you're already built a home recording studio look into making soundtracks for TV shows. With all the constant push for reality TV that's filmed on a Friday for a Monday showing they need music for it and they need it pronto. That kind of work isn't going to be outsourced to India (cross your fingers) as they need a quality product in a couple of days.
Granted you'll work your butt off for the entire weekend, but it beats not working.

[dark_lord]

Then the problem will be self-limiting, won't it?

In a "perfect" economy, kind of like the kind they use when teaching economics classes, yeah. But in the real world, maybe not.

Here is an example of a counterintuitive economic law. It is called Gresham's Law. Basically it means if you have a country with two currencies, one good and one pretty lousy, everyone independently realizes -- Geeze, I better put my good currency under my mattress or in the bank because it is valuable and spend this lousy currency to get rid of it. Result is, the good currency disappears from circulation while only the lousy currency stays in circulation. And a currency that doesn't circulate isn't really a currency. So the bad drives out the good.

I think it is perfectly possible for companies to independently decide to outsource, replace good American IT people with mediocre to bad non-Amercian (but cheaper) people, and then just stay that way. After all, changing after that would cost money and the benefits would be unquantifiable (after all, IT is a cost center, right?).

But this kind of decision making is bad across the board. There is a reason that corporate profits stink, and it isn't just because "labor costs are too high". I think much of it is due to plain rotton executive (and management) decisions. So a lot of corporations will just declare chapter 11 due to mismanagement (stockholders get dirt, bondholders get a bit, executives cash out), and then outsource lock, stock, and barrel. Other corporations will just become more and more multinational every day until they are US corporations only by registration.

As to why this happens -- my personal theory is that it is because the stockholders are now "owners" in name only. Instead of a few wealthy guys as owners, or ownership within a family, it is spread over a few hundred mutual funds, with hundreds of thousands of "owners". Therefore, there is no check on the board of directors, no check on the executives. Therefore they run the companies as their personal cash cow piggy banks. Managers who rock the boat (take risks) get canned, so managers just cover their own butts and rubber stamp the executives. Why do I think this? From being in consulting for a number of years and witnessing this first hand over and over and over and over.

[bvw]

You'd never stop to ask why so many good oxen are being gored, would you? One day, you'll wake up. Hopefully the oxen will not be all gone by then.

[lelio]

Therefore, there is no check on the board of directors, no check on the executives. Therefore they run the companies as their personal cash cow piggy banks.

Agree 100%. What I can't understand is that our government promotes this activity. How much debt does MCI / Worldcom have? If I were to have that much debt relative to my earning power I'll be thrown in debtor prision. Is it fair to the other market players that you're allowed to continue functioning without concern for the marketplace? If its all funny money then you can afford to pay $100M salaries and make idiotic decisions.
I bring up MCI as I heard they're down in Iraq handing out cell phones to NGOs looking for phone service. Why on earth would you be a prudent company that cared about making a profit if you can fail miserably and then get rewarded with a juicy contract like that?
This whole marketplace stinks. You're raised to believe in following the rules (ie earn more than you spend and don't cheat) and meanwhile execs are flippin you the bird while driving off in their half million dollar Mercedes.
Pretty soon the whole system will collapse on itself when a majority of the people realize the game's rigged, and its rigged to take advantage in your belief of fair play and other capitalist (I'm thinking Ayn Randish) ideals. Someone needs to save capitalism from these globalists faking to be free marketers.
Rant mode off. I'm trying to limit my FR time as my blood starts boiling. For the need FReepathon someone should sell blood pressure medication.

[bvw]

The number of people who can write good code naturally is very small. Current training deosn't help, much more than grammar classes help playwrights.

There is very little incentive to become a good coder, for there are so many poor ones.

[Helms]

With two degrees, “the opportunities at Wal-Mart are absolutely endless”

[UnBlinkingEye]

We're all gonna die!!!!

And we'll all be taxed.

Hopefully our experience after the former is better than during the latter.

[dark_lord]

There is very little incentive to become a good coder, for there are so many poor ones.

And why are there so many poor ones? Because there is no punishment for being a poor coder in most companies. It has been documented at least since Fred Brooks 1st edition of "The Mythical Man Month" that there is at least an order of magnitude difference between good coders and bad ones. (Actually, IMO, that is also true for good architects and good PM's.) But -- in the last 30 years, are the good coders rewarded and the bad ones punished? No.

