You, like a lot of free traders, assume that the benefits of free trade will flow to everyone. The problem is that those benefits may not flow to everyone. If the benefits flow to just the CEOs and Plutocrats, as is apparently happening, the average joe loses out in every way!
That measure will be DOA, if we act. I am writing my Congress-Critters. I suggest others do likewise. If you don't have addresses (e-mail, snail mail) you can go to http://www.congress.org.
If the petition is backed up with a LOT of letters to Congressional and State Representatives, it may get somewhere. We did roll back H1B to 65,000 from 195,000 last fall. The fact that the middle class is getting affected has greatly increased the number of people concerned with this issue. The representatives HAVE to notice, if they want to keep their jobs!
However, don't assume that just because you get hired on as a co-op that you're "in" for a job at that company.
True. The company I co-oped for ran into financial trouble as I was leaving, so I could not get aboard with them. I did find that the experience I had built up did put me ahead with other employers though.
>> But they DO outsource. The Government outsources all the time.
Quite true. The big difference here is that the US Government has a system of clearances and other regulations for Contractors to follow, along with enforcement. The Feds can send the DIA or FBI to investigate Contractors and can arrest and imprison violators of its rules. A US company sending its Software to India or Russia does not have those same advantages. They could ask local law enforcement to investigate / arrest violators. But they may find that the local government IS the violator!
Read that article too. What cMarket backed into was that it can be easy to hire "cheap" labor in a University town, such as Boston. You can tap the pool of recent graduates, especially in hard economic times.
Actually, theses guys represent "Main Street" businesses. A lot of small to medium size manufacturing businesses are feeling the squeeze now. Some are even getting angry and organizing over the trade isssue.
I agree. A better solution would be to push for Professional Engineer style licensing. The IEEE Computer Society is pushing for this very thing, through their "Certified Software Development Professional" program. Besides helping keep jobs, this is a good way to show mastery of fundamental skills and ensure public safety.
We should push for Professional Licensing to be recognized as a legal standard, with licensed professionals required for development projects and networks where public privacy and safety are important. If we require licensing for Electricians, Civil Engineers, and even Beauticians, we should require licensing for Software and Network professionals.
As one who participated in the H1B effort of last fall, I can tell you something: The Congresscritters DO listen to us. They HAVE TO, if they want to KEEP THEIR JOBS!
That might get into ISP restrictions on how you use your account. Some, especially the Cable Broadband providers, specify that you cannot use your account for business. You have to get special "business accounts" with usually higher fees.
True. I remember an article on SiliconValley.Com talking about tech pro's who were employed at $40K - 60K / Year and HOMELESS, due to the astronomical cost of housing in the Bay area. They could not even afford rent!
What may need to be done by governments, industry, etc. is to encourage back office IT to locate to lower cost areas in the USA. Utah's UTOPIA project might be an example of something local / state government can do. It certainly beats paying for a factory or chicken processing plant to locate in a rural area!
You may be confused about the 2 organizations. IEEE-USA acts as its own organization. It allied with the IEEE, but is separately organized and funded. If you are a U.S. member of IEEE, you pay an extra assessment on your dues specific to IEEE-USA. If you are a non-US member, you do not pay.
BTW, as a Canadian, you can join CIPS. As part of its mission, it Certifies Professionals and Accredits College-Level IT programs. By setting standards, and getting corporations and governments to recognize them, CIPS protects its membership.
The IEEE-USA is a USA specific organization. It was created to give IEEE's U.S. members a voice. Their mission is:
"To recommend policies and implement programs specifically intended to serve and benefit the members, the profession, and the public in the United States in appropriate professional areas of economic, ethical, legislative, social and technology policy concern."
U.S. Software Professionals need their own organizations, their own voice in Congress and elsewhere. Otherwise, groups representing corporations, such as the ITAA will be the only voice. ITAA was instrumental in the great increase in H-1B levels, which was good for Corporations but not for U.S. Information Technology Professionals.
National professional organizations are quite reasonable and rational for professionals. I am certain that Indian, European, and other Techonology Professionals are organized. So should we!
BTW, it is usually best to write your congresspersion, instead of calling. E-Mail can also be effective> One site that can help you get in touch with your legislators is http://www.congress.org. It can help you identify and e-mail your U.S. Federal, State, and Local legislators.
I see a lot of concern and handwringing, but not a lot of action. If we are not to be the "deer in the headlights" of professional and personal disaster, we American Programmers need to speak out. This needs to be on both a personal and professional level.
- We need to get involved in our professional societies (IEEE-USA, ACM), and push them to lobby for us (instead of letting the Corporations "speak" for us. we know where they stand!).
