Outsourcing: Why Everyone is Doing it. One Bizarre Example
One U.S. software developer who makes a six-figure income recently admitted–when he was caught–that he outsources his work to a software developer in China and spends his time relaxing and browsing various websites. The cost? A mere 20% of his salary.
Also, please note: it is entirely possible to get comparable if not superior work from an IT company in India or China. Cost is not the only factor.
This case demonstrates why companies outsource–and how tired and discouraged even successful Americans are with work. Many people assume that outsourcing is the cruel scheme of big business in the U.S. or that the government is at fault for promoting outsourcing to IT companies in India or China. But in this case, the developer had a great reputation and paying work–but chose to jeopardize his position by outsourcing to an IT company in China. In short, he did not want to work or was not able to take the stress that came with the job.
U.S. companies, fueled by Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, point out that, in 2013, there are 120,000 new IT jobs created for people with computer science degrees, by only a little over 50,000 new college graduates qualified to fill these jobs…which invariably get filled by workers from foreign countries with temporary visas. Outsourcing to IT companies in India and elsewhere will continue as long as American companies find there are not enough qualified American workers to do the job.
In our experience, for example, many high-end software developers in California outsource their work to IT companies in India, and have a variety of explanations of how their work gets done and where. According to fastcompany.com, the global outsourcing industry was a 1.6 trillion dollar success story in 2007. The Wall Street Journal, as quoted by thinkprogress.org, confirmed that the largest corporations, including “General Electric, Caterpillar, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Chevron, Cisco, Intel, Stanley Works, Merck, United Technologies, and Oracle…cut their workforces by 2.9 million people over the last decade while hiring 2.4 million people overseas.” These figures do not include thousands of jobs outsourced to IT companies in India or China by smaller firms across the U.S.
In addition to IT companies, Call Centers in India and Data Entry in India are getting a huge share of the global outsourcing market. Recently, Call Centers in the Philippines and South Africa are also popular outsourcing destinations.
Tweets:
(1) There are 120,000 new IT jobs every year, but only 50,000 new people to fill those jobs
(2) There is a growing shortage of programmers in the USA, and outsourcing fills the gap
(3) Programmer outsources work to China for 20% of salary!
Next: Outsourcing bedsores he developed from lying around
(4) Only 50,000 U.S. grads qualified to fill 120,000 IT jobs for compu-sci majors. Foreigers w/temporary visas love IT!
(5) Global outsourcing industry raked in $1.6 trillion in 2007! That’s almost enough to pay someone else 2 do the raking
(6) Big U.S. companies have given the boot to 2.9 million & hired 2.4 million overseas! The boot wasn’t even made in US.
(7) India BPO’s are getting a huge share of the global outsourcing market. Forget India ink. We’re talking India Inc.
(8) Programmer outsources work to China for 20% of salary! Next: Outsourcing free time with family driving him crazy!
You might also like:
What if classically trained musicians ran IT companies in India?
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2014/01/01/what-if-classically-trained-musicians-ran-it-companies-in-india/
Outsourcing: Build it and they will return
http://bpo.123outsource.net/2013/12/04/outsourcing-build-it-and-they-will-return/
At $125 an hour to design a website, I can see why outsourcing is popular.