[IP] Re: One of four U.S. jobs headed overseas 1 and comment on

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Christian Huitema <huitema@windows.microsoft.com>
Date: June 14, 2007 4:32:47 AM EDT
To: dave@farber.net, Mike Cheponis <mac@wireless.com>, Dewayne  
Hendricks <dewayne@warpspeed.com>
Subject: RE: [IP] One of four U.S. jobs headed overseas 1 and comment on

> I've been encouraging smart young folks who have an ounce of ability
> to COMPLETELY avoid the SCIENCES, TECHNOLOGY, and ENGINEERING
> sectors, as those jobs will be done by very cheap foreign labor.
> There is no point in competing with some guy in China who gets paid a
> bowl of rice and lives in a tent.
>
> Go into INVESTMENT BANKING, LAWYERING, ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS,
> FINANCIAL SERVICES or something that can't be offshored.
>
> Forget about SCIENCE, ENGINEERING, and TECHNOLOGY - there isn't any
> future in those fields.

This is an extremely unhelpful comment, not to mention borderline
racist.

Competent engineers in China or India are definitely not paid a bowl of
rice, and certainly do not live in tents. There are many poor people in
either country, but engineers capable of holding jobs in multinational
corporation are not among them. Salaries may not match the US dollar for
dollar, at least not for entry level jobs, but the standard or living
are not so different. Competition for talent is driving up salaries in
these countries at a rather fast clip, more than 10% per year. This is
indeed affecting the economy -- real estate prices in a place like
Hyderabad, where Microsoft and other companies operate, are on par with
Redmond, WA.

Telling young people to avoid science and technology is a sure way to
ensure the decline of the US economy in a not too distant future.

-- Christian Huitema






-------------------------------------------