17 October 2005

Fun With Outsourcing

So, many of us are faced with the threat of offshore outsource. We can worry a lot and do things to prepare for it, but we can also have a little fun, or at least make a little money off of it.

Yesterday at Barnes & Noble Union Square I saw a book, by a chap named Chad Fowler, with a very funny title - "My job went to India and all I got is this lousy book." Fowler wrote about how to re-invent oneself, how to make oneself more valuable, etc. There was a chapter on automation in which he wrote that in India, people don't believe in automation because it would put many people out of work. But he went on about how we Americans are good at automation and that we should do more with programming. Given the Indian programmers are good with computers, wouldn't automation harm us?

A few days earlier, I learned about JibJab.com. They make computer animations using real politicians' faces and had been into politics, but their latest anim, Big Box Mart, is about offshore outsource. It criticizes us Americans for buying craps we don't need at these megastores that use cheap labor in other countries, only to find eventually our jobs will be gone too. Big Box Mart in particular is about the manufacturing industry, which is not that much news really. I should suggest to them to make one about the I.T. industry.

JibJab animation are basically free for web viewing, but viewing older ones require free registration. They do sell DVDs containing many of the anims and have other wares to offer. Not a bad way to make some bucks. I was very tempted to buy one of the DVDs.

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