[ale] OT: more info on where all the jobs are (going...)

[Geoffrey]

ChangingLINKS.com wrote:
> I value your opinion in this case. However, I don't think that corporations 
> are short-sighted, blind or stupid.

Oh, but they are.

> 
> "Buy american to save the economy?"

No, I'm saying, invest in America to save the economy.

> What does that have to do with "value" of the code? What other reasons should 
> corporations buy American labor at higher prices? Should we also buy American 
> MicroSoft - to save the jobs that it provides? 
> No? At some point value becomes the bottom line - whether it be for 
> "patriotic" reasons or just to get the service completed at cheaper prices.

As I've noted before, if you have a huge amount of people out of work in 
the US because all the work is farmed out overseas, then those same 
people will not be buying American or German or Japanese...

> 
> I started ChangingLINKS by contacting American programmers first. I worked 
> with one for awhile. Then I found a Romanian programmer. He had more 
> programming knowlege, charged cheaper rates, worked extremely hard, was loyal 
> enough to give me the source before payment - and just had a lot of "heart." 
> If it weren't for him, I would have probably quit.

You got lucky with the 'programming knowledge,' as I know you could have 
located someone locally with the same skills.  I suspect that the real 
emphasis is 'cheaper rates,' and I'd suspect they were a lot cheaper, 
say around US minimum wage?  So, you're part of the problem.  It doesn't 
matter what you do, if the economy in this country stays the way it is, 
you will suffer as well.  I personally believe all these things are 
cyclic.  Eventually, there will be a balancing between the cost of 
overseas IT and IT in the states.  For me, I won't be around that long, 
unfortunately.  It's unlikely I'll still be in the IT business when 
things turn around.

> 
> There was a language barrier (he learned english by reading tech manuals) BUT, 
> the problem was limited to consistently giving clear variable names. 
> Contrarily, I found that american companies and individuals were like 
> Microsoft. They had attitudes that were overconfident and overpriced - and 
> had lower performance. The Romainian moved to Canada and now charges me 30% 
> more. He was able to land sequential high paying contract jobs - like his 
> older brother - and his experience and value have increased (partly because 
> he already "knows" what my code is doing and why).

As I noted, you're seeing the cycle.

> 
> I see this argument related to cars. My best cars were *not* made by America.
> Maybe IT jobs are not supposed to be American. Perhaps Americans will have to 
> adapt and find other work. Perhaps programming labor is no more valuable than 
> lower paying jobs. And, perhaps American programmers will be largely 
> converted to "translators," a role you have played in the past

Translator?

> I still work 
> with an American programmer - when the Romainian is not available.
> 
> With regard to the American code being more intelligable: Upper management may 
> never see or understand the code. What they can see is whether or not the 
> code accomplishes what it was written to do.

Regardless, you don't want to rely on a single person for code.  That 
person could well be hit by the proverbial truck, then where are you? 
The code works, but it sux, because no one can make out what it does. 
No docs, poorly written.  I knew a guy who once coerced a spreadsheet to 
calculate his weekly paycheck.  Hey, it works, but was probably the 
worst tool for that effort.


-- 
Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at 3times25.net

The latest, most widespread virus?  Microsoft end user agreement.
Think about it...

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