- We need to write our congresspeople on this issue (BTW, that DID work on H-1B!). We need to get involved in politics, both at the state level (does your state have "anti-overseas outsourcing" legislation pending? Are you writing your state legislator to support it?), and at the national level.
-Will you vote this issue when voting for president in 2004? Have you let the candidates know this?
In short, we programmers need to develop a voice, and speak loudly in our own interest.
"Great Mind" "Good Person". For example, consider Daniel Carlton Gajdusek, who won the Nobel in 1976. In 1997, he plead guilty for child abuse. Turns out he was also a long-time pedophile.
Of course, it was the "upper class elite" who were lavished that sort of "classic" education. More typically, a child in the 1800's would be lucky to be given 6-8 years of Primary Education. If his family needed money, he would be sent to a factory at 6-8 years old. If he were born a slave, giving him education (reading / writing) would be a crime!
Re:No one took your time in the first place.
on
Take Back Your Time!
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· Score: 1
>>"But I won't be able to afford the mortgage on my $500,000 home!" many will cry.
Don't know where YOU LIVE, but 500K is not far from "entry level" in the close-in Washington DC suburbs. It's to the point where Prince William County, once considered a "far suburb" is concerned they can't house their Teachers, Police, and Fire personnel.
It is to the point where many low-wage workers resort to living 3-4 families in a house. This was brought home to me last summer at my daughter's 7th birthday party. The party included a sleepover. One of her guests was unable to stay for the sleepover. My daughter told me that her friend was unable to stay because she along with her father and mother, lived in one room, in a house shared with three families.
Maybe we could learn from the French (http://www.cogemalahague.com). They have been reprocessing their own wastes, along with waste from several European countries and Japan.
The French DO reprocess Nuclear Wastes at the COGEMA facility at La Hague, near Cherbourg. The facility reprocesses French, Japanese, German, Belgian, Swiss and Dutch Nuclear waste. Much of the reprocessed fuel is put back into reactors as MOX fuel. You can lear more at:
Slashdot Mirror
You, like a lot of free traders, assume that the benefits of free trade will flow to everyone. The problem is that those benefits may not flow to everyone. If the benefits flow to just the CEOs and Plutocrats, as is apparently happening, the average joe loses out in every way!
That measure will be DOA, if we act. I am writing my Congress-Critters. I suggest others do likewise. If you don't have addresses (e-mail, snail mail) you can go to http://www.congress.org.
If the petition is backed up with a LOT of letters to Congressional and State Representatives, it may get somewhere. We did roll back H1B to 65,000 from 195,000 last fall. The fact that the middle class is getting affected has greatly increased the number of people concerned with this issue. The representatives HAVE to notice, if they want to keep their jobs!
However, don't assume that just because you get hired on as a co-op that you're "in" for a job at that company.
True. The company I co-oped for ran into financial trouble as I was leaving, so I could not get aboard with them. I did find that the experience I had built up did put me ahead with other employers though.
>> But they DO outsource. The Government outsources all the time.
Quite true. The big difference here is that the US Government has a system of clearances and other regulations for Contractors to follow, along with enforcement. The Feds can send the DIA or FBI to investigate Contractors and can arrest and imprison violators of its rules. A US company sending its Software to India or Russia does not have those same advantages. They could ask local law enforcement to investigate / arrest violators. But they may find that the local government IS the violator!
Read that article too. What cMarket backed into was that it can be easy to hire "cheap" labor in a University town, such as Boston. You can tap the pool of recent graduates, especially in hard economic times.
Actually, theses guys represent "Main Street" businesses. A lot of small to medium size manufacturing businesses are feeling the squeeze now. Some are even getting angry and organizing over the trade isssue.
These guys should be listened to. If nothing else, Machine Tools have become a big user of Electronics and Software.
I agree. A better solution would be to push for Professional Engineer style licensing. The IEEE Computer Society is pushing for this very thing, through their "Certified Software Development Professional" program. Besides helping keep jobs, this is a good way to show mastery of fundamental skills and ensure public safety.
We should push for Professional Licensing to be recognized as a legal standard, with licensed professionals required for development projects and networks where public privacy and safety are important. If we require licensing for Electricians, Civil Engineers, and even Beauticians, we should require licensing for Software and Network professionals.
As one who participated in the H1B effort of last fall, I can tell you something: The Congresscritters DO listen to us. They HAVE TO, if they want to KEEP THEIR JOBS!
I wish them well, but they will run into harsh competition for channel slots.
