Inside Linux; Outsourcing Woes

It's Their Turn
Regarding Rob Preston's column "Get Used to Offshore Outsourcing" (Jan. 22, 2004), it's ironic to hear the uproar from all the IT professionals whose jobs are being sent overseas.

As a 25-year veteran of heavy industry, I've seen the exodus of millions of manufacturing jobs. White-collar workers have mostly kept silent, but now it's their turn to feel the pain.

The loss of jobs won't end. The only good that can come of this is the eventual replacement of overpaid American CEOs. Why shouldn't these execs get the ax? After all, foreign CEOs often work for a lot less and prove to be better, more productive leaders of global companies.

William Fenn
CIO; Fenn Fotographics
[email protected]

Offshore Ain't Bad

It's always easy for those losing ground in a power struggle to stick to the party line and repeat over and over, "It's not real! It will all go away!" I'm sure this has a soothing effect on U.S. IT professionals, who are going through a difficult time. But the mantra will only make them feel warm and fuzzy; it won't give them job security.

I work in offshore. At the height of the dot-com frenzy, I was one of the "lunatics" who went around warning people that the hype was insanity. During this period, I hired a lot of American engineers while working for Fortune 500 companies as a consultant project manager. Having already worked with offshore engineers, I found the experience enraging. I was amazed by the arrogance of a 22-year-old twerp, fresh out of college, demanding $60,000 a year and perks, then giving me only four productive hours a day.

Think back to how it was three years ago when IT professionals ruled, hopping from job to job in pursuit of the next 20 percent raise and stock option. We can all remember the programmers who kept one eye on their IDE while playing the stock market on Ameritrade.

Know what foreign programmers were doing overseas while their American counterparts were getting fat and happy? They were growing up fast.

Visit the Web sites of Tier 1 offshore players. Observe the CMM and ISO certifications. Take note of the PMI-certified project managers and the IBM- , Microsoft- , Oracle- and Sun-certified engineers. Check out Wipro's calculation of customer satisfaction. Offshore doesn't mean Third World anymore.

When you walk through an IT shop in the United States, you typically find programmers with only a bachelor's degree. Not so overseas. Take a walk through a development facility in the Ukraine, for instance. While 35 percent of the programmers have just a bachelor's, 50 percent have a master's and 15 percent have Ph.D.s.

I find all the drivel about offshore development producing slower results and higher cost of ownership amusing. It's true that to succeed, a company has to understand development (or let someone who understands development run the project). Quality offshore companies teach their clients how to succeed and build long-term relationships as a result.
Ken Palm
CEO/Co-Founder; OffshoreCreations

[email protected]

Hats off to NWC
"Inside Linux" (Feb. 5, 2004) is the best issue of Network Computing I've ever received. Kudos to your entire staff. Keep up the good work.

I really liked all the information on Linux, being an "old hat" at the platform myself.

Mark R. White
Network Engineer; University of Tennessee
[email protected]

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