Hi Tom,

It does make you wonder where this is going. After all, how many computer chips have you seen lately that say "Made in USA". Everyone knows that stuff is made in the East, no one really complains, and no one expects to find a job here making that stuff. Is software development headed in the same direction? Maybe one day we'll all be developers turned integrators or IT administrators. At least until the big wigs decide that programmers and IT staff really should live on the same continent, after which the IT work will be outsourced, the servers will be moved to India, and all local IT staff will be fired. Of course, that brings up the issue of latency and its effect on productivity. Latency, schmatency. It's cheap! Kramer's willing to wait six months for his laundry.

On the other hand, some goods things could happen. The American auto manufacturers had to adapt to meet the challenge of competition from Japan, right? Maybe this will give some steam to a true software engineering movement, where only the good programmers survive. Hope I'm on that list.

By the way, I don't mean to pick on India. There are other countries doing outsourcing work, but India is definitely at the forefront. In any case, it's the American corporations that decide to outsource the work, and this isn't the first industry to face competition from other countries.

>Joel;
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>I got a good chuckle regardless of “political correctness”. :) Perhaps I am insensitive these days. Lots of out sourcing of software projects going on in Silicon Valley, which contributes to the lack of new jobs and higher unemployment.
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>If you have read my posts over the last few weeks, we have 123,000 H1B’s from India (official U.S. Government figure!) working in Silicon Valley. Many are in software. 90% of the employed electronics engineers in Silicon Valley are H1B’s from India. I was an unemployed electronics engineer so I became a software developer. We have 193,000 IT jobs lost in Silicon Valley. Lost means the companies no longer exist.
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>Next I will be washing clothes but that occupation will dry up as you can do it for less in India. Just learn to be patient! In India they will not use soap and water to wash your clothes. But the price is right and that makes everyone happy. Keep smiling! :) It is the price that is important - results mean nothing.
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>The good news here is that they expect that outsourcing will cause many of the H1B’s to return to India for lack of work. Then the citizens of this area will be without work which is the present condition for many, but there will not be much competition for employment. Who needs or expects employment when there are no jobs.
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>Corporate headquarters will remain in Silicon Valley as a status symbol, just as attorneys and doctors use a San Francisco address to appear to be "more professional". Can you imagine a doctor of lawyer with a Milpitas or Emeryville, California address? After all corporate big wigs thrive in Silicon Valley and the nearby area. Can you imagine such individuals living in India? Larry Ellison would flip!
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>We are becoming a service society – manufacturing and all that is leaving the country. Within the last two years alone, California has lost 16% of its manufacturing force. Everyone will work for McDonalds. People from India will be tourists and go to McDonalds, so in the end everything works out! Tourists from India will save the United States with tourist dollars, while corporate heads living here will pat each other on the back and say, "What a great job we have done"! Just wait until the next quarter profits are reported buddy!
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>One group from India came to a company where I was working and offered to outsource our software development to India for $20 an hour. A second group came a few days later with a similar offer and wanted $10 an hour. Do the math! How can you afford to have n people (more than one in the group) in the United States selling software services door to door, develop software and deliver on time for the suggested hourly rates? It is all done with mirrors! Or was that satellites? :)
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>Tom