NYCPHP Meetup

[Allen Shaw]

Alan Miller:
> I never meant to make the "protect our jobs" argument.

Yeah, I hope I wasn't putting words in your mouth.  I guess I was probably
responding more to my perception of a common mindset than to your particular
comment.  It may be that many in this group and many in our industry in
general are more broad-minded than that.

- A.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alan T. Miller" <amiller at criticalmedia.biz>
To: "NYPHP Talk" <talk at lists.nyphp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2004 5:51 PM
Subject: Re: [nycphp-talk] Off Topic: International Outsourcing


>
> > I don't mean to rant, but I hear and am bothered by the "protect our
jobs"
> > idea in many industries, and I think we are probably doing more to hold
> > ourselves back with that philosophy than actually improve our real
quality
> > of life.
>
> I never meant to make the "protect our jobs" argument. In fact I have been
> known to outsource a thing or two myself. As for me, it is disheartening
to
> know that this field in which I have invested so much time and effort into
> is going away. It's not surpising, just disheartening.
>
> It is one of the few fields I know of that the longer you are in it, and
the
> more experience you have, the less money you make, and the less secure
your
> future is. This of course is not necessarily due to outsourcing, but
younger
> cheaper workers fresh out of college who are willing to do anything to get
> their foot in the door, outsourcing is just the icing on the cake.
>
> Of course the common response is always... "yeah but when the gaping
> security hole is found who are they going to call". Not you of course,
they
> will call the fresh graduate with a focus in Internet Security who is
> willing to work for nothing to get their foot in the door, or the overseas
> firm with a specialty to solve such problems.
>
> You fortunately are not in a position where your advanced PHP knowledge
lies
> at the heart of your job, so from your perspective outsourcing is a great
> thing. However, the world only needs so many managers.
>
> As for me, I am working very hard to get away from being a developer for
> obvious reasons. The way I see it, you can never compete with someone who
is
> happy to work for less than you feel you are worth. So I plan to shift
focus
> myself, and get out while the getting is good.
>
> If I am lucky, I too will be able to take advantage of and exploit foreign
> workers at will. It's just like Marx pointed out many years ago, if you do
> not own the means of production and are in a position to wield that
> ownership to your own advantage and exploit others, you are at the butt
end
> of a system for which you will always get screwed.
>
>
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