New study shows college students lack common skills

[notyoueither]

Uhmm, I'm going on time and again trades salaries are high and going higher due to demographics. You don't have to be at the top of the class to get them, but if you go to Fort Newfoundland it's over 100K a year.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Sava
If you're not doing something that some intern or some recent grad or developer in India can't do... then you're not safe.

The developers in India that can speak english well and have top-notch skills typically leave India for North America. That's why the US is struggling with H1-B visas reaching caps.

The development work outsourced to India is typically of inferior quality. Given the complex software engineering processes most companies have now, they need to be followed to the letter with huge requirements documents, diagrams, architectures, etc. Outsourcing this entire process to India isn't viable, and that's why the roar over it has died down.

Given the profit margins on most software -- IBM's software profit margins are something like 80% -- there is no need to jeapordize product quality to save a few pennies. As I said, the good jobs are staying here.

[Sava]

I just love you Asher...

you have to overcompensate for your deflated ego

I just wind you up a little bit, and wooooosh there you go

I'd love to continue to make up stuff about outsourcing to India all night, just to make you write responses and such (BECAUSE YOU JUST CAN'T STAND NOT TO) but I'm going to bed...

g'night

[Last Conformist]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Uhmm, I'm going on time and again trades salaries are high and going higher due to demographics. You don't have to be at the top of the class to get them, but if you go to Fort Newfoundland it's over 100K a year.

You'd be more convincing if you could post some stats to counter Asher's.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Sava
I just love you Asher...

you have to overcompensate for your deflated ego

I just wind you up a little bit, and wooooosh there you go

I'd love to continue to make up stuff about outsourcing to India all night, just to make you write responses and such (BECAUSE YOU JUST CAN'T STAND NOT TO) but I'm going to bed...

g'night

I'm not making it up.

Outsourcing was one of the topics of one of my courses on Software Process Improvement.

http://www.management-issues.com/display_page.asp?section=research&id=2075

Tide turning against outsourcing
23 Apr 2005

Many large organisations that outsourced IT and other services over recent years are bringing some operations back in-house as the benefits they expected to see fail to materialise.

A new study by Deloitte has uncovered widespread dissatisfaction with outsourcing as organisations find that the process is far more complex than initially anticipated.

Seven out of 10 of the firms surveyed have had negative experiences with outsourcing projects, with dissatisfaction with cost savings and reduced flexibility the primary problems encountered.

The 25 organisations who took part in the research currently spend $50 billion annually on outsourcing.

But a quarter of them have brought functions back in-house after realising that they could be addressed more successfully and/or at a lower cost internally, while almost half (44 per cent) failed to see cost savings materialising as a result of outsourcing.

"In the short-term, outsourcing may become less appealing for large companies because it is not delivering the value as promised, and its appeal as a cost-savings strategy will also diminish as the economy recovers from recession and companies look for differentiated solutions to support their growth," said Richard Punt, strategy partner at Deloitte.

"However, outsourcing can still deliver value to companies that enter into outsourcing for the right reasons.

"Large firms need an in-house team trained to manage these deals from inception to execution, and they should look for vendors to match their needs with transparency."

According to the study, participants originally engaged in outsourcing activities for a variety of reasons: cost savings, ease of execution, flexibility, and lack of in-house capability.

But instead of simplifying operations, many companies have found that outsourcing activities can introduce unexpected complexity, add cost and require more management attention than expected.

Almost two-thirds (62 per cent) found out the hard way that outsourcing deals required more management effort than they had anticipated.

Yet one reason that outsourcing causes so many problems also emerges from the research. Almost half (48 per cent) of the survey's participants admitted that they do not have a standardised methodology to evaluate the business case for outsourcing.

"There are fundamental differences between product outsourcing and the outsourcing of service functions, differences that were overlooked but have now come to the fore," Richard Punt added.

"Outsourcing can put at risk the desire for innovation, cost savings, and quality. Moreover, the structural advantages envisioned do not always translate into cheaper, better, or faster services.

As a result, larger companies are being more considered in their approach to outsourcing. New outsourcing deals are scrutinised more closely, re-negotiating existing agreements are being re-negotiated, and some functions are being brought back in-house."

Looking at the UK market, Punt argues that outsourcing remains a growth area. "This study has a global application but the primary focus is on the US – which has moved faster into outsourcing than the UK and the rest of Europe.

"Outsourcing remains a valuable business strategy provided the conditions are right. Both customers and vendors have the opportunity to from mistakes made by those who entered into outsourcing early."

[Agathon]

I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people. Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?

I nearly died when I read that.

[Last Conformist]

You'll have to try harder next time, Asher.

[Apocalypse]

Originally posted by Asher
Okay, so show me a good history thesis.

And show me a good international studies thesis.

I could link virtually any CompSci thesis on here and it would obliterate any essay-style history thesis. From the looks of things, a history thesis is simply a supersized term paper.

I linked to a University of Oslo compsci thesis (which is hardly a famous compsci institution), and a University of Kentucky history thesis because those are the first I found.

I'm not google savy enough to quickly find a thesis online since when I search "[whatevermajor] thesis" I typically just get sites of guidelines to come up. I also don't feel like heading to my library's website to search either.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
I understand you are being silly, but there are plenty of powerful themes in the Potter books, .

Maybe, or maybe not.

This reminds me of a scene from the movie Back to School, where Rodney Dangerfield hired Kurt Vonnegut to write an critique of a book written by Kurt Vonnegut. After he handed in the paper the professor gave him a failing grade on it, stating there was some sort of deeper theme in the book

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon


I nearly died when I read that.

I hope you understand the reference.

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


Maybe, or maybe not.

This reminds me of a scene from the movie Back to School, where Rodney Dangerfield hired Kurt Vonnegut to write an critique of a book written by Kurt Vonnegut. After he handed in the paper the professor gave him a failing grade on it, stating there was some sort of deeper theme in the book

does happen

the work of art can transcend the artist...

art is an experience

Jon Miller

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Sikander


My father's uncle taught English at Dartmouth, I wonder if he had anything to do with the caning of the future poet laureate?

Robert Frost was born in 1874, so this would have ocurred around 1890 - 1900. Is your father's uncle that old?

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Jon Miller
does happen
the work of art can transcend the artist...
art is an experience
Jon Miller

...And sometimes, intellectuals are full of manure.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove


Robert Frost was born in 1874, so this would have ocurred around 1890 - 1900. Is your father's uncle that old?

No, he was born about 1900. Too bad.

[Arrian]

I very much hope that Asher is right about outsourcing, my wife being an IT manager and all. But right now, our company is definitely still looking in that direction. We just laid off a couple of hundred IT people. Hell, about 200 who were just told they're toast have to stay on for the next 60 days to train their Indian replacements.

So yeah, it's all peaches and cream.

-Arrian