[NTLUG:Discuss] OT: Fried

[Greg Edwards]

clayramsey1 at comcast.net wrote:
> I agree with much of what you say, BUT....
> 
> there is very little that anyone in DC can REALLY do to stop it.
> 
> collectively, we are too expensive.  I saw this from the other side at my last job (IT support for headhunters).....
> 
> Firms were paying BIG bucks in many cases for relatively lightly qualified staff - and they DO NOT, or should I say, WILL NOT do that again.  Remember the "paper MCSE"?  The "paper CCNA"?
> 
> As I see it, the logic of the corp. staffing people will be this:
> 
> "If we are gonna have "sorta" qualed staff, we're gonna pay less for 'em.
> 
> The 90s are gone.... I just hope and pray for the next big US innovation to come along.  
> 
> If I may make a ssuggestion - there are a SHITLOAD of small firms still running 3.1, 95, and 98, in need of serious IT help.  Hanging out your shingle (directed at noone in particular) might be a good idea.
> 
> 

I'm not trying to belittle anybody, but I'm not talking about those 
people.  Those that just got started because it was a hot job market or 
those that left school to cash in on the 90's dot com frenzy.  I fully 
agree that the price for code bangers got way out of touch with reality.

What people are not getting is that the hard core high tech pros that 
built the infrastructures are out in the cold.  System Designers, 
Software Engineers, Lead Developers, and others.  People that designed 
the communication protocols that made the internet possible, designed 
and built the digital switches so that SBC can offer DSL, and the 
software that makes cell phones work.  People that applied the theories 
and did the hard work of maturing *nix and RTOSes that are the basis of 
these switches are now serving others for $3.00/hr.  The RDBMS engine 
designers, graphics rendering tool designers, etc.  We've become users 
of technology, not designers and builders of technology.

Dallas is a good example.  The dot com frenzy had very little to do with 
the growth in Dallas.  What made the Telecomm Cooridoor go was the 
innovation from the designers and developers through R&D in switching 
and high speed transmission protocols.  Low interest rates for R&D money 
and an experienced workforce made it possible.  The workforce that made 
it happen has been dumped for cheaper labor and the future of interest 
rates is uncertain because of the deficit.  What happens in DC does 
matter to the planners in the executive suites.

Yes the dot com frenzy did add to the growth, but it would have happened 
even without the dot coms.  The Silicon Valley, Pacific Northwest, 
Austin (here in Texas), The Golden Triangle, Los Angeles, and Eastern 
Seaboard were where the dot com dollars got spent, not here.

-- 
Greg Edwards
New Age Software, Inc. - http://www.nas-inet.com
======================================================
Galactic Outlaw        - http://goutlaw.nas-inet.com
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