27 Jun 06 Outsourcing and H1-B Visas: Which is Worse?
The Pandora’s Box that is outsourcing has been opened and the suffering of lost jobs, lower wages and potential security issues has been released. Just as with Pandora these ills cannot be recontained in their original box, however Hope still remains.
Outsourcing is an inevitable side effect of a global society. Just as we do not want to pay thirty dollars for a pound of apples, we do not want to pay more for our computers, bank accounts, and other goods and services. Apples are picked by immigrant labor. They may have what appears to be valid documentation, but for the most part they are not. They get these jobs because no one else wants them and they will take minimal pay. Likewise we are seeing a similar move in technology.
The dot-com bubble brought a lot of people into the technology industry that are not suited for it. Now those people are facing not being able to get a job. I would posit, however, that they do not have the skills to stay in the computer industry and have higher expectations than their current skill level will accept.
I accept that as a technologist I will be learning until I die. I do not get to rest on my laurels. Those types of jobs tend to move overseas once the skills are learned elsewhere. We see this in the automotive manufacturing industry among other places. Automotive widgets are made in Mexico and Japan and China… They might assemble in the U.S.A in order to be ‘American Made’ but that is another post all together. From a support of manufacturing standpoint you may be better to buy a Japanese car. They seem to have more pieces built in America than American cars do. But that is a tangent for another time.
The guy who learned how to troubleshoot Windows 95, then Windows 98, then Windows 2000, then Windows XP learned what was needed to keep the job he had. He did not learn what he needed to in order to get the next job. However the woman who learned to troubleshoot Windows 95, then how to configure a TCP/IP network router, then how to develop websites in PHP, then how to manage a SQL database, then… Well you get the point. She kept expanding her horizons, finding a new technology to learn that built upon what she already knew. Every job I have had prepared me in some way for the next job. If you want a job that you can learn once and be done find something other than technology.
The key here is that any specialization that can be outsourced will be. In order to combat that I have become a generalist. I know many things enough to know where to look if I do not know the answer and more importantly HOW TO PUT EVERYTHING TOGETHER.
More concerning to me is the number of H1-B visa holders that are being allowed into the country. Some say it helps with Social Security which is true as long as we send them home once they retire. Visa holders have been exploited by corporations. They accept below U.S. industry standard wages, will work massive overtime without complaint, and can be coerced by the threat of losing their visa. If we want to make changes and laws in this country, protect the jobs that are going to stay here.
[tags]outsourcing, offshoring, tech industry, h1-b visa, generalization[/tags]
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