Re: Jobs (or the lack of....) -- MIDRANGE-L

Peggy, get proof, and shine the spotlight on this corruption. In the long
run, you'll win.

Steve,
If you have any say in the writing of the specifications/job requirements
perhaps you could slip in something requiring IBM certification on the
400/iSeries. Larry Bolhuis, who is a regular contributor to this list,
participates with IBM to produce the certification tests given at the COMMON
conferences. He would love to see people lining up to become certified.
I've been in this profession since 1974, and I thought I knew a lot about
OS/400. I took the administrator's test last spring in Nashville. I passed,
but was embarrassed by my wrong answers. At this conference, I'll be
focusing on those things where the test exposed my weaknesses.

(soapbox mode *ON)

I urge all of you who don't invest in your education to go to COMMON or some
other provider of education and do your part to rectify this off shore
project situation. You may claim that these things are too expensive, or
that you would prefer to spend your vacation time with your families, but
what is it going to cost you if you don't spend the time and money? Just ask
an unemployed blue collar worker whose job has just gone to Mexico or China.
What do they say to their kids?

What we're seeing in the tech sector is no different than what has been
happening to the manufacturing sector for the last couple of decades. We
have only ourselves and our elected officials to blame. We need to turn
around the argument that the offshores can do the work for less money to one
where the work is done with higher quality in less time. With all due
respect to my friends from overseas, given the events of the past year,
there's also no shame in using the patriotism angle. We have to do all we
can to protect our future.

Call me an isolationist or a redneck or whatever, but I don't care. I call
'em the way I see 'em, and I'll also continue to fight for education as a
means of fighting back.

(soapbox mode *OFF)

Paul Nelson
630-327-8665 Cell
708-923-7354 Home
pnelson@braxton-reed.com
----- Original Message -----
From: <Peggymcmur@aol.com>
To: <steve_landess@hotmail.com>; <midrange-jobs@midrange.com>
Sent: Monday, October 07, 2002 8:19 PM
Subject: Re: Jobs (or the lack of....)


