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Tech Sector Expansion Blunting U.S. Job Outsourcing
xzvf writes "BusinessWeek summarizes a new report from the American Electronics Association (now known as AeA) that they think mitigates the effect of outsourcing on IT employment. US demand for tech workers is through the roof, the highest it has been since the boom of the late 90s. The tech sector added some 150,000 new jobs 2006, and there are no signs that interest will flag in the near future. 'There is so much global demand for employees proficient in programming languages, engineering, and other skills demanding higher level technology knowledge that outsourcing can't meet all U.S. needs. "There would have been a lot more than 147,000 jobs created here, but our companies are having difficulty finding Americans with the background," says William Archey, president and chief executive of the AeA. One culprit is the dearth of U.S. engineering and computer science college graduates. Second, immigration caps have made it difficult for highly skilled foreign-born employees to obtain work visas. Congress has been debating whether to increase the numbers of foreign skilled workers allowed into the country under the H-1B visa program.' "
2nd post; oh well. But here's where I predicted that this would happen (May 10th, 2005):- and-it.html
http://angry-economist.russnelson.com/open-source
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
> The industry chiefs finally realized that you get what you pay for. Amazing.
Not really. This is part of a PR blitz to raise the H-1B cap. Otherwise, in order to increase supply they'd have to increase salaries. And we wouldn't want that, would we?
[Insert pithy quote here]
Because some people enjoy it?
I don't know about you, but I could never see myself as a plumber or car mechanic or house painter. They're probably far easier than computer science could ever be, but I don't think I could find a fulfilling life in it.
Why are people teachers when there's not a lot of money in it? Scientists? Come on.
Oh, please. Hotjobs.com shows that the average salary for an entry level programmer in my hometown (Pittsburgh) is $55,000. No matter how you slice it, that's alot of freakin' money. I even checked a couple of other industries (Accounting and Architecture) and the entry-level salaries there are much lower --> I have to admit, I just picked two industries -- so I run the risk of not having a representative sample. But, I imagine if I spent an hour and picked most industries, we would see that IT still pays well. I believe that a 'lack' of salary is NOT the problem.
One problem I've seen is students have focused on Microsoft .net but in reality there are very few jobs there. Most large corporate systems rely on more standard technologies. Here in RTP we cannot find decent java/j2ee folks. Lots of posers who cannot answer basic CompSci questions... I hate to say it but I really question that some unscrupulous people from India may not even have the tech degrees they advertise. At a past company I asked the offshore team (HCL) to do a design document and even stubbed out the entire thing. They could not, within a month, produce anything worthy of even a D in a 102 CompSci class. I assume HCL actually has them staffed on 50 projects as the offshore team so they do little to nothing for each project. That allows HCL to have an L1 "manager" at each of the 50 projects who is really an individual contributor in fact. I saw Wipro doing this in the late 1990's too so it must be a common technique among the Indian contractors. Americans cannot compete because they send in resumes with real experience rather than hypothetical experience. Give me an MS from an American University any time over some poser claiming expertise in the latest fad technology.
Expect Freedom.
A breakdown and rebuttal
Mistake 1: Thinking IT is on top of the food chain. No we are not IT is on the bottom of the food chain we need to service everyone. You may get paid more then the other guy and you may be more skilled but who ever you are doing work for is your boss.
Customer Service in an organization is vital. Who you work for is your client. But I ask you this: If IT isn't that important, why is IT is an after thought until something goes wrong? If I had a nickel for every war story where the company was saved by IT I'd be a very wealthy man. Don't under rate the importance of IT. The story's moral: IT is important, but be humble anyway ya prick!
Mistake 2: Not being professional. You should not stand out as the IT Guy because everyone else is wearing business casual and you are in tee-shirt and jeans. It is unfair and wrong but it is the way it is you need to dress to fit in. Otherwise you make people uncomfortable if they are uncomfortable your job can be at risk.
OK. This is right on the money. If you don't want IT to be involved in your workplace, go ahead and try to be an "individual". If people are comfortable with you, they will be willing to interact with you. Also they might trust your judgement more and get you more involved. Getting along sometimes is the grease on the wheel when pure logic isn't enough.
Mistake 3: Saying No. They need to get the job done just not doing it because you personally don't like it will not help anyone.
