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Increasing the Value of the Domestic IT Worker?
KoshClassic asks: "To state it simply, in today's global economy, the IT worker in America is in direct competition with IT workers in countries such as India who are willing to do the same job for less. Much of this willingness has to do with standards and costs of living in these other countries, and without lowering ours or raising theirs, the American IT worker can not compete on even terms if the only consideration is cost. What should American IT workers be doing to differentiate ourselves from our overseas counterparts, to add the kinds of value for employers that will make them want to look beyond direct costs and see other benefits that will make it worthwhile for them to keep these jobs in the US? I'm not sure what the answer to this question is, but I am convinced that the answer lies in trends and industry wide changes, rather than just individuals polishing their own resumes. When an employer decides he needs to fill a programming position, what is going to make him want to fill that position in the U.S. rather than overseas, even before individual candidates are considered"
While the costs of living may play a role, what type of living is it that American programmers want so badly? I would be satisfied with an apartment and basic living expensives ($1000/mo) so it seems to me that we should offer our services for a much lower price.
WORK FOR LESS. Foreigners are working for less and they end up getting the work. What part of that do you fail to grasp? Don't like it? Either make people aware of the harm they're doing (anyone remember BUY AMERICAN?), or maybe try something a bit more constructive - such as finding some people to room with in a co-op so you can lower your cost of living, or organizing a lobby to get some of the absurd laws on our books thrown out so that the cost of doing business over here isn't so damn high (which might give companies a reason to stay in-country).
Now hold your breath... wait for it... here's comes the onslaught of troglodytes who'll lambast me for advocating the simplification of America's legal system. Heaven forbid we don't have the FDA to protect us from those nasty corporations!
"Under a capitalist system the chief responsibility of a company is to make money for its shareholders"
This is one of the worst generalizations I can think of. Under a capitalist system the primary responsibility is to the CONSUMER, without whom, there is no shareholders, employees or anything else.
The problem you are trying to express is one in OUR capitalism which is not really capitalism at all since corporate structure is dictated by the government and heavy regulation exists almost everywhere.
Speaking English? :)
John Susek
The answer is simple. MAKE YOURSELVES CHEAPER. Programming is a monkey's job much like flipping burgers or working on an assembly line. You deserve nothing more than minimum wage!
Not to be a prick, but are you fucking retarded?!?! You think the playing-field is slanted against the AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS?!?!?! Do you even know what is going on in the rest of the world? Like the other piss-poor 100+ countries who earn a thousandth of the american middle cclass? Jesus H Christ. I hope to god you're trolling. Somone mod parent as a troll asap. Out of all 7 billion people on the earth, I can't believe you think the middle class of the richest and most powerful empire to ever exist somehow got the shaft. Fucking troll.
If this is the kind of logic you use in your programs as you have used to make these derivation, no wonder your job is outsourced and if it is not then it should be.
I completely agree. LISTEN UP SLASHDOT: You need to know the business as well as the managers! People who only know how to code don't know shit.
The answer is to lower your standard of living. U.S. programmers are paid too much and delude themselves into thinking that they are special and have some "hot" skills. Compare yourselves to physicians or engineers (real ones). The reason they earn more compared to the rest of the population is because they actually have to study for years and pass rigorous certification exams. If anybody can be a programmer -- and I do mean anybody (dropouts, journalists, musicians, janitors, etc.) -- then maybe your skills aren't so hot, are they?
Unless of course, someone goes postal. Then that line flips around, and your suit is ruined with the blood of some coworker that decided to take things into his own hands, and starts cutting the wheat from the chaff. If you go about the Henry Ford/20th Century {IBM | NCR} way and dont screw over the workers, you might just keep that from happening. Sometimes enhancing the value of the work being done by the 98%'ers might just lead to innovations that cant be had in some far country in the globe.
I think we might agree about who it is doing the complaining, but perhaps we should replace your key phrases:
...most of the crying seems to be coming from people who
Start with:
And begin replacing:
didn't have any savings,
"weren't born into the upper middle class"
made poor choices,
"majored in a high-growth field right before a huge -- and unpredicted -- change in the global economy"
and want something handed to them.
"yet still want to be capable of duplicating their parents' lifestyle."
We end with:
"...most of the crying seems to be coming from people who weren't born into the upper middle class, majored in a high-growth field right before a huge -- and unpredicted -- change in the global economy, yet still want to be capable of duplicating their parents' lifestyle."
Look, we're in agreement afterall!
Regarding your nice home. You most likely have a mortgage and call it "owning a home" even though it is nothing more than a tax break gained from "trying to own" instead of "renting from someone else".
Do you own a home outright? If not, STFU, loser.
I would not even be surprised if you had taken out a home equity loan at least once in the past of your "career" to pay off higher-interest debt (such as credit cards).
Another stupid assumption on your part. I have one credit card and I pay off the entire amount every month. I paid for my car, boat, motorcycle, and Jeep in cash. The only debt I carry is on my home mortgage, and that's an investment that has almost doubled in value in five years. I've probably saved up more for retirement than you'll ever earn.
Arguing that you are working for money because you have a family for which you are financially responsible is rendered as a pathetic situation you got yourself into.
I don't have dependents. I have plenty of savings. And my job is not threatened in any way. At all. It's just that, unlike you, I can have empathy for others and I understand enough about economics to recognize that my personal success is unrelated to the overall health of the economy.
Not to mention your fixation on the assumption that you HAVE to go to college to get into a career.
Please, tell all of us on Slashdot about what kind of "career" you have. Tell us what kind of training you had. Tell us all about your lifestyle. How many times have you changed careers (and going from cashier at McDonalds to "Sales Associate" at K-Mart doesn't count as a career change)? What kind of training did you get to change careers if you didn't go to college for the change? Tell us how you got hired for these "careers" when you went in with no experience or degree. You must have quite the impressive resume.
You failed to plan with responsiblity.
What an idiot you are. I have investments, savings, and net worth that would let me retire long before you even move out of your parents' basement.
You don't understand the concept of a career and you have the maturity of a six year old who tells people he's going to be an astronaut one week and a fireman the next. You love to throw around idiotic terms like "value creator", but the only way that you will "create value" is if you use some of your bullshit as fertilizer.
P.S. Your sock-puppet response to your own post was pitiful.