Slashdot Mirror
The Days of SysAdmin Numbered?
gmkeegan writes "The Economist is running a story about Sun's new N1 operating system whose purpose is to make today's system administrators redundant. The idea is to virtualize the computer system so that the automated resource management software can add, remove and manage everything dynamically. The article mentions similar efforts by IBM, HP, and Microsoft."
Unless you are an H1-B they are still numbered.
Companies are laying off US programmers so they can get slave labor (H1-Bs).
Unfair to the US worker, AND unfair to the H1-B, who is made to do anything the employer wants (like work 100 hour weeks for $10/hour) or risk getting fired and deported.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
Yeah, I noticed that. When Slashdot calls itself "News for Nerds," it's an in-joke. When a non-tech magazine uses it like that, it's a slur. There's another word that starts with "n" that gets used in a similar manner. This surprises me coming from The Economist, since that's a very high-quality publication that usually has better standards. Maybe the writer was having a bad day.
In any case, there's no need for revenge; as numerous other posters have pointed out, any PHB who takes this article (and the N1's promises) too seriously will soon pay the price.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
the report by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which found that the computer-related H-1Bs were paid a median of $53,000 per year, far below the national median of $66,000 for this field
I had to laugh at this. Do you *really* believe that a corporation is going to bring on the baggage and risk of an immigrant worker, not to mention the legal costs, for a $13k savings? $53k a year is a WAGE SLAVE?! This is silly. But okay, let's assume the 'IT Shortage' is bunk. If you'll read my original post, you'll see that I was talking about tech positions is general. There is a world outside of IT, some if it that requires _very_ high-end skills. Again, the out of work American IT guy/gal needs to take a good, cold, hard look at their resume and interviewing skills, broaden his horizons, and realize the world isn't always such a fair place.
This is ALMOST the way it is. However, you forgot an important demographic in the tech sector these days...those who are recent college graduates.
I graduated from college a little over one year ago, and maybe it's just my area (seriously doubtable), and it's IMPOSSIBLE to find IT related work around here without 3-5 years experience. Period. It doesn't matter how good you are, where you came from, or how leet you are as an admin, because you'll never make it through the front door. Not to sound cocky, but I know that I'd be a much better admin than most of the stiffs out in the workforce right now. I'm passionate about computers. It's amazing how many people hold jobs as a sys admin or a programmer who simply DON'T give a shit about what they're doing...they just like the paycheck.
It's simply unfortunate that there's people like me who will probably never get a chance to work in the IT field, simply because we're a few years too "late".
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned for SEGA. ..."