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The only way for individuals to fight offshoring: get deep into a tech skill or/and human connection so it's tough to replace you in the industry. You will get

The only way for individuals to fight offshoring: get deep into a tech skill or/and human connection so it's tough to replace you in the industry. You will get laid off but another company will pick you up quickly. More thoughts: A system programmer in a non-cost center is the best pick. A game engine programmer is better than a devops in that perspective.

tdb7893 2y ago
I think you're right that's the main practical way as an individual but I'll add that collectively there are other ways. Just as an example, one of my friends works for a place where the employees own most of the company through and ESOP and obviously they don't offshore so as a group there are multiple ways to get leverage (whether it's through ownership, labor organization, specialized knowledge, or anything else)
johnnyanmac 2y ago
>You will get laid off but another company will pick you up quickly. That was my hope with my trajectory, but I suppose I underestimated corporate greed/incompetence and overestimated how much people care about a proper engine programmer. Had people connections but 90% of them were also laid off or on the cusp. Some simply had the entire studio shut down. I probably wouldn't feel too bad if, despite all this, the industry is pretending that they are still hiring as some facade to investors. Many aren't, based on what loose contacts I had remaining.
- markus_zhang 2y ago
  Man that's tough :/ But as an engine programmer I'm sure you can find some other places, maybe other than studios? I know Unity is hiring, and ARM is also hiring (checkout Felipe lira on LinkedIn).
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    Funny thing about that. I was a part of the Unity layoffs a while back. I still do have some contacts there (brilliant engineers), but so far the consensus I get from there is "the layoffs have finally ended, hiring is still frozen/very slow". Of course, it will vary from team to team so I wouldnt take that as company wide gospel. Haven't looked into ARM, so I'll check that out. Thanks. I could use any leads at this point.

tdb7893 2y ago

I think you're right that's the main practical way as an individual but I'll add that collectively there are other ways. Just as an example, one of my friends works for a place where the employees own most of the company through and ESOP and obviously they don't offshore so as a group there are multiple ways to get leverage (whether it's through ownership, labor organization, specialized knowledge, or anything else)

johnnyanmac 2y ago

>You will get laid off but another company will pick you up quickly. That was my hope with my trajectory, but I suppose I underestimated corporate greed/incompetence and overestimated how much people care about a proper engine programmer. Had people connections but 90% of them were also laid off or on the cusp. Some simply had the entire studio shut down. I probably wouldn't feel too bad if, despite all this, the industry is pretending that they are still hiring as some facade to investors. Many aren't, based on what loose contacts I had remaining.

markus_zhang 2y ago
Man that's tough :/ But as an engine programmer I'm sure you can find some other places, maybe other than studios? I know Unity is hiring, and ARM is also hiring (checkout Felipe lira on LinkedIn).
- johnnyanmac 2y ago
  Funny thing about that. I was a part of the Unity layoffs a while back. I still do have some contacts there (brilliant engineers), but so far the consensus I get from there is "the layoffs have finally ended, hiring is still frozen/very slow". Of course, it will vary from team to team so I wouldnt take that as company wide gospel. Haven't looked into ARM, so I'll check that out. Thanks. I could use any leads at this point.