As to why that is...I think it is because IT is viewed as a cost center. Therefore all executive efforts are on cutting costs. Managers have to follow that lead. Rationally, if the people who contributed to good projects were retained, and people on failed projects (say, after your third failed project you're history) were canned, over time the good people would be retained and the number of failed projects would go down. But I have never seen any company attempt to perform any long term analysis on projects to start producing working systems and reducing the number of failed projects. I suppose there are a few, but I have never seen even one.

[A. Pole]

As to why this happens -- my personal theory is that it is because the stockholders are now "owners" in name only. Instead of a few wealthy guys as owners, or ownership within a family, it is spread over a few hundred mutual funds, with hundreds of thousands of "owners". Therefore, there is no check on the board of directors, no check on the executives. Therefore they run the companies as their personal cash cow piggy banks. Managers who rock the boat (take risks) get canned, so managers just cover their own butts and rubber stamp the executives.

Bump

[UnBlinkingEye]

There is very little incentive to become a good coder, for there are so many poor ones.

Zen.

[VOA]

bump

[bvw]

The market expects bad coders producing hard to maintain, hardly working code ... most managment strutures, software development methodologies and planning key on that. Flounder, not salmon. A natural coder is fighting every structure and process from day one. From week two he's fighting every other coder, due to jealousy, and from month two, the managers. The nail that sticks up gets hammered down or pulled out.

I'll except Perl coders, or APL coders, and even so help me, Forth (or postscript coders). To even use those languages you almost have to be a natural coder, or at least very smart.

[bvw]

That is also true. A cost, not a profit.

I've been fortunate to work on a few projects where the profit was evident. On those the old make it work and work no more applies. Great joy to have things work and be appreciated. But a happy maytag customer isn't buying another washer for awhile.

That blindered thinking "a cost, not a profit making asset" is not just in IT. Can occur anywhere. Does. Very strong in IT, though.

[Cowboy Bob]

Question: If all the jobs are getting sent overseas (high tech and manufacturing), who will be buying the finished product in the US? One doesn't have much disposable income when they work for McDonald's.

[meadsjn]

Here's an article from 1999 discussing project failure/success in softwaremag.com. Some of their points are good ones, but they still overlooked the reasons that are too politically incorrect to publish:

Turning CHAOS into SUCCESS

[Museum Twenty]

bfl

[dfwgator]

Object-oriented design, with the latest refinements in theory.

Object-oriented is so 90s. Aspect-Oriented Programming, now that's the ticket!!!

[dfwgator]

Teach CEOs to use IT strategically. Wal-Mart gets it. Amazon and eBay are built on IT. Most companies look at it as a cost - the lower the better.

Sounds like those CEOs need to read "Good to Great."

[Nowhere Man]

The only growth career that I'd currently recommend training for is Mortuary Science. With Baby Boomers approaching their golden years, there is a predictable boom in sight for undertakers and morticians.

If that's a little too gruesome for you, you might be able to capitalize indirectly from this trend by investing in a backhoe. Cemetaries may try to reduce costs associated with unionized gravedigger labor, and you'd be well positioned to provide an outsourced service. Of course the increasing popularity of cremation may reduce the overall market potential, but a backhoe provides flexibility for digging ditches for other purposes as well.

Heh, I was driving with my mother one day and we noticed a new funeral home opening up. I said to my mother, "well that is one business that will never go out of business, people croak all the time." B-P When my mother was in high school, she did date the son of a funeral home owner, one story was on a date they had to drive towards Pittsburgh to pick up a baby that was stillborn from one of the hospitals to take him/her to the funeral home. My mother was very aloof to say the least. Thank God she didn't marry him, I can't stand the sight of blood. B-)

BTW, Willie,do you live near Pittsburgh, that's where I live.

[Nowhere Man]

Hey, you know what? These are scarry times ... what if the demos use all this H1b and L1 crap against Bush? Why... hitlery may just stand a chance.

GOOD GRIEF!! Where we will go then?

We might not have to wait until 2008 to take on the Hildebeast, if the Demos take up the issue of the H1B and L1 Visa, we might have a problem in 2004. Either the Hildebeast will make a go of it in 2004 or we could end up with Howard Dean or one of the 7 other dwarfs in the running. This is Bush's issue to lose, right now he is in the catbird seat but with the clock ticking, that door will end up closing.