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Posted: Wed, December 7, 2005
Book Review: "My Job Went to India (And All I Got Was This Lousy Book)"by Dafydd Rees Much has changed since the Internet gold rush era of the late nineties when we experienced a severe software development skills shortage. In the wake of the Internet boom, we found that companies cut back on their IT expenditures often seeking new ways to economise. Some companies learned to "offshore" a portion of their technical work. In other words to contract developers in countries with more competitive wage levels than could be found locally. This is only one of a number of threats to those working in the IT sector identified in a presentation by Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas called "How to Keep Your Job" [1]. Amongst other things they identify a number of difficulties: staying current
given the accelerating pace of technical change, reliance on an industry sector, technology or company and particular effects that can reduce the marketability of older developers. More interesting than
the list of threats is the analysis of the causes of these threats. Amongst these are the dual issues of cost and quality. It's clear from the presentation that they believe that IT in the western world has been
guilty of inefficiency and complacency for quite some time. Nothing illustrates this better than their slide entitled:
This book can be described as a self-help book for developers planning to stay relevant and competitive. The book handles changes in the IT industry in terms of economics and marketing. First we see the forces behind off-shoring from a supply and demand perspective. In order to deal with these forces we're then invited to consider our careers as a "product" which we're going to develop, market and deliver. The book is structured in six sections:
Each chapter is split into numbered sections that describe a single piece of concrete advice. These pieces of advice are described informally and then followed by a series of activities to help you put them into practice. Supply and DemandFowler explains the threats and opportunities in terms of supply and demand and how they've affected the IT industry. For example he explains how a shortage of developers led to an increase in industry rates, which in turn led to an influx of new developers, leading to a consequent lowering of those rates. He makes it clear that we become commoditised when we identify a specific technology with our job role. For example saying "I'm a Java developer" or "I'm a .Net architect" narrows the scope for opportunity and leaves us vulnerable to simple price comparisons. His conclusion is that we can't afford to compete on price so we need to find other ways to remain competitive.Non-technical skills, including business-specific knowledge and "soft-skills" are emphasised especially since local developers have the advantage of face-to-face communication with the business stakeholders. Fowler suggests that these non-technical skills can be used to add considerable value in ways that can't be easily outsourced. The observation that customers fear developers is probably one of Fowler's better insights. He explains that customers are often intimidated by the technical details and the jargon used by developers. He describes a rather interesting prejudice: "Chances are high that your customer is just as smart as you but just doesn't happen to know how to program a computer.... I mention the bit about intelligence because computer people all too often assume that anyone who doesn't know how to operate a computer is not intelligent. Saying it explicitly like this makes it sound idiotic, but that's true of all prejudices." He describes how the customer is often responsible for some important project yet he or she seems to be at the mercy of these people who talk in technical jargon. His text suggests that you see the customer as a business expert and yourself as a business trainee in order to really listen and to avoid a patronising demeanour. He suggests that putting the customer at ease is an opportunity to increase the customer's perception of your value. According to Fowler risk and reward should affect our training decisions in the same way that it should affect financial investments. Investing in an established technology, for example Java is likely to provide a return albeit less of a return than investing in a newer, riskier technology. He then explains that investing in immature technologies may yield far better rewards, or it may yield no reward at all. The advice is to choose a portfolio that balances risk and reward and to review it periodically. The off-shoring companies apparently deal with low-risk, mainstream platforms often employing young recruits that lack technical breadth. This clearly suggests niche opportunities for local developers willing to work with specialised technologies, and those with the knowledge to work on integration projects that span several different technologies. AttitudeSeveral parts of this book address developer attitude. No longer can developers expect to coast along. The "product", "executing" and "marketing" chapters advocate personal development practices and self-reliance. Developers are encouraged to practice coding on exercise questions, learning different types of programming language to improve design skills and to adopt a more independent attitude towards their development environment rather than continually relying on other developers to compensate for gaps in their knowledge. Whilst the "product" and "executing" chapters outline advice that should help developers become more productive and valuable, the "marketing" chapter describes how to present these personal improvements in a way that can be appreciated by an employer and the industry at large. Fowler provides advice that includes talking to the customer at an appropriate technical level, blogging, speaking at local developer groups and conferences and demonstrating real ability by contributing to open source software. Fowler suggests that there's much to learn from the open source community. Open source programmers most often work as a self-organized group of individuals dispersed around the world. They communicate mainly using e-mail and instant messaging. Anyone with the technical and interpersonal skills to work in a typical open source environment has a clear advantage in a world where development work is routinely transferred around the world. StyleThe tone is lightened considerably by the author's informal style and use of personal anecdotes. The book opens with the story of Fowler's personal experience of culture shock arriving in Bangalore for the first time [3]. The anecdotes are put to good use often illustrating a point. For example he describes the prevalence of manual labour in India for many jobs which would involve machinery in the west. He suggests that Westerners are more likely to automate solutions to problems than Indian IT companies because those companies have evolved in a country where labour is cheap. He describes how programmers can often add value by automating labourious tasks resulting in an advantage called "automating yourself into a job". ConclusionThe only real criticism I have of this book is the title. This book provides valuable advice for those trying to chart a course in the software development business: The author's choice of a humorous title could well dissuade people from giving the contents of this book the serious attention that it deserves. Throughout this book there's no attempt to "blame" foreign developers for "taking jobs away". Fowler explains that the game has changed and that we're all competing in a global marketplace. He states that it's extremely arrogant to assume that someone can't do a good job just because they're from another country. Although offshore developers can compete on price and quality there are still many things we can do in the west to remain valuable. Much of the advice in this book could be described as "playing to our strengths". That is, getting better at the those things that are best done locally. This book offers two kinds of practical advice: firstly advice that will help increase your awareness of the software skills market and then advice on practical ways to increase your competitiveness in that market. Perhaps his most interesting comment is that there will be no room in the software business for people who are just here for the money. Fowler states that in the future being a successful developer will involve enough effort to drive out all but the genuinely enthusiastic. "My Job Went to India (And All I Got Was This Lousy Book)" is published by the pragmatic programmers and can be bought either from booksellers, or directly from their website either as a paperback or electronically as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. References About the Author |
Chad Fowler's
book |
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