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Yes and no, I can see this gap tightening as foreign teams learn better english to gain competitive advantage. Also translation software is improving and I see

by jiggy2011 14y ago

Yes and no, I can see this gap tightening as foreign teams learn better english to gain competitive advantage. Also translation software is improving and I see more contract jobs where the client is from china or some other country. Time differential can be easily overcome if developers simply move their sleep schedule around. I've developed software for people in different timezones and it's not a problem if the software is clearly specified. Since I can just send an progress report email and wait for them to pick it up. I agree that the best developers will probably seek to emigrate but at some point immigration will be tightened up and more talented devs will stay in their home country. And out sourcing is just one piece of the pie. With more people being encouraged to learn to code (which I think is great) programming jobs will face more competition.

Domenic_S 14y ago
That's really handwavy. When we get Star Trek level translation, or perfect specs, or devs decide to sleep all day and work all night (because who needs a family?). Every very-large business I know of has offices and teams in other countries, and it works best when they're "just" another office. Branch in SF, branch in NYC, branch in London, branch in Chennai, branch in... When you turn to other countries to grow your business, you can win; when you turn to other countries to replace the workers you built your company with you usually lose. IMO, YMMV, etc.
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  Well translation software is getting better, and plenty of people in the first world with families work weird shifts. The point is that this stuff (global working) is going to get easier , not harder in the future as is eliminating the needs for some jobs entirely. What we need is a new industry that requires a lot of workers and can pay a middle class salary. Otherwise we risk having a global proletariat fighting over an increasingly shrinking slice of pie.
lgieron 14y ago
> I agree that the best developers will probably seek to emigrate I think the truly best developers will stay in their countries while earning States-level wages via telecommuting. Why pay $1500/mo in rent when you can pay $300?

Domenic_S 14y ago

That's really handwavy. When we get Star Trek level translation, or perfect specs, or devs decide to sleep all day and work all night (because who needs a family?). Every very-large business I know of has offices and teams in other countries, and it works best when they're "just" another office. Branch in SF, branch in NYC, branch in London, branch in Chennai, branch in... When you turn to other countries to grow your business, you can win; when you turn to other countries to replace the workers you built your company with you usually lose. IMO, YMMV, etc.

jiggy2011 14y ago
Well translation software is getting better, and plenty of people in the first world with families work weird shifts. The point is that this stuff (global working) is going to get easier , not harder in the future as is eliminating the needs for some jobs entirely. What we need is a new industry that requires a lot of workers and can pay a middle class salary. Otherwise we risk having a global proletariat fighting over an increasingly shrinking slice of pie.

lgieron 14y ago

> I agree that the best developers will probably seek to emigrate I think the truly best developers will stay in their countries while earning States-level wages via telecommuting. Why pay $1500/mo in rent when you can pay $300?