Here's my biggest complaint about offshoring technical jobs: If you want a good software engineer, and you're in a place like Silicon Valley, you should have many friends and associates who can refer you to people who will do a great job, especially if you maintain contacts within the local universities. But when you outsource to India, you're trusting people there to do the same. I know there are a lot of highly talented people in India, but how do you know that those are the ones you're getting?
Exactly. With HP's costs being reduced so quickly, I'd expect to see them start paying dividends to their shareholders, who are the real owners of the company.
Back when kings ruled most of Europe, I imagine they had similar reasons why they had most of the wealth while the peasants toiled in the fields. The real reason, of course, was that they had the power to keep most of the wealth.
It's not so different today with these CEO's. Most of us technical types are also shareholders in lots of corporations, and I don't see a lot of us getting rich that way. What dividend is HP paying these days?
There are a great many tech jobs available...And you're always free to make less money.
I wonder where you got that idea. My job-hunting experience a little over a year ago was that there were few job openings, and most had requirements so ridiculous that they never seemed to get filled (or maybe they were pure fraud). As for being willing to work for less, I never set salary requirements, yet I went for months without even an interview.
Sounds like me a year ago: 25 years experience including one of the larger open-source projects, several commercial software products, yet I couldn't even get interviews. Finally got my current job through a friend.
I ran into lots of people who seemed perfectly competent technically, yet they were all in the same situation.
I'd be a little more careful, or you could have this:
2004: Laid off. Job outsourced. You send your resume as ASCII or PDF to a company or recruiter, and you get an email back saying they can't read it, "Please submit a.doc version."
Managers are always looking for a methodology for ensuring success.
What I've found, is that the only way to have success is to have good developers, and that means people who are not only technically competent and skilled at writing software, but also mature enough to get along with each other.
This isn't really unusual if you think about other professions. If you need surgery, you're most likely to find a doctor with a good track record. What you wouldn't do is come up with a "surgery methodology" and then hire a couple random doctors through an agency.
They're not "beating out American programmers", because the companies that are outsourcing aren't giving Americans a chance. I'm fortunate to still be employed, and to still be getting a good salary. But I'd be willing to work at 1/4 of my current rate if the alternative was being on unemployment, or serving burgers and fries.
Do you know any out-of-work software developers, or have you looked for work lately? People aren't even getting phone interviews, regardless of what's on their resumes.
Do you really think software development is a "commodity"?
Do you also think other professions are commodities, like medicine or law? If you need surgery, or are accused of a crime, will you hire the cheapest doctor or lawyer available?
...lots of great ideas are generated down in the trenches...
This is something a lot of managers don't want to admit. It's also the reason that some companies are so much more successful at developing software than others.
I can believe it. Every time I use my bank's ATM, it asks me if I want to work in English or Spanish. You'd think it could keep track of the fact that I've answered "English" several hundred times over the last 6 years.
"Mind you, the mainstream press still doesn't know who to believe, since for them it's all greek."
That's what's a little bit scary. Mainstream people, which likely includes everyone on a jury, will not know a thing about "isupper" or "errno". But they can see when two pieces of text are similar.
My system would crash instantly upon starting X until I disabled APCI (kernel 2.4.20). Since then, Nvidia's drivers (from a couple months ago) have been working fine.
However, all these problems and complaints reinforce my belief that it's much better to have open-source drivers.
Those rules were made by people. I'd guess that originally, only olive oil was permitted, and that it took a while before candles (which were the high-tech lighting method) were allowed.
Good point. I'm also tired of Linux users being called 'zealots'. After all...
It's a fact that my Linux box crashes far less than my Windows98 box.
It would be faith to think that giving Microsoft another $100 of my money for WindowsXP would be worthwhile, considering that every version of Windows I've used, going back to 3.0, has been terribly unstable.
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Except that often enough, or or two good software engineers can create a successful product, while 10-20 mediocre ones won't produce anything.
Here's my biggest complaint about offshoring technical jobs: If you want a good software engineer, and you're in a place like Silicon Valley, you should have many friends and associates who can refer you to people who will do a great job, especially if you maintain contacts within the local universities. But when you outsource to India, you're trusting people there to do the same. I know there are a lot of highly talented people in India, but how do you know that those are the ones you're getting?
