A tropical indoors in the middle of winter - actually it is the inside courtyard of our new house
2005-01-22
Reclaiming Software Jobs?
I work in the software industry, and while the company that I work for has not moved much of its programming offshore to India or other ‘third-world’ countries, many have. A programmer in Bangalore is a lot cheaper than a programmer in North America.
I was watching a TV show this morning about a new concept city in Arizona – with a very small footprint on the environment (they claimed use of only 2% of the space to house the same number of people as would be the case in urban sprawl). The residents grow their own food, have small dwellings, live very close to their neighbours, and most significantly, there is no provision for cars. Many of the residents work at crafts: carpentry, pottery, metal working, etc. It would be interesting to know how their products compare to similar products coming from the third world. My point here is whether the alternate, low consumption lifestyle workers in North America have a similar cost base to people working in a third-world country providing similar products. Or is it still more expensive so that the crafts have to command a premium price?
What’s this got to do with programmers? Well, why is that most alternate lifestyle communities in North America have crafts as their major occupation. As long as there is electricity and a connection to the Internet it is perfectly possible to pursue a range of occupations from any location – which is exactly why outsourcing of services like programming from third-world countries is now practical.
So what does this mean? Well, perhaps if you are a programmer in North America, the best way to defend your job would be to move to an alternate lifestyle community.
But this is not just true of programming. Recently I heard that reading x-rays is increasingly being outsourced to qualified radiologists in India… Soon we may all have to change our lifestyle and job location in response to the emergence of third world countries.
I was watching a TV show this morning about a new concept city in Arizona – with a very small footprint on the environment (they claimed use of only 2% of the space to house the same number of people as would be the case in urban sprawl). The residents grow their own food, have small dwellings, live very close to their neighbours, and most significantly, there is no provision for cars. Many of the residents work at crafts: carpentry, pottery, metal working, etc. It would be interesting to know how their products compare to similar products coming from the third world. My point here is whether the alternate, low consumption lifestyle workers in North America have a similar cost base to people working in a third-world country providing similar products. Or is it still more expensive so that the crafts have to command a premium price?
What’s this got to do with programmers? Well, why is that most alternate lifestyle communities in North America have crafts as their major occupation. As long as there is electricity and a connection to the Internet it is perfectly possible to pursue a range of occupations from any location – which is exactly why outsourcing of services like programming from third-world countries is now practical.
So what does this mean? Well, perhaps if you are a programmer in North America, the best way to defend your job would be to move to an alternate lifestyle community.
But this is not just true of programming. Recently I heard that reading x-rays is increasingly being outsourced to qualified radiologists in India… Soon we may all have to change our lifestyle and job location in response to the emergence of third world countries.
2004-12-19
Time to Use a Blog Tool (Blogger)
Until recently I've managed this site with a simple HTML Editor. It's time that I took the easy path, so this a a test posting from Blogger.com
2004-12-18
Wither Document Management? Part 1
I work for Open Text. Livelink is Open Text’s flagship platform. At its core it has a comprehensive feature set for document management, but as with everything there is always room for improvement.
In looking at how people share files, it seems to me that there are two diverging paths, or more accurately, there is the established 1990’s model where people navigate through a repository to deposit a document or other file in the ‘right’ place, where version control and other docman features can be applied; this is the model Livelink was designed to support, although it was the first docman system to support navigation by a browser. However, as e-mail has become pervasive in the last ten years (it’s hard to remember that in the 1980’s and early 90’s only academics and geeks had e-mail) companies have started to struggle with the uncontrolled proliferation of documents by e-mail. Big players like Microsoft and Adobe are starting to add 'control' features, and there are a host of startup companies with approaches to address what I consider to be parts of the problem. In future entries to this blog I’ll discuss this further…
In looking at how people share files, it seems to me that there are two diverging paths, or more accurately, there is the established 1990’s model where people navigate through a repository to deposit a document or other file in the ‘right’ place, where version control and other docman features can be applied; this is the model Livelink was designed to support, although it was the first docman system to support navigation by a browser. However, as e-mail has become pervasive in the last ten years (it’s hard to remember that in the 1980’s and early 90’s only academics and geeks had e-mail) companies have started to struggle with the uncontrolled proliferation of documents by e-mail. Big players like Microsoft and Adobe are starting to add 'control' features, and there are a host of startup companies with approaches to address what I consider to be parts of the problem. In future entries to this blog I’ll discuss this further…
2004-12-13
Are We at War or What?
Recently the company that I work for declared that unused vacations were growing out of control. The Company has to carry unused vacations as a fiscal liability, and the vacation balance is starting to become a sizeable obligation. So a couple of decisions were announced: First, there will be no vacation carry-forward after this fiscal year (which ends in June). Second, all staff must take all of their accrued vacation before the end of June, and furthermore, should take at least half of their accrued vacation in this calendar year. I have 20 days unused at the moment, so I’ve been FORCED to take 10 working days vacation this month on top of the statuary holidays!
You should hear the complaining: “They’re making me take vacation!!” On this face of it this might seem surprising, but I think it is a case of not letting the team down.
It’s a bit like Iraq. It is amazing to hear volunteer soldiers who are injured can’t wait to get back to what is truly an awful situation. They don’t want to let their comrades face danger without them. It’s very noble to be sure, but I think it is also a quite primitive and fundamental tribal instinct.
My colleagues and I are all working hard – much more than the 37.5 required hours per week (or whatever it is). Making money may be part of the motive, but in fact extra work can only influence bonuses in the near term. Mostly I think we are ‘in it together’ as a team. I work long hours because they work long hours, and they expect that I will work long hours because they are, and since I know they expect it…
It’s hardly the same as being under hostile fire, but there is arguably a health dimension. The Company has certainly taken that tack: “We don’t want you to burn out. Your performance will be better after you have had a real break. This is an important health issue.”
I’m actually looking forward to having more than two weeks off, and my guilt is lessened by the knowledge that many of my colleagues are being forced to take the same time off. Mind you, since most of us work from home, working often just means looking at our e-mail in-boxes… Some have already declared that they will book out the vacation time and work as usual – I'm pretending not to have heard that.
You should hear the complaining: “They’re making me take vacation!!” On this face of it this might seem surprising, but I think it is a case of not letting the team down.
It’s a bit like Iraq. It is amazing to hear volunteer soldiers who are injured can’t wait to get back to what is truly an awful situation. They don’t want to let their comrades face danger without them. It’s very noble to be sure, but I think it is also a quite primitive and fundamental tribal instinct.
My colleagues and I are all working hard – much more than the 37.5 required hours per week (or whatever it is). Making money may be part of the motive, but in fact extra work can only influence bonuses in the near term. Mostly I think we are ‘in it together’ as a team. I work long hours because they work long hours, and they expect that I will work long hours because they are, and since I know they expect it…
It’s hardly the same as being under hostile fire, but there is arguably a health dimension. The Company has certainly taken that tack: “We don’t want you to burn out. Your performance will be better after you have had a real break. This is an important health issue.”
I’m actually looking forward to having more than two weeks off, and my guilt is lessened by the knowledge that many of my colleagues are being forced to take the same time off. Mind you, since most of us work from home, working often just means looking at our e-mail in-boxes… Some have already declared that they will book out the vacation time and work as usual – I'm pretending not to have heard that.
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