Re: MIDRANGE-JOBS Digest, Vol 5, Issue 184

From: Jon Paris

I have found that the issue is _not_ a lack of skilled RPG
programmers - it is a lack of _affordable_** RPG programmers. I have
had many customers ask me how they can find junior and intermediate
RPG programmers to fill positions they have available.

Or, to look at it another way, employers are unwilling to pay the rates
required to hire local labor, and they're able to do so because they can
hire cheap foreign labor to fill those positions.

** "affordable" is in the eye of the beholder. One customer I know
in California is looking for an intermediate P/A - initial pay at
around $60K - but they can't find anyone at that salary level. I
would have said that was a reasonable amount for an intermediate
position but ...

If you believe in a free market (which all the global economists swear by),
then salaries like anything else should obey the laws of supply and demand.
The salary would rise to the point where American programmers could afford
to take the jobs. More importantly, American students would look to the
industry as a viable opportunity, schools would teach the courses, and so
on.

The problem is that the artificially low-cost supply of foreign labor
undercuts the labor pool and allows employers to set unreasonably low
standards, which thereby depresses the industry. We need to protect the
industry, not globalize it.

As to your idea that $60K is a good intermediate position, it depends
entirely on where you have to live. An intermediate position should be
someone with what, at least five years experience, right? That level of
experience ought to afford you at least a house. Well, if you're living in
San Francisco, I can tell you that $60K a year isn't going to do that.

What's really funny is that if American companies allowed American workers
to telecommute and live in locations of their choice, we'd have less
pollution, less oil use, and people could live in lower cost-of-living areas
and take lower-paying positions. But no, that's not acceptable. You have
to drive into work and sit in your cubicle all day.

And then when nobody can afford to take the jobs, employers offshore these
positions without batting an eye.

It's silly.

Joe