Saying 'No' just because you don't like it is BAD. Saying 'No' because you know it is NOT possible with the time,money and technology your organization has is GOOD. Have an open mind and at least look for a solution before completely canning it.
Mistake 4: Saying Yes. Being Blind to problems without brining them up in the beginning and getting someone else above you involved in a solution could lead you working on a quagmire.
Like Mistake 3. Too true. Mistake 4 is right on the money.
Mistake 5: Thinking you are better then everyone else. Just because they don't know the difference between USB and Firewire doesn't make them stupid. Just because you do doesn't make you a genius. Respect the people you are working with, and they will respect you back.
Completely on the money. Most low level IT work any monkey can do. You are hired because you took the time to learn those skills. Bob in accounting might be a wanker, but he too was hired for what he knows and what he can do! Also even if you are a genius, you can be replaced. Anytime anywhere.
Like in Mistake 1 know your value but be humble.
Mistake 6: Respect your boss. They are a lot of bad bosses out there also a lot of good ones. Even if your boss seems to be cut from Dilbert you should give him the respect that they deserve. For being in that position. It means things like not publicly humiliating them and when arguing your point try not to make it personal.
I don't always like my bosses. Matter of fact I can hate my boss and think he is an embodiment of the Peter Principle. My boss also, signs my checks and does my performance reviews. I put my two cents in when asked and do my job. YMMV, but make sure you communicate with your boss and always CYA with emails if things go awry.
Mistake 7: Trying to change the world. Don't try to change the world just try to make your work environment better. Put your feelings about GNU, Patents, Microsoft.... Aside and focus on getting your work done.
Yup. Leave the soap box at home. If the opportunity opens to try to Open source etc. throw it out as an option, but don't look like a revolutionary fanboy while doing it. Nice concise logical arguments. Especially ones that show where your organization saves the money.
Mistake 8: Money doesn't matter. It does always keep an eye on how you are effecting the bottom line. You can save 10 minutes a day in computation but the cost for you to make that change would take 100 years to recove
I've interviewed job candidates for the past 2 years for a small company and the honest truth of the matter is that most people with CS degrees are horrible programmers. About 50% don't make it past the phone interview, and of those who do, we've probably hired about 20%. We're mainly a C# shop, but we look for anyone with OOP background and if they know a C language or Java we'll phone them up for a pre-screen.
We require the candidate to do a couple critical thinking and programming tasks during the on-site interview, and you'd be surprised how bad other people's code can be. Three or more loops to collect data that could be done in one. No persistent data storage for objects. No comments in the code. Inability to fix code to the desired standard after being handed a spec. Not testing the code to see if it works (not even a paper run through).
The critical thinking exercises help us see how an individual tackles and solves a problem. We can discern whether they have more of an academic or pragmatic approach to coding. It also helps us see whether people can catch obvious answers if they're available. We use it to gauge how much direction they'll need if we hire them, and where they'd be immediately useful.
I doubt most companies are as rigorous as we are in the hiring process, but from my interviews it's blatantly apparent that the individuals who rely solely on academic credentials are at least 1-2 years from being useful to a company. Whereas candidates that do any kind of side project or personal coding on their own are more likely to be useful within a shorter amount of time.
In summary, learn the latest technologies, bring your OOP skills up to snuff, and do some fun side projects of your own choosing. There are enough free development platforms out there that it shouldn't be difficult to keep your skills in practice. And remember that just because you have a degree doesn't mean you're any good at coding.
Tip: Go to Worse Than Failure (formerly "The Daily WTF") and learn what NOT to do. So many people we've interviewed couldn't tell us what's wrong with some of the examples listed there.
Or they realized that they don't need to pay Americans all that much. It's not just a salary vs. salary consideration. The relatively higher American salaries are offset by the feel-good increase in local stock prices which come with employing Americans. There's also a political consideration, as federal Senators and Representatives are more eager to share information with corporate heads who are employing their constituents.
Besides, there are now enough startups in India and China that the banks are virtually guaranteed an entirely new population of debt customers within the next generation. They can afford to back off and allow the businesses to reinvest in American shops. It's still profitable. With the oversea outsourcing scare firmly in mind the American job market is like a slave being dunked in barrel. It'll come up gasping for fresh air willing to accept whatever salaries they feel like handing out.
the NPG electrode was replaced with carbon blac