This is globalisation. Do you worry about it? I don't. I just make sure I make myself very marketible.
I'll give you a situation that just happened here in Australia. Telstra (the national semi-government telecom) just awarded an company in India about one third of the development of a particularly large system. This was formally being done by IBM who had 100% of this project. The other two thirds of the project was going back up for tender. IBM knew they couldn't just go ahead as normal as the Indian company would underbid them easy. So IBM pitched that Development would be done by IBM in India while the BA and managment would be retained by IBM in Australia. This effect a few hundred developers in Australia that work for IBM.
Is it wrong? No...this is globalisation. One thing people have to get through their head, and you might not like this idea, is that for you to be rich someone else must be poor. In years as the living standard of these other countries goes up and globalisation increases they'll start charging more also. We can no longer look at a country as an autonomous unit. Imports and exports effect that country and those it interacts with. Its this import export that will start closing the gap between countries average salaries.
The same arguement you talk about happens within the US to. A programmer in Boston lets go with the extreme of Silicon Valley costs A LOT more then one in Albany GA. They might have the same abilities but one earns 30-40k a year the other 5 times that much. In fact the one in Albany GA may very well live in a better house too.
I view this whole situation with optimism for the people that are in the poorer countries. Do they deserve the chance any less then you? Are you better then them and deserve to make 5 times what they do while they live in poverty? Nope. Do I feel sorry for you when you loose your job? Yes. Do I feel that the company is wrong for sending the work over sees? Depends. If it is properly thought out and reaps the benifits that they are seeking, cost saving, then its smart business as long as they are not exploiting the cheap labour over seas. By that I mean these coders/etc are not in sweat shops. These technical people in other countries are often making very good money for where they are at so this isn't exploiting them.
Sorry to say but if you look at these places over seas many of them have better QA processes then the average Western Countries.
When you are faced with these situations you need to step back. Get out of your shoes and look at it honestly and objectively from a higher level. Put yourself into the other peoples shoes. Many Westeners need to pull their heads out an fully realise what our lifestyles cost in the grand scheme of things. I'm not some fanatic here. I'm a realist. I fully understand and accept what my life style cost and have come to terms with that. I understand that when I buy a new computer or tv or a few xbox games that I could have channeled that money somewhere where it could have a major impact on one or more peoples lives and probably even save lives.
So a job lost to overseas may mean you are not as well off but that job that went overseas might be going to a young man or woman that is supporting a family that if the job was not there would be 5 times worse off then you are by not having that same job.
Hope I've been helpful,
Wayne Francis
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