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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"

3 of 1,032 comments (clear)

  1. Better idea by nurb432 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Decrease the value of the over-seas option.

    Create tariffs on 'out-sourcing', increase tariffs on imports..( even abstract things like importing knowledge or information )

    Drive the foreigners out of business and penalize domestic companies that choose that option...until a balance has been achieved.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  2. Re:Vote! by fmaxwell · · Score: 0, Troll

    Clearly you must be the one living in your parent's basement since you appear to have zero motivation or ambition and simply want to hold on to your existing job until somebody pries it out of your cold, dead hands.

    Unlike you, I'm a successful engineer who has built up his skills and risen through the ranks for the last couple of decades. I live in a nice home, have nice vehicles, and can afford to spend money on my interests. I have enough real-world experience to know that changing fields entails starting off at the bottom again and never having the earning potential of someone who has been in that field throughout their career.

    You, on the other hand, sound like someone with no real skills, no real achievements, and no real ambition. You just figure easy-come, easy-go when it comes to jobs and careers. You don't seem to have any passion for the work you do. Sure, you'll have no trouble changing jobs at this stage in your life. All you'll have to remember is to say "crispy or Original Recipe" rather than "would you like fries with that".

    Unless you're 70 years old and suffer from some mental retardation issue there are always opportunities to learn and do something else.

    Bullshit. Utter, stinking, right-wing bullshit. If a middle-aged engineer with a wife, children, a house, etc. loses his job, you're telling him to back to college for four years to become a lawyer, investment banker, or chemist? I guess you think his family can live in a 1989 Ford Fiesta while he gets his degree and tries to climb the corporate ladder all over again -- starting at the bottom rung.

    You just don't want to face reality. You can't deal with it. The thought that you might find yourself middle-aged, unemployed, and in a field that's going away scares the hell out of you. You want to try to convince yourself that you can be a software engineer this month and next month be a neurosurgeon the next if your job is outsourced. Well my little friend, that's not reality.

  3. Re:It's not a matter of smarts by stephanruby · · Score: 0, Troll
    Feynman talks about it in his biography, fragile knowledge is I believe how he describes it. For example: He tought in Brazil for a time. He was at an oral test of a student that did quite well. However, after the test he asked the student some more questions to see if he really knew what he was talking about.

    Brazilians are not comparable to Indians. Just go take a look at our most competitive engineering/computer science schools, you won't even find any Brazilians there. The few first-generation and second-generation Brazilians that I've met in the US usually limit themselves to Business school instead.