IT industry watches Iowa

[POed_Ex_Repub]

Democratic presidential candidates have remained relatively quiet on technology, but as primary season gets under way, the "offshoring" controversy could provide a catalyst to raise the profile of high-tech concerns in the campaign.

The flow of U.S. manufacturing jobs overseas has been a recurring theme of the Democratic debates leading up to Monday's Iowa caucuses and next week's New Hampshire primary, in a jab at President George W. Bush. As a result, lobbyists are closely tracking the positions of Democratic candidates on offshoring, which many companies argue is necessary to preserve their competitiveness.

http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_2100-1028_3-5142848.html?ex=1075870800&en=bdca68e396b5cd65&ei=5004&partner=UNTD

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An interesting read on Dem candidates and offshoring for those of us in the business..

[FloridaPat]

1. Competitveness bull crap. CEO's with $20 million bonuses

can't afford American programmers? Give me a break. The CEO's keep hiring Anderson consulting & IBM to come in and redo their computer programs. They charge the company $300 an hour for the programmer and the programmer gets $80,000. These companies aren't interested in finishing anything real soon.They longer they stay the more they make. OF course there is never enough funds to hire full-time progammers. The consultants don't show up as big salaries, so the stock holders don't get upset. Then after 5-10 years, your programs aren't done and your out millions. IT folks know how bad the consulting firms are, but the CEO's just keep insisting. How about firing CEOs and hiring local programmers.

Sincerely,
A programmer out of work after next week. (With lots of fellow programmers out of work from 1-3 years.)

[DBoon]

2. They don't need cheaper programmers

They need project managers that focus on getting the work done instead of playing company politics.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

3. As a programmer, it's like Bizarro world reading this article

Along with Reps. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., and Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry has positioned himself against the technology industry on offshoring.

"In the U.S. alone, the value of IT services provided by offshore labor will double to $16 billion next year and triple again to $46 billion by 2007," Kerry's campaign Web site states. The site indicates that if elected, Kerry would try to slow the practice. Kerry also introduced legislation in November that would require employees of offshore call centers to identify their location.
http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_2100-1028_3-5142848.html?ex=1075870800&en=bdca68e396b5cd65&ei=5004

So according to this writer, a policy that will encourage high paying technology jobs to stay in the US is 'against the technology industry'?


I guess it depends on whether you define the technology industry as a handful of CEO's, or as millions of programmers, analysts, tech support people, etc. Clearly, Kerry is working on behalf of those millions of people. I don't think that is 'against the technology industry' lol.