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This is just code for outsourcing. Americans who are all-in on remote work should recognize this.
by flappyeagle 3y ago
This is just code for outsourcing. Americans who are all-in on remote work should recognize this.
- jasmer 3y agoIt's the biggest cognitive dissonance of the generation. I'm empathetic to rising costs etc. but this remote work thing ... means instantly competing with an audience 10x bigger, many of whom are in remote place with a fraction of cost of living and therefore supply cost, really don't understand how this does not sink in for most people. The next few years are going to be transformative.
- Nasrudith 3y agoThar FUD was tired even before the pandemic, let alone when is being used as an illogical back-to-the-office prod. My attitude towards outsourcing at this point is put up or shut up. Nobody would be doing any threatening if there was anything actually there. We already have heard all of the tales of disastrous failed outsourcing attempts and mediocrity in "success".
- throwaway1777 3y agoYeah except this time we are outsourcing to AI.
- flappyeagle 3y agoIt’s very different to outsource to a giant Indian consulting firm vs offshoring to a network of people working from home across Western Europe. The former is challenging and not likely to succeed in many scenarios. The latter is now the default playbook at places I work
- slt2021 3y agothe key trick is that once you outsource enough of your key competitive advantage - the question arises - what is the company and who creates value - contractors or company management? why shouldn't these contractors open their own company, do the same work and capture entire value they produce, instead of working for fixed salary?
- flappyeagle 3y agoSome will. Just like some employees will start companies. It’s no different. A company’s intellectual property is still theirs.
- slt2021 3y agowhat is exactly IP in software world? Your backend app written in Spring with postgres schema like thousands other CRUD apps? or cookie cutter front-end in React with Tailwind? I don't think wide moats in form of IP ever existed in software world
- Gigachad 3y agoI'm in Australia and the company I work at has been moving away from hiring in the US and focusing on Australia. Management put out a possibly poorly phrased but informative statement that they found that the Australian developers were just as talented and productive, but "The exchange rate is very favorable". The culture, language skills, etc are all mostly similar enough that it's not like some random code sweatshop in India.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- sokoloff 3y agoI think you probably meant to object to off-shoring (same company doing the work with employees in different country) rather than out-sourcing (different company doing the work). Out-sourcing from other countries has been happening at scale for decades. I agree that remote work pulls all of us (rather quickly) towards globalization. Overall, I think this is a good thing, even though people (like me) who temporarily benefited from the prior inefficiencies will not enjoy those same temporary benefits, at least not to the same extent.
- flappyeagle 3y agoGood catch. I wasn’t aware of the difference in terminology. From a neoliberal globalist perspective, I am happy with more globalization. I just think it’s strange that people tout remote work as shifting power toward employees and away from management, when in reality it’s the opposite.
- charlie0 3y agoIt may be true, but as of now there's a lot of arbitrage to go around for those who earn a hcol wage and move to mcol or lcol areas.
- flappyeagle 3y agoLcol areas like most of Western Europe and South America!
- 35936207 3y ago[dead]