Market Changes in The USA
Computer programming, offshore outsourcing, and Foreign Worker Visas became a controversial topic after the crash of the dot com bubble left many programmers without work or with lower wages. Programming was even mentioned in the 2004 U.S. Presidential debate on the topic of offshore outsourcing.
Large companies claim there is a skills shortage with regard to programming talent. However, U.S. programmers and unions counter that large companies are exaggerating their case in order to obtain cheaper programmers from developing countries and to avoid paying for training in very specific technologies.
Enrollment in computer-related degrees in U.S. has dropped recently due to lack of general interests in science and mathematics and also out of an apparent fear that programming will be subject to the same pressures as manufacturing and agriculture careers. This situation has resulted in confusion about whether the U.S. economy is entering a "post-information age" and the nature of U.S. comparative advantages. Technology and software jobs were supposed to be the replacement for factory and agriculture jobs lost to cheaper foreign labor, but if those are subject to free trade losses, then the nature of the next generation of replacement careers is not clear at this point.
Read more about this topic: Programmer, Globalization
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“Have you not heard of that madman who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the market place, and cried incessantly: “I seek God! I seek God!””
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
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