I advocate having Linuxworld in Washington, DC. It would be a good way to increase the visibility and support of Linux by the US Federal government.
That might get into ISP restrictions on how you use your account. Some, especially the Cable Broadband providers, specify that you cannot use your account for business. You have to get special "business accounts" with usually higher fees.
True. I remember an article on SiliconValley.Com talking about tech pro's who were employed at $40K - 60K / Year and HOMELESS, due to the astronomical cost of housing in the Bay area. They could not even afford rent!
What may need to be done by governments, industry, etc. is to encourage back office IT to locate to lower cost areas in the USA. Utah's UTOPIA project might be an example of something local / state government can do. It certainly beats paying for a factory or chicken processing plant to locate in a rural area!
You may be confused about the 2 organizations. IEEE-USA acts as its own organization. It allied with the IEEE, but is separately organized and funded. If you are a U.S. member of IEEE, you pay an extra assessment on your dues specific to IEEE-USA. If you are a non-US member, you do not pay.
BTW, as a Canadian, you can join CIPS. As part of its mission, it Certifies Professionals and Accredits College-Level IT programs. By setting standards, and getting corporations and governments to recognize them, CIPS protects its membership.
The IEEE-USA is a USA specific organization. It was created to give IEEE's U.S. members a voice. Their mission is:
"To recommend policies and implement programs specifically intended to serve and benefit the members, the profession, and the public in the United States in appropriate professional areas of economic, ethical, legislative, social and technology policy concern."
U.S. Software Professionals need their own organizations, their own voice in Congress and elsewhere. Otherwise, groups representing corporations, such as the ITAA will be the only voice. ITAA was instrumental in the great increase in H-1B levels, which was good for Corporations but not for U.S. Information Technology Professionals.
National professional organizations are quite reasonable and rational for professionals. I am certain that Indian, European, and other Techonology Professionals are organized. So should we!
BTW, it is usually best to write your congresspersion, instead of calling. E-Mail can also be effective> One site that can help you get in touch with your legislators is http://www.congress.org. It can help you identify and e-mail your U.S. Federal, State, and Local legislators.
I see a lot of concern and handwringing, but not a lot of action. If we are not to be the "deer in the headlights" of professional and personal disaster, we American Programmers need to speak out. This needs to be on both a personal and professional level.
- We need to get involved in our professional societies (IEEE-USA, ACM), and push them to lobby for us (instead of letting the Corporations "speak" for us. we know where they stand!).
- We need to write our congresspeople on this issue (BTW, that DID work on H-1B!). We need to get involved in politics, both at the state level (does your state have "anti-overseas outsourcing" legislation pending? Are you writing your state legislator to support it?), and at the national level.
-Will you vote this issue when voting for president in 2004? Have you let the candidates know this?
In short, we programmers need to develop a voice, and speak loudly in our own interest.
"Great Mind" "Good Person". For example, consider Daniel Carlton Gajdusek, who won the Nobel in 1976. In 1997, he plead guilty for child abuse. Turns out he was also a long-time pedophile.
Of course, it was the "upper class elite" who were lavished that sort of "classic" education. More typically, a child in the 1800's would be lucky to be given 6-8 years of Primary Education. If his family needed money, he would be sent to a factory at 6-8 years old. If he were born a slave, giving him education (reading / writing) would be a crime!
The French have solved this problem. For more, check out:
http://www.cogemalahague.com
>>"But I won't be able to afford the mortgage on my $500,000 home!" many will cry.
Don't know where YOU LIVE, but 500K is not far from "entry level" in the close-in Washington DC suburbs. It's to the point where Prince William County, once considered a "far suburb" is concerned they can't house their Teachers, Police, and Fire personnel.
It is to the point where many low-wage workers resort to living 3-4 families in a house. This was brought home to me last summer at my daughter's 7th birthday party. The party included a sleepover. One of her guests was unable to stay for the sleepover. My daughter told me that her friend was unable to stay because she along with her father and mother, lived in one room, in a house shared with three families.
If you have any health problems, are old (40+), or have a family, buying your own insurance can be either unavailable or prohibitively expensive.
If this happened in Bismark, the FBI can be brought into the case!
Maybe we could learn from the French (http://www.cogemalahague.com). They have been reprocessing their own wastes, along with waste from several European countries and Japan.
The French DO reprocess Nuclear Wastes at the COGEMA facility at La Hague, near Cherbourg. The facility reprocesses French, Japanese, German, Belgian, Swiss and Dutch Nuclear waste. Much of the reprocessed fuel is put back into reactors as MOX fuel. You can lear more at:
http://www.cogemalahague.com