NYCPHP Meetup

[Alan T. Miller]

> 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.