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IBM Moving Developer Jobs Overseas

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the unionize-now-while-you-have-the-chance dept.

helixcode123 writes "According to the New York Times (also on Yahoo News), IBM is planning on moving a substantial number of high level jobs overseas to 'India and other countries.' IBM argues, in essence, that they need to do this to stay competitive. The article quotes that Forrester Research '...estimated that 450,000 computer industry jobs could be transferred abroad in the next 12 years, representing 8 percent of the nation's computer jobs.'"

4 of 1,346 comments (clear)

  1. reduce costs? by linuxislandsucks · · Score: 5, Interesting

    so its okay to outsource jobs to reduce costs but not okay to lower salaries of the top management to reduce costs?

    --
    Don't Tread on OpenSource
  2. best Indian engineers come to US by dyj · · Score: 5, Interesting

    While it is true that many technical jobs have been moved to India, the best Indian engineers actual come to the US to have jobs here.

    CBS's 60 Minutes had a segment on students of the ultra-competitive Indian Institute of Technology a while ago. And apparently all the graduates from IIT want to come to the US.

    Therefore, I have the thesis that technical jobs in the US are simply getting more and more advanced, whlie "easier" technical jobs are being moved overseas.

  3. Re:I have a plan... by vsprintf · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Programming is simply a commodity. I oughta know, I am a programmer. My job will go overseas sometime soon. I'm just trying to make as much money as possible beforehand, in the opes that I am prepared.

    I'm a programmer too, and I find little logic in your comment. Why should a company which is based in the U.S. be allowed to benefit from the infrastructure here while offshoring jobs? Why should the company get a free ride when their employees no longer pay U.S. taxes or pay into Social Security, and the company no longer pays the mandatory matching contribution? Sure, the company might make more money in the short run (and shareholders in whatever country make a few pennies), but it is at the expense of the American taxpayer. Companies that offshore their labor should do the right thing and offshore their headquarters and management as well, so they can adequately supervise their operations.

    Since U.S. executive compensation is so horribly out of whack compared to the average worker's in comparison to the rest of the world (over 500:1 at last count), why aren't the executives' jobs offshored first? That would be the most logical place to start cutting costs and improving profits. And if managerial brains are not a commodity, what is? IBM's position is: "Ooh, ooh, other companies are doing it, so we gotta do it too." I liked the old IBM better. Then they had real management that appreciated the fact that the current employees made the company what it was.

  4. Re:I have a plan... by tbradshaw · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually, sugar cane is still grown in Hawaii. Surprisingly, sugar is the one of the most subsidised industries in the US. We pay over five times the "world price" for sugar.

    Originally it was just to protect sugar growers, but after corn syrup became the number one sugar substitute, it's now used to keep domestic sugar prices higher than corn.

    Why would this be that important? Well because the first political primary is in Iowa, of course, corn capital of the world. Historians will look back at the US and wonder why in the hell corn farmers had such a huge impact on the policies of the most powerful nation in the world.