next »

[lava]

Does anyone know what the job market is for computer programmers? I have been talking to some people and many are saying the market is saturated with too many looking for work.  In fact, I've also heard that a lot of companies are outsourcing many programming and web development jobs outside the US.   Is this true?

[Greg]

I'm not totally sure, but I think there are a lot of programming jobs located in San Fransisco area and along the west coast.  Although, many companies are outsourcing a lot of their work to China and India because they can get it done much cheaper. You may want to check with your local college and talk to someone in the career development office for more information.

[freeform]

Funnily enough - quite a few programming jobs get 'outsourced' to Ireland as well. At least half a dozen large American firms have the European HQs locally.

For example, my brother works as a programmer for All State insurance - I'm not sure it's solely a cost issue though as he's on circa ?25-30K ($50-60K) after about 3 years with them. They've recently offered him a post in Chicago - the salary is better but it's also more responsibility.

Sometimes firms outsource because they want a highly educated workforce with lower staff turnover rates - wage levels aren't the only consideration.

My advice would be to move yourself, through qualifications and experience, quickly up the value chain. A company might be willing to outsource simple coding but the more complicated - or core to the business - the more likely they will want to keep the work more or less onsite.

[ftdale]

Jobs are like marriages. There's always someone, somewhere out there - Waiting for you. As for the outsourcing, if there's anything you can do about it, do it. If not, then what's the point worrying about it? Like freeform said, enhance your skills and slug it out until you reach a level where you're kindof indispensable to the company. 

[stanford]

I don't care what job title you have, the number of years you worked in the company, or how "valuable" you are.  Nothing is guaranteed anymore.  Your company has no problem dropping you for someone cheaper in another country.  Profit is what drives businesses.  In fact, I knew someone who worked for a big company for over 15 years.  He worked his way up the corporate ladder, thought he was an asset to the company until one day he's told to send some of his work to someone else from another country.  As you can guess, he was eventually let go.

[attagirl]

Does anyone know what the job market is for computer programmers? I have been talking to some people and many are saying the market is saturated with too many looking for work.  In fact, I've also heard that a lot of companies are outsourcing many programming and web development jobs outside the US.   Is this true?

I do not agree with this at all. The technical and programming jobs that are leaving the country is only for companies that are greedy and want to pay less than what a programmer should be paid. There is still a shortage of programmers in some areas of the country. I know that Nevada and Arizona have a shortage of programmers. While Utah and California might be a little harder to find a programming job.

[Creospace]

Speaking as a freelance programmer...

I think we are starting to see a return to quality over cost, certianly i'm not the cheapest and I have no trouble getting good contracts. I'm well aware of the cheapo overseas outsourcing market I get offers to send my stuff there every week but the fact is you don't have the relationship, the control, the quality, the flexability, the pride in a good job etc plus much more.

You get what you pay for essentially.

[attagirl]

Speaking as a freelance programmer...

I think we are starting to see a return to quality over cost, certianly i'm not the cheapest and I have no trouble getting good contracts. I'm well aware of the cheapo overseas outsourcing market I get offers to send my stuff there every weak but the fact is you don't have the relationship, the control, the quality, the flexability, the pride in a good job etc plus much more.

You get what you pay for essentially.

This is so very true, Quality vs. price, you do get what you pay for and honestly holding out is a great thing. I think that when you have jobs to do and are willing to take a lot less money than what you are worth you are only hurting yourself. By outsourcing work you may not always get the quality you are looking for.

[HRManager]

I also think that the IT programmer job market (talking about employees not freelancers for a moment) is one of the most volatile.  As an HR person I find that there are years when you can't get enough and have to put pay premiums in place and other times when there are lots available and you are spoilt for choice.

I guess some of this is around key dates - so year 2000 created a huge demand and lots of people entered the field - and then after this there were less jobs - and some of it around the fact that technology keeps developing and skills development does not always keep up.

I imagine that some areas are safe bets - say training as an SAP programmer - but even then you need to have high and broad skills these days since some of the basic stuff is getting outsourced.  So keeping ahead of the curve continues to be a challenge