Dire predictions about outsourcing have never come true. In the 70s, it was the uproar about outsourcing manufacturing to Japan, Taiwan, etc. Long before that, it was outsourcing of agriculture to other nations such as South America, etc.
Remember when America was primarily a nation of farmers and frontiersmen? I don't know about you, but I'm glad they outsourced farming, because I don't want to be a farmer (I grew up next to several cotton and corn farms), and I'm glad they outsourced manufacturing (my dad almost got killed when his shirt got caught in a factory machine), because I don't want to be a factory worker.
I AM GLAD THEY OUTSOURCED EVERYTHING, INCLUDING MY JOB AT IBM, BECAUSE NOW I CAN DO WHAT I REALLY ENJOY. The entrepreneurial spirit of America is one of the few things that will forever be difficult to export (due to long-held cultural beliefs and differences), and it happens to be one of the few things I truly enjoy as a career. I'm sick and tired of the 9 to 9 punch-in/punch-out that I had to endure as a programmer. I considered that MENIAL LABOR, and I'm glad to see it go. Let the Indians and Chinese have it--it pays squat (I hit the programmers' glass ceiling a long time ago), and it's getting to the point where high school kids are coming out better educated in the matured field of software engineering than I am.
In other words, I view the IBM layoffs (which I was smart enough to see coming--I left a couple of months before they laid off my coworkers) and outsourcing as a blessing in disguise. It's like a smoke detector waking you and your family up to get the helloutta the house before the flames come roaring through.
Rather than try to feebly fight the tide with rubber dinghies and plastic oars, I suggest that we all learn to ride the tide and take advantage of the inevitable globalization that will dominate the next 30 years.
Remember when America was primarily a nation of farmers and frontiersmen? I don't know about you, but I'm glad they outsourced farming, because I don't want to be a farmer (I grew up next to several cotton and corn farms), and I'm glad they outsourced manufacturing (my dad almost got killed when his shirt got caught in a factory machine), because I don't want to be a factory worker.
I AM GLAD THEY OUTSOURCED EVERYTHING, INCLUDING MY JOB AT IBM, BECAUSE NOW I CAN DO WHAT I REALLY ENJOY. The entrepreneurial spirit of America is one of the few things that will forever be difficult to export (due to long-held cultural beliefs and differences), and it happens to be one of the few things I truly enjoy as a career. I'm sick and tired of the 9 to 9 punch-in/punch-out that I had to endure as a programmer. I considered that MENIAL LABOR, and I'm glad to see it go. Let the Indians and Chinese have it--it pays squat (I hit the programmers' glass ceiling a long time ago), and it's getting to the point where high school kids are coming out better educated in the matured field of software engineering than I am.
In other words, I view the IBM layoffs (which I was smart enough to see coming--I left a couple of months before they laid off my coworkers) and outsourcing as a blessing in disguise. It's like a smoke detector waking you and your family up to get the helloutta the house before the flames come roaring through.
Rather than try to feebly fight the tide with rubber dinghies and plastic oars, I suggest that we all learn to ride the tide and take advantage of the inevitable globalization that will dominate the next 30 years.
