IMHO: Where Have All the Jobs Gone?

[R.Daugherty]

Dave, just think of all the damage that would be done if guys like that took control of our country... rd

[Guest.Visitor]

Shannon, I just read your article and I couldn't agree more. I have been working in the IBM "Mid-range" arena since 1986 and you nailed it right on the head. Luckily, I was able to survive, mostly because of networking and "friends" in the business as opposed to my knowledge base. I really enjoyed your article. Thanks, Ed Hofstaedter "RPG Programmer/Analyst"

[boomer400]

In the end, I suspect, most corporations (the groups that can afford to have System i/i5/iSeries/AS400) are going to be international/multi-nationals and can "afford" to have Indian developers. For that matter, those developers could be from any other nation that decides to have a decent scientific/technological background and has cheap resources. So, it's not a case of the "Indians" being THE problem or H1Bs or visas either. It's really a case of corporations (even MBs too) deciding that on a quarterly basis, it's cheaper to hire outside of the US than inside. The whammy is ,of course, our iBox is an expensive one that you can't buy at Best Buy or CompUSA. So, there aren't many iBox guys around to do work on it. And training is cheap in India, China, Tajikistan or where ever. The problem is that beyond the quarterly basis, it's probably not a good idea for most businesses to have their software knowledge outside of their country. Why? Because that knowledge is dollars spent by those companies, dollars developing knowledge that costs money and has its' own inherent value. The concept of outsourcing software and development works for multi-nationals, I suspect, because those companies are already accustomed and prepared to have multi-national knowledge trading. On the other hand, if I were buying a package like SAP or something like that, outsourcing might make sense to as the software is already a commodity product (albeit complicated beyond reason); your business processes aren't going to be compromised much. But, if you have your own thing going, outsourcing doesn't seem to make much sense; assuming(;>)) that your business is a competitive one why disperse your knowledge and processes overseas? I can only think that in the competitive environment of quarterly reports that the overhead of IT is too easy to push somewhere cheaper. But the question remains, at what point does knowledge of how things work and what they do (whether it's software or hardware) become too costly for us to let go as a nation? To some extent, I think that the all-too-common refrain of "keeping current" and learning the latest techniques and education is actually somewhat of a disservice to US technical people. The reality is the same technical information is available to others overseas and, possibly cheaper. When politicians and "cognoscenti" start babbling about "keeping current", I think it's just the simplistic kneejerk answer to a very difficult problem and quite the dodge.

[MCWebsite.Staff]

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[S.ODonnell]

Thanks everyone for your great comments and observations! I had no idea this article would impact so many people. It was written purely out of my own frustration at trying to find a job after having a contract terminated prematurely due to third-world influences. For anyone who is interested, I do have a new job now, actually a really great job, in Wisconsin, where my wife and our zoo of cats and siberian huskies, are moving. To those of you who are still looking for AS/400 programming jobs, I wish you nothing but the best of luck and offer you this one piece of advice: "Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone. You may have to move to another part of the country if the job is worth going to. If you try to wait for a job where you live, you may be in for a long wait for something that may never materialize."