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The IT Market: Cyclical Downturn or New World Order?

Posted by michael on from the giant-sucking-noise dept.

An anonymous reader wrote: "CNN.com is running an interesting story on the heels of a Forrester Research report concerning the shift of high tech jobs from the U.S. to places like China, India, and Russia for cheaper labor and got me thinking about the nature of the current downtrend in programmer demand in the U.S (as opposed to the "morality" of such a shift). While I'm sure the causes for this downtrend are variable, the more important question in my mind is this -- Is software guru Bruce Eckel correct in saying that the current downturn represents a temporary blip in the business cycle as jobs are shifted from large and medium companies to smaller companies, or are Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas correct in recognizing this as a new reality. Personally I tend to agree with Hunt and Thomas's view (which is not completely opposed to Bruce's opinion, btw) and I also agree with their viewpoint that protectionist policies like H1B quotas and tariffs won't work to change anything for the better. So what do you think? Is this just another business cycle or is this a New World Order in IT?"

5 of 1,119 comments (clear)

  1. Call Centers and the Like by UTaimSRC · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Again, they are only outsourcing the call centers and other jobs for which no skill is required. I mean does it really matter that people will now call India for their first tier support. And if that is your job market them I'm sorry, but you should have learned more skills while you were back in college. just my $.02

  2. All the Indians I have ever worked with... by gatkinso · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    ..wrote crappy code.

    An observation, but one that in my experience has been universally true.

    The Russians aren't much better. On the other hand, I have met some first class Chinese coders.

    --
    I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
  3. globalization by thorgil · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Companies move to the country that humiliates itself the most...
    Its called capitalism..

    In corparate america companies move YOU!

    --
    Warning: This sig contains a small bug. ==> *
  4. whats wrong with india by vikool · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    i'm an indian Now why is ther a view that for some reason american should get paid more than the indians for doing the same work. Guys.. u were getting overpaid..somebody came along and charged an economically viable price and all of the major companies jumped on the indian bandwagon. i saw a post about someone how used to get paid $33/hr getting dsiplaced by an indian programmer at $9.5/hr . now if you had been willing to do that work at $9.5/hr maybe you could have kept your job.

    1. Re:whats wrong with india by vikool · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Let me tell you something. in a year or so, i will have my bachelors degree from a major US university. However, when i look for a job, i have to apply for a h1b, which automatically menas the company is going to pay me a lot lower than what it would have paid an american citizen with the exact same qualifications, graduating from the same university, and in fact, having paid a shit load less for his university fees if he was in-state ( my current tution is 9k/sem, instate is around 1-2k/sem). So when i buy a house here, its going to cost me the same as it would cost you, but i will get paid lower. All i'm saying is that if everyone got paid reasonably, then maybe the cost of buying a house will go down.