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I would like to know about the future of the job market for software engineers, in light of the growing trend toward outsourcing these jobs to countries such as China and India.
Answer
You bring up an interesting issue--outsourcing is an important reminder of how changeable the job market can be in a global economy.
Outsourcing of software programming came as a shock to many U.S. programmers, who viewed their jobs as immune to the labor replacement that had affected manufacturing jobs. But the outsourcing of programming jobs follows a pattern consistent with the trend in manufacturing industries. The primary candidates to be outsourced are those jobs which represent high volume, fairly routine functions. Once the software industry evolved to the point where there was a critical mass of those types of jobs, outsourcing became inevitable.
While repetitive, low-value-added jobs tend to be outsourced, however, creative and high-value-added jobs are safer. Software engineers should be sure their skills are cutting-edge, and pursue jobs on the creative side of the business, as opposed to those which simply entail updating of existing software.
Another tip is to look for jobs with non-software companies that maintain an in-house programming team for proprietary software. These jobs are further from the mass-production functions that are most susceptible to outsourcing.
Outsourcing of software programming came as a shock to many U.S. programmers, who viewed their jobs as immune to the labor replacement that had affected manufacturing jobs. But the outsourcing of programming jobs follows a pattern consistent with the trend in manufacturing industries. The primary candidates to be outsourced are those jobs which represent high volume, fairly routine functions. Once the software industry evolved to the point where there was a critical mass of those types of jobs, outsourcing became inevitable.
While repetitive, low-value-added jobs tend to be outsourced, however, creative and high-value-added jobs are safer. Software engineers should be sure their skills are cutting-edge, and pursue jobs on the creative side of the business, as opposed to those which simply entail updating of existing software.
Another tip is to look for jobs with non-software companies that maintain an in-house programming team for proprietary software. These jobs are further from the mass-production functions that are most susceptible to outsourcing.
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