Re: -I- Greetings...

Nathan Dykman wrote:
-snip-
> 
> I'm actually coming around the idea that we need a IT union. And H1-B
> reform. And so on. I do believe in free markets, but I'm not sure that means
> the free exchange of labor and jobs.

Well, they have limited the number of H1-Bs, but the bean counters have
gotten around that.  The number of H1-B visas dropped from 195,000 to
65,000 this year.  There has been a move to increase that number but the
market is down so it is kind of hard to claim that we don't have US
workers to fill the available jobs.  

Of course you don't have to bring the workers to the jobs, you send the
jobs to the workers.  I saw where a CS person with the same level of
education and experience costs $7,900 a year in India would cost $45,000
in the US.  

> 
> On the other hand, I think the US can hold on to it's lead in innovation for
> quite some time, especially in IT, if we work on it.

Right now, an unexpected turn is that some new companies have started up
in the US to fix the bugs in software that was developed in India.  The
bean counters thought they were getting a good deal, but the software
ends up costing more since it has to be de-bugged.  They would have come
out ahead just doing the work in the US to begin with.


> 
> Also, there is a bubble of boomers that will be retiring in the next ten
> years as well. Productivity increases will be needed to keep things
> together, and that means better and more IT.
> 
> And if all else fails, there's the health industry. Nursing Degree, here I
> come. (I could do an M.D., but I'm not that nuts/desperate. Yet.)

There has been a big increase in the need of IT in the biosciences.  ...
"There's been an explosion of data," says Roehr, who nowadays sits in
his New Jersey branch office behind an advanced computer system that
automatically pulls together all relevant project data onto a single
screen. "We're looking to the information technology industry to play
catch-up." http://news.com.com/2030-1070-998622.html?tag=fd_dblede 

> 
> Nathan Dykman

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