<$BlogItemTitle$> Welcome to Orcmid's Lair, the playground for family connections, pastimes, and scholarly vocation -- the collected professional and recreational work of Dennis E. Hamilton

 
eWEEK: Will Ceiling Fall?.  More about the H1B lightning rod, with some analysis of why off-shore is taking more jobs than visa holders -- off-shore work can cost 33% down to 25% of what it costs for on-shore IT workers.

The Programmers Guild is having lots of attendance at meetings, and the unionization conversation is getting more support. Ah, all those libertarian programmers. My o my.
posted by Dennis at Friday, April 25, 2003

 
InformationWeek.com: Critical Path.  About people being discouraged around IT as a career path.

It looks at Offshore outsourcing as the lightning-rod challenge, although there are many more.

The discussion of unionization comes close to devolving IT to craft and journeyman work, and maybe that is what we have coming to us after all this time.

Here's something telling:

«For business-technology executives, the most pressing issue that the worry among IT workers creates is keeping employees motivated about their careers. CIOs are doing the usual: offering training, encouraging employees to keep their skills up to date, even holding the occasional staff retreat. What they can't afford to do, however, is ease up on the pressure. As IT matures as a business discipline, executives are being asked to run better, more efficient IT operations (see "Squeezed," April 14, 2003). CIOs are increasingly asking IT pros to be driven by business goals more than technology. "What separates good companies from great companies is execution," says David Bergen, CIO of Levis Strauss & Co. "I think the message motivates people." »

And then a little bit about what is coming home to roost:

« Beyond the economic cycle, technology itself could change the nature of the job, and possibly the number of people needed to keep an IT department running. If the dream of Web services is realized, companies will be able to change business processes with much less integration work (see story, Tech-Driving: How Web Services Could Change IT jobs). Better tools for managing data centers and autonomic computing may create IT jobs that Vern Brownell, former chief technology officer of Goldman Sachs and founder of the server maker Egenera Inc., calls less "screwdriver intensive." IT people will spend more time designing architecture and less running cable and building shelves, he predicts. And CIOs and CTOs will spend less time battling system crashes and infrastructure problems. But the shift isn't imminent: Brownell doesn't see that changing dramatically over the next several years, because there's still so much cranky legacy technology to manage. »


posted by Dennis at Friday, April 25, 2003

 

Computer Technology

So, who wil build it?

CNET News: Perspective: A mosaic of new opportunities.  Ray Ozzie reports on a conversation with tech visionary Mark Anderson. Some cool highlights:

"The PC operating system will be transformed. Instead of serving as a manager of off-the-shelf software and files and disks, it will primarily focus on enabling untrustworthy Internet-based software to be loaded and used safely and securely. It will also superbly manage rich multimedia presentations, interactions and storage.

"A distinct third layer will emerge between the operating system and productivity layers. Think of it as a "virtual workspace" layer that links together all of your own computers and those operated by people with whom you work. The workspace will become as common in our lexicon as is the folder today. But more than just a container of files, the workspace will be a flexible container that brings together people, information and the tools relevant to the nature of your work. Many of today's operating system concepts will migrate into this layer as most of what you do will involve other people and computers."

Hmm, lots of room for tablet PCs and other devices.

posted by Dennis at Friday, April 25, 2003