Hate to pour gasoline on the fire, but pretty nearly every type of
job can be outsourced, shipped abroad, contracted out to a contract
worker (who's actually an employee, but who doesn't get any benefits
and perks), given to an illegal, or--a Washington area favorite--
assigned to an unpaid or underpaid intern.
For example, editorial jobs are now being outsourced to India. So if
your company's newsletter or annual report sounds slightly, well,
foreign, or maybe just really, really odd--that could be why.
(Editing is my bag--or one of them, anyway. And, yes, I'm now
looking for a job.) Of course, as a cost-cutting measure, lots of
things don't get edited at all, which is why they sound as though
they were written by fourth graders who need tutoring in basic
language skills.
The only thing about this story that's shocking to me is that it's
happening to computer programmers and other computer personnel. We
who are mush-brained liberal arts types just assumed that you tekkies
were far ahead of us in the employability sweepstakes, and that you
would always be much better paid--and much better treated--than we were.
One way out: political action. In the modern world, computer
services of all kinds are necessary, so you aren't completely without
leverage. That means computer professionals are going to have to be
very politically savvy, worldly, and socially active to get out of
the trap. (BTW, in my book, political action includes labor unions.)
I really wonder, though, why employers are treating programmers (and
other computer professionals) so badly--it's not in their long-term
best interests or their enlightened self-interest. They depend on
you guys--they can't do ANYTHING without you. Besides, an editor
with a grudge can't do very much damage to a company--but a computer
programmer?
--Constance Warner
On Nov 24, 2009, at 11:11 AM, Tony B wrote:
Okay, I think I see the 'new' take on it. Or, at least I see it from
Wired's perspective.
Around here it's got nothing to do with extra hours. It's construction
jobs being lost to 'Mexicans' (anyone that speaks spanish). I've heard
it from both sides though - the employers complain the local guys just
won't show up on time consistently (or at all). I have no idea what
sorts of extra hours these workers may put in, or if they're paid for
them. But I can imagine they whine a lot less about extra work in
general.
On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 10:24 AM, phartz...@gmail.com
<phartz...@gmail.com> wrote:
You are right that this is not anything particularly new. That
being said, it appears as though programmers and coders, as well as
others in the computer field are the main domestic workers who
regularly lose their jobs to foreign workers even as the companies
they used to work for remain in business here in the United States.
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