[L]et’s face facts, she could do your $70,000-a-year job for the wages of a Taco Bell counter jockey – she won’t lose any sleep over your plight. When I ask what her advice is for a beleaguered American programmer afraid of being pulled under by the global tide that she represents, Jairam takes the high road, neither dismissing the concern nor offering soothing happy talk. Instead, she recites a portion of the 2,000-year-old epic poem and Hindu holy book the Bhagavad Gita: “Do what you’re supposed to do. And don’t worry about the fruits. They’ll come on their own.” | This is a story about the global economy. It’s about two countries and one profession – and how weirdly upside down the future has begun to look from opposite sides of the globe. It’s about code and the people who write it. But it’s also about free markets, new politics, and ancient wisdom – which means it’s ultimately about faith. —Daniel H. Pink —The New Face of the Silicon Age (Wired Magazine)
Wired is the idealistic champion of Silicon Valley culture. While the quality of the writing is always top-notch, one rarely finds in the pages of Wired any serious criticism of technology — and certainly none of the Slashdot “the government is taking control of your lives, datum by datum” variety. Pink writes himself into the story a bit more than I would prefer, but I do appreciate the way he paints himself as the devil’s advocate on both sides. I feel a lot of pain for the very good CS majors who are now graduating into a world that is very different than it was in 1999 (or so) when they entered college with a career path in mind.
Still, something lurking in the darker parts of my English major soul remembers the sneers of the “toolies” who, even before they got their diploma, bragged of their $50,000 job offers.
The Africans and Irish and Poles and Italians and Norwegians and everyone else — including the Indians — who came to America in search of a better place took the less desirable jobs. This led to inevitable conflict with the working class Americans, but after a generation or two, the newcomers turned into what Archie Bunker might call “regular Americans” who were themselves threatened by the next wave of immigrants. This has been an ongoing part of American history. Just look at the names on America’s olympic rosters or the faces of people wearing American military uniforms.
But now, the jobs in question are highly desirable positions, and — more shocking to America’s future — people don’t even have to leave their home country to do it!
I was surprised and pleased to see Wired publishing a lenthy, literary, and insightful examination of the American reaction to this particular side-effect of the new global economy. The U.S. auto industry lost business to Japan in the 80s, which caused a wave of “buy American” protectionism; and in return, Japan became a tremendous consumer of American culture. If I were truly interested in economics, I would of course have listened to the e-school toolies and ditched my English major; but upon reflection, Wired Magazine publishing an article with a sympathetic angle on global outsourcing shouldn’t be any real surprise. Because, from the look of things, Wired Magazine has read the writing on the wall, and expects to sell a lot of subscriptions in India.
I played hooky to go see Wild Robot this afternoon, so I went back to…
I first started teaching with this handout in 1999 and posted it on my blog…
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. @thepublicpgh
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I was hoping you'd offer some insights, Neha. Thanks!
I'm a fairly recent immigrant who is still adjusting to the life,lifestyle,education,economy and every other possible aspect of living in a brand new country -- just the call of the money ties into a number of influencing factors that stay hidden backstage. I can actually relate to the threat of the next wave of immigrants because I have friends who're here on international student visas and planning never to go back. They aren't unique in their decisions,and more likely than not,they're bound to be greeted by people who aren't very comfortable with their prescence.
Although, as far as outsourcing is concerned, the Bangalore IT industry is one of the fastest growing in the Indian economy. It's a southern city, and I believe that quite a large number of the Indian IT professionals in California are South Indians. Interesting. Definitely worth taking a look into.
Well put, Eric. I think of all those people who were trained to operate adding machines or to punch cards. Reading this essay really made me value my liberal arts education.
I think the speed with which things change these days is a great advertisement for choosing to do what you want and trying to harvest enough fruit from that rather than trying to predict what's likely to bring in the most fruit. There's a good chance you'll guess wrong about the economic course of things and you'll end up not doing what you want and with no fruit to boot! It is tough, if you're inclined to liberal arts, to contemplate what those not so afflicted expect to earn. Over the years it has pained me to sometimes see folks graduating to salaries beyond what I could reasonably expect to make, ever. But in the end, doing what you don't want to do, to make money, never works.