Re: Comparison of Salaries in Telecom Industry

[Robert L. McMillin <rlm () helen surfcty com>]

On 25 Aug 1993 17:03:41 GMT, perri () wpi WPI EDU (David M Perri) said:

> Please excuse my ignorance, but I am a second year student of
> electrical engineering and I am having trouble deciding whether I
> should go into hardware or software.  I have a great interest in both
> so I guess my deciding factor will be whichever one pays better.  I
> dont want to make a decision based on this, but I think it will be of
> some importance in the final decision.  Could someone please tell me
> what the average salaries are of hardware and software engineers in
> the data communications field?  

My question is, "Does it really matter?"  As the essayist in this
month's issue of {Harper's} pointed out, the one thing the new global
economy is *not* producing is jobs.  It is always cheaper to move
high-paying positions overseas, and increasingly, that's where they're
going.  Software?  That's moving to India, Singapore, Japan, Ireland,
Russia, and anywhere else people can find cheap minds (which, by the
way, are getting cheaper all the time).  Hardware?  Try Taiwan.

Now that Mr. Gates has installed his T1 link to India, where do *you*
think he'll hire programmers?  New sign on the door at Microsoft:
"Americans need not apply."


Robert L. McMillin | Surf City Software | rlm () helen surfcty com 


[Moderator's Note: Advocates of more or less unlimited immigration
into the USA frequently say there is no real problem with this as far
as American unemployment goes, because the 'foreigners' usually are
willing to take jobs Americans don't want such as working in the
fields harvesting vegtables and working in canning plants; working on
the killing floor at Iowa Beef Processors, Inc. (one of McDonald's
biggest vendor/suppliers), and cleaning out public restrooms in the
train and bus stations, etc. But as the number of T-1's in service
increase and the world grows smaller, we find ourselves in an in-
creasingly competitive world-wide labor force, with the the sort of
ramifications you mention. Americans are going to find their high-
priced services are no longer needed in many industries. In fact,
lots of companies have moved from the USA to other places.   PAT] 

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