Jan
15

My Thoughts on the Outsourcing and Offshoring of Tech Jobs

Mumbai Evening Skyline

The Outsourcing and Offshoring Dilemma – How to cope?

Some of you reading my articles may think that I am against offshoring and you would be wrong  - to an extent. Having read “The Lexus and the Olive Tree” and “The World is Flat”  by Thomas L. Friedman it didn’t really matter whether I personally agreed with the concept of offshoring or not, it was an economic juggernaut steamrolling its way towards me and many others, whether we liked it or not. At the macro level Offshoring is going to raise the quality of living in those countries that are on the receiving end of the jobs that are flowing out of the US, Europe, and Australia. Countries like India, Malaysia, and Kenya to name a few, will see a lot of benefits from these jobs. The standard line of proponents of Globalization is that over time global labor rates will level off and we will have a more balanced and efficient world economy. I agree with this, unfortunately, we as individuals live at the micro level of economics and for every job that moves overseas, there is a real person facing dire financial consequences because that job was moved.

So, what to do? I’m a capitalist at heart even though our current system leaves much to be desired, so I believe the solution lies in innovation rather than regulation. Besides, in our current political state, the chances of getting any kind of political solution would be nil anyway. The global marketplace has a way of punishing those countries that stray from the concept of the free flow of capital. So, again, what to do? Well, in the US we have been known as innovators, and I have no doubt that we can find a wealth of opportunities out there if we look at upcoming trends. Things like green energy, urban farming, and social media all offer jobs with growth potential. As a technologist I like to look at the root cause of a problem before trying to solve it. In this case I believe the root cause of the problem is an over dependence on Corporate America and single streams of income. Now, we can’t just cut our dependence on Corporate America because that is where the capital generation is, but we can stop this insane practice of working for one corporation at a time and being completely dependent on that corporation for our lively hood. We do this by building additional income streams.

In my case I decided to get into Internet Marketing for a number of reasons: high potential income, scalable, <irony> a lot of the work is suitable for outsourcing or offshoring</irony>, work from any location, and work when you want. There are many types of Internet Marketing, the area I am concentrating on is Affiliate Marketing. I will be writing more detailed articles on Internet Marketing in general and affiliate marketing in particular at a later date. For now, if you are interested in learning more click this link!

Jan
02

450,000 Tech Jobs will be Lost to Offshoring!

450,000 Tech Jobs gone by 2014!

Technical Conference in India

The Hackett Group recently released a report that says it all: 2.8 million tech jobs have been lost to offshoring sine 2000, and another 1 million will be lost by 2014! The report is based on responses from 3,800 companies based in Europe and North America that annual revenue of 1 billion dollars or more.

We have gone from 4.5 million IT jobs in 2000 to 2.4 million today, and the slide will continue through 2014 when the number will hit 2 million even. These job losses will include Data Center Operators, Application Programmers, Server Admins and DBA’s.

What is the Hackett Group’s advice to those with Tech Jobs in the US and Europe? It is time to come to terms with the fact that the world is going Global and those with IT Jobs will need to enhance their skillsets to compete. Unfortunately this applies only to those that still have jobs when 2014 rolls around.

The offshoring problem is bad enough but add the increasing use of automation and you are going to see tech jobs like Computer Operator, Production Scheduler, and System Admin be completely devastated by these trends. Each of these trends are going to create a demand for Managers that are capbable of managing offshore workers remotely and interfacing with business stakeholders domestically. The problem is for each of these new Management positions created, multiple tech jobs will be lost, resulting in a continued drain of IT jobs away from the U.S. and Europe.

The current crisis in IT Jobs is why I have been advising my fellow IT’ers to start looking at alternative sources of income like Internet Marketing. Internet Marketing will utilize your current skill set while affording you th opportunity ot acquire new skills. Internet Marketing allows you do diversify your income streams so that you are not relying on a single source of income any longer. As you scale up your business you can even outsource some of your tasks to developing countries! Ironic huh?

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