Interesting People mailing list archives
The race to the bottom: US programmers at overseas salaries.
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2003 13:03:14 -0500
Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2003 12:54:10 -0500 From: "Trei, Peter" <ptrei () rsasecurity com> Subject: The race to the bottom: US programmers at overseas salaries. To: "'dave () farber net'" <dave () farber net> For IP, if you wish Peter Trei --------------------------- http://biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/031203/sb20031228887_1.html BusinessWeek Online U.S. Programmers at Overseas Salaries Wednesday December 3, 8:27 am ET By David E. Gumpert It's the great unanswered business-economic question of our day: How do we replace the hundreds of thousands of information-technology, call-center, paralegal, and other jobs rapidly exiting the U.S. for India, Russia, and other low-wage countries? [...] And then Jon had a brainstorm. What if he offered Americans the jobs at the same rate he would be paying for Indian programmers? It seemed like a long shot. But it also seemed worth the gamble. So Jon placed some ads in The Boston Globe, offering full-time contract programming work for $45,000 annually. [He had decided that it was worth adding a $5,000 premium to what he'd pay the Indian workers in exchange for having the programmers on site.] The result? "We got flooded" with resumes, about 90 in total, many from highly qualified programmers having trouble finding work in the down economy, Jon says. His decision: "For $5,000 it was no contest." Jon went American. And the outcome? "I think I got the best of both worlds. I got local people who came in for 10% more [than Indians]. And I found really good ones." [...] ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- The race to the bottom: US programmers at overseas salaries. Dave Farber (Dec 03)