come on now. its not about your job against my job, and i am not trying to defend "indian programmers" or some such identity group. if i do go back, i hope i will be more empowered to participate in the real world, rather than have to sit in a cube and write uninspiring software.
No, no, no. I wasn't being ironic...or mean... I was being quite literal. I mean if outsourcing continues at its merry pace, you are much more likely to get a job in India than I am. Anyway, I'll forgive you for using the word "empowered" if you'll forgive me for even suggesting that there can be any kind of enmity between us.
Right before I answered your email, my next door neighbor, a french immigrant, told me that her programmer boyfriend had been laid off his third job. Apparently they had laid everyone off in his office except those with H1B visas. He had actually moved to another state in order to find this last job. She was very worried, and talked about how in her own sector, banking, they were having huge layoffs. I asked her what she was going to do and she said that she was thinking about going back to France. They're outsourcing there too, she said, but at least there's health care.
So all this was running around in my head when I replied. Frankly, I'm a litttle depressed.
Joanna
