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Learning About Outsourcing in College?

Posted by Cliff on from the lessons-from-the-real-world dept.

nial-in-a-box asks: "I just started my software engineering course today at Loyola University Chicago and I found out that I will be learning hands-on about outsourcing. My classmates and I will be outsourcing parts of projects to students at another university, and then those students will be doing the same for us. This seems like it could be rather interesting. Has anyone out there been in a class like this before? Any other ideas on how to effectively teach about the implications of outsourcing (especially pointing out that outsourcing doesn't necessarily mean no jobs upon graduation)?"

4 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. Re:How to find jobs after outsourcing. by Asgard · · Score: 2, Informative

    Outsourcing is bad from a jobs perspective if one is working for the company that is now considering outsourcing, but if one doesn't yet have a job then working for the company that won the outsourcing contract is perfectly feasible.

  2. Re:How to find jobs after outsourcing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
    First, as someone said, a job lost in one place is a job gained elsewhere.

    Second, most outsourcing (in my experience, anyway; as for life in your dorm, YMMV) has nothing to do with losing jobs -- it's companies contracting out work instead of hiring new people.

  3. Re:How to find jobs after outsourcing. by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 2, Informative

    First, as someone said, a job lost in one place is a job gained elsewhere.

    Yep- as long as that elsewhere is anywhere other than America, or at least so it seems in IT.

    econd, most outsourcing (in my experience, anyway; as for life in your dorm, YMMV) has nothing to do with losing jobs -- it's companies contracting out work instead of hiring new people.

    In my experience, it's usually about asking the IT staff to train their replacements before being fired. This has caused at least one suicide (Kevin Flannagan, in Concord, CA in the parking lot of the Bank Of India^H^H^H^H^HAmerica headquarters) and one big challenge to a US Congress Critter (Michael Emmons running on the American Party Ticket against Rep Mica of Florida). I've yet to see *any* outsourcing project that didn't end in a massive layoff at the parent company.

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  4. You've got the intentions wrong. by DarylBeattie · · Score: 4, Informative

    Regarding question 1; Yes, the University of Toronto Computer Science classes have been doing this for years, but mainly between groups within the same class or classes.

    Question 2; I hate to point out the obvious, but they are not teaching you about "outsourcing"; they are really just using that as a term to describe what you will be doing. They are attempting to teach you how to work with others effectively when face-to-face communication is not always possible. In programming, this means properly internally and externally documenting code, and defining clear interfaces. Since this is a situation will come across very often in the working world, it is important to learn. Also, in this class you are not only held accountable to your professor, but also to the students in the other school.

    I believe it is an excellent way to teach important lessons to students. When you have an interview with a company, I would suggest pointing out this class to the interviewers and telling them what you learned from it; it'll probably impress them. Have fun! :)