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Interestingly enough, about 10 years ago in high tech, to some extent, Canada was seen as a great source of cheap engineering labour for American companies. Lots of companies have offices here + in silicon valley. The cost of engineering salaries here was significantly less (lower salaries + weaker dollar), but the capability of the workers and ease of interaction was top notch. From Canada's perspective, 10-15 years ago, there was real concern of a "brain drain" of engineering talent to the US where the salaries were higher. I had multiple requests to move down to silicon valley + double my (already good) salary. But factoring in cost of living + quality of life differences, made it worth staying here. I know others that did go down south for a few years to make as much as possible before moving back here.
Today, the cost of labour has equalized to a large extent, as the dollars are comparable and salaries here are higher... and that was my point, when you outsource, you (to some extent) equalize the economic levels. Places like China have grown tremendously as a result of this, and in a sense, it is probably not a bad thing for the world (to reduce economic differences). But, if your objective is to be rich, you have to be richer than someone else, and outsourcing in the long term, does not seem to usually achieve that (though it does in the short term).
And lastly... today, with US and Canadian engineering labour costs more comparable, engineering work is being outsourced to Asia. The range of problems associated with this is unbelievable to the extent that I sometimes wonder if it is worth it even in the short term (never mind the long term implications). But there seems to be a sheep sort of mentality here that everything that can be outsourced should be... I suppose it's a focus of MBA programs... There are some companies here that I know that don't outsource, and they are doing just fine, have a happy dedicated workforce, more stable growth, and are generally well respected. The sooner more American + Canadian companies find a way to work in that realm, the better imho...
James...
posted by 67.158.78...
, Thu, 8 Jul 2010 16:38:39, Sat, 10 Jul 2010 09:38:16
, Sat, 10 Jul 2010 10:45:44, Sat, 10 Jul 2010 09:35:22, Sat, 10 Jul 2010 13:31:41
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