I have to side against the Fool in this case. His point was that his job was threatened by the outsourcing scourge. I work in IT, and I do not see the threat. But then I am an analyst and not principally a programmer. It is the heads down programmers, web developers, and phone support that is being threatened by outsourcing. It is clear that programming is difficult, but its rather technical work (like fabrication or assembly), meaning that large scale innovation is no longer driven by the programmers. It is the architects and analysts that provide the innovation. What has to happen is these same programmers need to shift their careers to analysis. No off-shore worker can provide business requirements or delve deep into legacy systems to solve business problems. The focus of IT is business. This fundamental belief is lost with those who are bothered by outsourcing. The days are gone of the Mainframe programmer/analyst, who did it all with respect to creating mainframe apps. No one person can write a large program any more. The technology is too sophisticated, and the business requirements are too massive for one person. The programming has become the easy part of the technical solution. It's the analysis of determining the business behind the bits that's important.
>From a personal level, Freightliner now out sources mainframe legacy development. This is largely because there are so few mainframe programmers left who will do legacy sustaining work. The Off-shore outsourcing is now our only good source of talent who can dedicate careers to these legacy systems. No American worker would "waste" career time learning COBOL, when is considered such a career limiting effort. The few mainframe programmers left, none of which are under the age of 50, have converted their skills to analysis. They are providing their subject matter expertise to provide guidance for development. They bring their knowledge of the BUSINESS to the table. It is not for their COBOL skills. Its for things like understanding when you copy a parts list from one database to another, you are legally obliged to bring over the costing information with that data. Failure to do so would break financial laws. Nothing in COBOL demands this, which is why these Americans are needed for the job. No Off-shore developer could provide this.
<snip> I started learning COBOL two years ago. The company bemoans the fact that no college offers COBOL programming Many outside contractors have come in an tried to prove that their software could do the job faster and all have failed. Maybe the difference is the database interface. Most of the work is just getting and storing a record. But the big programs work on all the records; sorting and changing and other things.
It's not going away, in fact I know a few places switching back because it works better. (Don't ask who, it's internal knowledge.) Our latest version is OO, but no one has worked with it yet. We have host interfaced programs and web applications all running from COBOL.
How are you defining a large mainframe program? The major project this year will be re-writing a system that handles billions of dollars now; designing it to handle trillions. There will be many small and large programs; a few very large ones; each written by one person.
I am an analyst who programs, not a programmer that does analysis. This is the difference. I only hope that the development community sees this as well. I have made the shift, and any programmer can use his oversized brain to cope, as well.
Half of our development staff is Indian. I turn to them to tell me the technology can do what I want it to do. They are the subject matter experts to programming. The American developers are OK, but the Indians really get it, and they really enjoy the work. They are also the most friendly. The American developers here are probably the most unsocial people in IT. They have not make the transcendental shift to socially connect to the business that supports their lifestyle. It is these people that complain that wages are diminishing, that there is too much foreign competition, and how everyone outside of their little world are idiots who don't get technology. I have news for them. The Ivory Tower they live in is falling.
Nerd From Hell
I am missing something. What would a programmer who doesn't analyze do? I know a few programs that are same code/different system but most involve thinking.
Maybe that's my difference. I love my job. I'll do anything. I spent 11 years fixing TVs, being an electrician, doing mechanical maintenance. I never want to turn a wrench again. I had a dream after I started, standing in a factory being welcomed to my new job. I felt like crying, I wanted to call my boss and find out what happened.
That doesn't mean I'm social. I treat this as a job. I don't need to know your kids names to work with you.
Kevin T. - VRWC
I had a point. Oh yeah: COBOL RuLZ! Java drolz! (No idea what you work with).
_______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