Exactly. With HP's costs being reduced so quickly, I'd expect to see them start paying dividends to their shareholders, who are the real owners of the company.
Back when kings ruled most of Europe, I imagine they had similar reasons why they had most of the wealth while the peasants toiled in the fields. The real reason, of course, was that they had the power to keep most of the wealth.
It's not so different today with these CEO's. Most of us technical types are also shareholders in lots of corporations, and I don't see a lot of us getting rich that way. What dividend is HP paying these days?
There are a great many tech jobs available...And you're always free to make less money.
I wonder where you got that idea. My job-hunting experience a little over a year ago was that there were few job openings, and most had requirements so ridiculous that they never seemed to get filled (or maybe they were pure fraud). As for being willing to work for less, I never set salary requirements, yet I went for months without even an interview.
Sounds like me a year ago: 25 years experience including one of the larger open-source projects, several commercial software products, yet I couldn't even get interviews. Finally got my current job through a friend.
I ran into lots of people who seemed perfectly competent technically, yet they were all in the same situation.
That's right. When I need a doctor, I always shop around for the cheapest. I'd do the same for a lawyer. They're all the same, aren't they?
I'd be a little more careful, or you could have this:
.doc version."
2004: Laid off. Job outsourced. You send your resume as ASCII or PDF to a company or recruiter, and you get an email back saying they can't read it, "Please submit a
It's sad, but true.
Well said. I use KDE for my desktop, but GTK+ for development, so I like to see them both improve.
The software equivalent to mass-produced furniture is an automated CD-burner.
Software development is akin to furniture design.
Managers are always looking for a methodology for ensuring success.
What I've found, is that the only way to have success is to have good developers, and that means people who are not only technically competent and skilled at writing software, but also mature enough to get along with each other.
This isn't really unusual if you think about other professions. If you need surgery, you're most likely to find a doctor with a good track record. What you wouldn't do is come up with a "surgery methodology" and then hire a couple random doctors through an agency.
I saw it as "scummvm", and thought it had something to do with Monkey Island.
They're not "beating out American programmers", because the companies that are outsourcing aren't giving Americans a chance. I'm fortunate to still be employed, and to still be getting a good salary. But I'd be willing to work at 1/4 of my current rate if the alternative was being on unemployment, or serving burgers and fries.
Do you know any out-of-work software developers, or have you looked for work lately? People aren't even getting phone interviews, regardless of what's on their resumes.
Do you really think software development is a "commodity"?
Do you also think other professions are commodities, like medicine or law? If you need surgery, or are accused of a crime, will you hire the cheapest doctor or lawyer available?
Hey, we Americans get all the exercise we need climbing up into our big SUV's!
This is something a lot of managers don't want to admit. It's also the reason that some companies are so much more successful at developing software than others.
I can believe it. Every time I use my bank's ATM, it asks me if I want to work in English or Spanish. You'd think it could keep track of the fact that I've answered "English" several hundred times over the last 6 years.
Yes, I blew $100 on the Windows98 upgrade thinking it would fix things, and that was only a couple years after buying Windows95 with the same hope.
Unfortunately, it's not "evolution in action", since the man and his wife are well beyond child-bearing.
"Mind you, the mainstream press still doesn't know who to believe, since for them it's all greek."
That's what's a little bit scary. Mainstream people, which likely includes everyone on a jury, will not know a thing about "isupper" or "errno". But they can see when two pieces of text are similar.
Interestingly, Tik-Tok had two wind-up keys: One was for movement, and the other, if I recall, was for thinking/speech.
My system would crash instantly upon starting X until I disabled APCI (kernel 2.4.20). Since then, Nvidia's drivers (from a couple months ago) have been working fine.
However, all these problems and complaints reinforce my belief that it's much better to have open-source drivers.
Those rules were made by people. I'd guess that originally, only olive oil was permitted, and that it took a while before candles (which were the high-tech lighting method) were allowed.
It's a fact that my Linux box crashes far less than my Windows98 box.
It would be faith to think that giving Microsoft another $100 of my money for WindowsXP would be worthwhile, considering that every version of Windows I've used, going back to 3.0, has been terribly unstable.
I don't know. They already have lots of killing due to the Shiite/Sunni rift. What if the Shiite's prefer Gnome, and the Sunni's KDE?