[thelist] Re: Design/Development Goes Third World?

Welcome to the Internet!

You now have your first taste of the Global Impact of the Internet.
It won't be the last :)

As a programmer/designer/developer....whatever that means, we are moving
into a buyers market.

Unions were originally created to end the practices of child labor and sweat
shops.
Nick Heinle wrote his first javascript book at 16.
Some of the most talented people on the web are not old enough to vote or
drink.

So by unionizing, we can take these talented folks and make them
apprentices, give them minimum wage and take credit for their work for a
number of years. We can also make it very hard to relocate and get jobs in
union towns.(been there done that as a Longshoreman and a union carpenter)
We can also strike and move into binding arbitration where nobody really
wins.
We can force employers to relocate as it becomes too expensive to compete in
a market. Electronics is a real good example. Developed here and built
offshore.

The comfort that comes with a paycheck and the illusion that your
compensation prior to taxes and FICA and other deductions is too small is
just that.

The employer in addition to paying your federal and state income taxes, also
makes an equal contribution of your Social Security deduction. Unemployment
contributions, and any medical or dental benefits you may be receiving.
Permits, utilities, advertising, buildings, parking lots, real estate taxes,
sign fees business permits, your desk, chair and paper clips.

In most cases your compensation at 15 clams a day means that your employer
is paying 20-30 clams a day to provide you a place to go during the day.
s/he will have to add money over that expense to provide a profit for s/he
to stay in business.

To reduce these expenses, you try to reduce your labor costs.

The attractive part and one of the selling points we use, myself included,
is the money we save the client by offering them an electronic salesman who
does not call in sick, need vacations, doesn't get pregnant(sorry ladies),
turn in an expense account that reads like incredable tales, is not required
to have a health plan, a company car, stock options, or will sue them for
falling down in the parking lot after the company christmas party.

The H1-B visas are a special interest tactic, I agree.
Yes they have an impact on what the market will offer.

The cultural component needs examination.
Here are folks using old equipment, last generation software and code tools
and blowing the doors of the alleged privileged folks using the latest tools
and equipment.
They live in countries where the cost of living is different.
How they measure success may be far different than you.


Doing the math.
There are 17 million registered domains.
if even 1/2 of them are in use and some like geocities and aol have
thousands of sites, do you really believe that they are all going to pay in
excess of 100,000 bucks for a home page and 5 or 6 other pages?

I am an independant developer, by default a businessman. To make money
building websites, i have to convince folks to give me money. I have to
provide my product with  either price, quality or service.

Thriving in this business longer than a year requires an enormous amount of
time, effort and energy that does not appear on the screen in the finished
web site. selling, billing, meetings, maillists,  meetings, organization,
taxes, record keeping, accounting, profit and loss, and finally some code
you can upload and point to for the next client and the dance begins anew.

The ultimate beauty of the web is the bullshit stops the instant you view
source.
Validation comes in the form of more sites, more clients, more work.

and occasionally ya get to surf to see what other folks are doing.