Open Source Globalization?

Carl Rosenberger asks: "In this article at IT Managers Journal [which is another part of OSTG, Slashdot's parent publishing company], db4objects CEO Christof Wittig speculates about the future effect of open source globalization on organizations and individuals. According to his opinion 'Engineers like globalization', although it may mean tougher worldwide competition for jobs. What is the opinion of Slashdot readers on this article? Is open source globalization going to happen? Will it make our jobs better or worse?" As the referenced article puts it, open source globalization is the ability to hire programmers from all over the globe to collaborate together on a single project with low overhead. Heck if it works for open source projects, why not for corporate software? Do you see the corporations you are familiar with embracing or fighting this concept?

Comments

Who cares ...

[Pegasus]

I don't care if the shortterm effect to my job is bad, as long as the longterm effect to the world is good.

You get what you pay for?!?

[tf23]

I was recently hired for a short spell to help someone develop a website. It appears they started the project (they're a US Company, based in NY) by hiring a developer from Africa at $10/hour. Now, I would presume for some parts of Africa $10/hr is good money, while others maybe not so much. However, here in Ohio (US), that's squat.

They got into a bind, their developer didn't know what he should know (or, rather, needed to know for this project, possibly not his fault) and ended up contacting me. First wanting my help/advise for free, because, well, the website is based on an open source project I participate in. At first a few questions here or there is fine, but after a while, finding out it's a for-profit venture, enough is enough. I balked at the continued "free help".

First they complained they're only making $10/hr. Later, they begrudgingly offered me half my going rate. Again, I baulked. Eventually they antied up the full rate, and I worked with them till they had a hardware disaster and gave up.

Moral of the story? Globalization of IT is difficult; The language barriers and the difference in time-zones can be frustrating and complex. The difference in pay can be astounding.

However, Globalization rather scares me more then not. Looking at what happened to me, the company seemingly purposefully went out and hired a developer, in Africa, just to save money so they didn't have to pay an American, who'd require more pay. My only saving grace was that this developer they hired didn't know as much as me (and especially didn't know as much related to the open source project's code they were using).

But one day, he may (or will)! Then what? Any US company can hire him, at a far lower wage then what I require (to feed/cloth my family as they currently are, etc etc). Where does that leave me? Scrambling for a job/career that has steady employment from which I can sustain this lifestyle.

I don't relate this experience to complain about the un-named company that hired me, nor the across the globe developer. I bring this up to tell my story of a project which was global in nature and which, after experiencing it, leaves me skeptical regarding IT's future in higher cost of living countries.

Re:You get what you pay for?!?

[RetlawST]

The thing is, as he starts to learn more, he'll be worth more. We're learning that in India right now as more IT professionals are becoming competitive, threatening to take their knowledge elsewhere if companies don't pony up. While this is still considerably less than workers in the US, it just underlines the fact that knowledgeable people are a commodity and the more you know, the more you're worth.

Re:You get what you pay for?!?

[Aladrin]

Don't you mean 'lower cost of living countries'? It seems it's pretty clear... You get what you pay for. If you try to hire someone for a fraction of what it's worth (in your country), you get someone that doesn't know what they are doing and needs to be helped constantly. The same as if you'd hired someone locally for that price.

There are exceptions, I understand that.

But my company outsources some of it's programming work to India, and it's been nothing but headaches on anything larger than a simple script. It's gotten to the point that, like you saw, they ask me for help on their problems instead of trying to figure them out on their own.

I have to wonder, though... Did they REALLY have a 'hardware crash', or did they realize they had spent more on the project than they had earned, and saw no way to fix it? It's not that they are stupid, it's just that they try to do jobs they aren't qualified for because the pay is so good. The same thing happens here in the US, but the market is fairly stable, and they don't last long. IT is booming overseas, and there's many more jobs than qualified people to fill them.

I see this getting worse before it gets better.

Re:You get what you pay for?!?

[dmayle]

Any US company can hire him, at a far lower wage then what I require

I must admit, I see this attitude so often here on Slashdot, sometimes it really astounds me. I live in France, where we also have problems with this kind of attitude.

What do you do when no companies will hire you at a price you find reasonable??? There are a couple of options:

• Whine and complain on Slashdot
• Go on unemployment, and then get the media to be interested in your hard-luck case
• Do something about it:
  • Move
  • Start your own company

Really, people, globalization is not the end of the world. Not only that, but people in open source are poised to reap the greatest advantages of globalization. People living in lesser economies simply can't afford the prices of proprietary software from G8 countries. This leaves them with three options: 1) Build it themselves, 2) Pirate it, 3) Open Source.

This means more users, more coders, and eventually, more money . It's quite simple, folks. If you wanna give out free advice, that's your choice, but until localized support is in place, it's up to them to learn from the source, at your rates.

It gores both ways

[brunes69]

People in the First World complain because we are driving their wages downward, but what is being lost is globalization is driving wages and employment standards in the third world upward.

Sure, the wages are low compared to here. Sure, the employment standards are lower. But change does not happen overnight - the amount of improvements seen over the last 25 years are more than were seen in the first 50 years of the industrial revolution in the first world.

Eventually, what will happen is the wages and employment standards of the entire world will meet somewhere in the middle. Then, they will only go up, as competition for skilled labour drives them that way.

You have to think long term - like on the 50-100 year scale.