> --
> [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> Well stated!  The decision makers continue to go with the 'cheaper'
per/hour
> IT solution, even though time and time again we see miscommunicated specs,
> project deadlines not being met, and even larger IT outsourced budgets, to
> say nothing of the frustration in seeing U.S. Citizen jobs being 'given
> away'.  The only thing I would add to Steve's statement is that I
personally
> know of two Indian firms giving under the table kickbacks to a CFO and CIO
> decision maker at two separate companies.  Need I say more as to why this
is
> occurring.  The question is, "Are the rest of us just going to sit back
and
> watch it occur?"
>
> Peggy McMurtray, Owner
> Preferred Midrange Solutions, Inc.
>
>
> In a message dated 9/27/02 10:49:35 AM Central Daylight Time,
> steve_landess@hotmail.com writes:
>
>
> > Subj:Jobs (or the lack of....)
> > Date:9/27/02 10:49:35 AM Central Daylight Time
> > From:<A
HREF="mailto:steve_landess@hotmail.com";>steve_landess@hotmail.com</A>
> > To:<A
HREF="mailto:midrange-jobs@midrange.com";>midrange-jobs@midrange.com</A>
> > Sent from the Internet
> >
> >
> >
> > This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
> > --
> > [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
> > I have been reading the thread of messages about "Jobs", and here's my 2
> > cents worth...
> >
> > I have not experienced any employment problems in the last couple of
years,
> > like many of you guys.  I like to think it is because I am so good, but
in
> > reality I am extremely lucky to have latched onto a project just before
> > everything turned to crap.  I am part owner of a consulting firm based
in
> > Dallas, Texas.  We were particularly hard hit by the downturn - we had
over
> > 100 consultants 2 years ago, now we have less than 20.  I think that
many
> > of you have not considered what is currently happening to our industry,
and
> > how widespread the effect will eventually be on Information Technology
as a
> > career.
> >
> > I am an AS/400 consultant working on a large-scale systems integration
> > project for a Fortune 200 company.  This company has recently decided to
> > outsource their software development and support efforts to offshore
> > companies using a combination of onshore (H1B) employees and offshore
> > developers.  There are many factors that have caused the company to
follow
> > this route.  Being a public corporation and accountable to stockholders
is
> > definitely a consideration, but I would say that it has as much to do
with
> > executives getting their bonuses and stock options as a result of
improved
> > company performance based on the cost savings that they think they will
> > realize.
> >
> > Personally, this will eventually affect me, since I am an American
citizen
> > hourly contractor.  Company management has told me that eventually I
will
> > be replaced by a $25.00 per hour Indian programmer.  I supposed that I
> > might be able to bargain with them and stay employed if I match the
rate,
> > but if I do, it will only be until I found a better opportunity
elsewhere.
> >
> > My major concern is that this company really believes that they are
going
> > to get comparable experience/performance out of a $ 25.00 per hour
> > contractor working FROM India that they get from me.  In my opinion,
this
> > is ludicrous.  I have Bachelors and Masters degrees in Business.  I have
> > been a programmer/analyst/consultant working in business environments
for
> > 22 years, having technical ability combined with business,
communications,
> > and people training and skills.  Many times I have been given a project
> > that had unclear objectives.  My training and experience give me the
tools
> > that I need to ask relevant questions and eliminate the ambiguities that
> > are often found in system and/or program specifications. This helps to
> > clarify the specifications so that they are meaningful to both the end
user
> > as well as the programmer/analyst.
> >
> > The Indian consultant that replaces me will likely be a recent college
> > graduate with mostly technical abilities (probably 3-5 years of work
> > experience or less).  He (or she) will probably not be very conversant
in
> > English and have a thick accent, thus difficult to communicate with. He
> > will probably require the same level of assistance that  the typical
junior
> > programmer needs in order to accomplish the work, more because of
> > communications difficulties than ability.  He will probably spend a lot
of
> > time on the phone/internet seeking assistance from his
peers/instructors.
> > He will need very detailed specifications written by someone (preferably
> > bilingual - English/Indian) in order that they might be able to assist
him
> > with the many questions that will need to be answered.  It is also
> > necessary to write very detailed instructions for these workers to
follow
> > when testing the programs that they have created (or have someone whose
job
> > is purely testing programs, a position which does not exist now).  We
> > currently have several contract Indian programmers ONSITE that fit this
> > description.
> >
> > The resultant cost savings may be very difficult to measure.  The end
> > result is that the IT organization will more closely resemble something
> > from the 60's or 70's, when analysts did all of the analysis, writing
> > specifications for programmers who did only programming.  Without the
> > proper methodology, I predict that the development cycle will use
> > significantly more time and resources.  The quality control function
will
> > find a lot of bugs that should have been caught in unit testing by the
> > programmer/analyst.  Additional iterations of programming/QA will result
in
> > projects taking significantly more time than originally estimated, thus
> > negating much of the anticipated cost savings.
> >
> > Offshore outsourcing, whatever its negatives, is probably here to stay,
and
> > we are only seeing the first wave.  Who is to blame for the situation we
> > are facing?  We are, at least partially:
> >
> > 1) Greed - Exorbitant salary increases and demands by workers during the
> > 90's internet boom.
> > 2) Lack of motivation - Decreasing college enrollment by American
students
> > for IT and computer-science related jobs.
> > 3) Disloyalty - Companies are no longer loyal to employees, just as
> > employees are no longer loyal to companies.
> > 4) Complacency - How many of you have improved your skills over the
years?
> > Are you still doing the same thing you were doing 10 years ago?  Have
you
> > saved money for a "rainy day", in the event that you lose your job and
need
> > retraining?  Better yet, are you actively trying to figure out the "new
new
> > thing" that you want to do?
> >
> > Other factors that we have little control over are also at play here:
> >
> > 1)  Large companies, including M$, Sun, and IBM have lobbied long and
hard
> > and paid high prices to their lobbyists to increase the number of H1B
> > workers because of so-called "lack of qualified applicants".  In reality
> > this translates to "finding people who will work for $ 30,000 per year
> > instead of $ 80,000 per year".
> > 2)  After Y2K was finished, many people were let go from temporary jobs.
> > This was compounded by the internet bubble bursting in 2000, and further
> > compounded by the events of September 11, 2001.
> > 3)  Decreasing demand for products because of global economic slowdowns.
> >
> > JMHO
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > This is the Midrange Jobs: Postings & Discussion (MIDRANGE-JOBS) mailing
> > list
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> > at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-jobs.
> >
> >
>
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