Very interesting thread this and I thought a view from this side of the pond
may be of interest. We have had offshoring for a number of years now, and
some interesting things have come to light.
1. The sub-continent workers haven't destroyed the IT market place for
other, more highly paid, people based in the UK.
2. Those companies using offshore tend to find that a good part of the work
needs to be done 'onshore' at a premium rate, usually higher than they would
expect to pay for bringing their own consultants in. Sprat and mackerel we
call it over here.
3. Even the largest and most successful offshore companies are only winning
a very tiny portion of the available work.
4. Companies using offshore often have to bring in onshore consultants to
finish off the job or repair the problems caused by offshore workers. In
the UK that also applies in some cases to other European nationals.
5. Our government is about to change the visa regulations to allow
sub-continent IT staff to get jobs here easier. With so many 'mature' IT
workers already scrabbling for crumbs, often without success, life will get
a lot tougher.
6. The UK is a very ageist culture in almost every industry. This is mainly
led by 'thrusting HR types who assume an importance greatly in excess of
their true worth to an organisation. When item 5 becomes a reality many
workers in the UK will be condemned to 'live' on state benefits for the rest
of their lives. It's the policy of madness from a loony government that
claims we should all work until we're at least 70-75! Try getting a decent
job over here when you reach 50 is extremely hard.. The UK market certainly
does not subscribe to the JDE ethos of 'Grey hair is good'.
7. Market forces is another way of saying, please the shareholders and
reduce costs at almost any cost, and the UK is no different to any other
free economy in that respect. The fact is though, most organisations will
pay for quality but they don't always get it and that is where the real
danger from offshoring lies. We independent guys/gals have to make sure we
are the 'mutts nuts' or we won't survive, and perhaps some of us don't
deserve to.
8. We are still doing very nicely thankyou despite the increase of work
flowing to the sub-continent, mainly because they are selling something they
don't have, expertise, local knowledge and a good grasp of the realities of
life in the western economies. That will obviously change in time, but for
now I predict they some way to go before becoming a major threat to us.
9. During my 5 years of working with this product and daily visits to this
forum I have been astounded by the very basic level of some of the questions
posed. In the UK we have a phrase for responding to such low level
requests for information or help, it's RTFM. I suggest that is a more
appropriate way to deal with those who obviously haven't been properly
trained and are out to suck the lifeblood out of those who have.
So, to encapsulate: Offshore isn't really the major threat some perceive it
to be. We certainly shouldn't be providing knowledge transfer for low level
enquiries that demonstrate a basic lack of understanding or training.
There, I've probably said too much but hope you all have an enjoyable
weekend. The weather here is great and I'm off to enjoy some of it. Peace
to you all fellow Listers.
regards
Sid Perkins
Independent Consultant
Mobile: 07713158807
[email protected]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Andy_Klee7" <
[email protected]>
To: <
[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, September 19, 2003 7:05 PM
Subject: RE: Offshoring
else.
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