Opinion: How IT has outsourced itself

Computerworld - Americans have an unwavering faith that technology can solve all of their problems, but they tend to forget that it also creates new ones in the process. The leading edge of technology innovation often cuts both ways. Perhaps the best example of this is the current election-year brouhaha over the accelerating trend of outsourcing U.S. jobs in general -- and
IT jobs in particular. IT advances aren't the sole cause of the jobs exodus, but as many laid-off programmers and call center staffers have come to realize, IT innovations have accelerated that trend.
Some effects are subtle. For example, voice-over-IP telephony systems and the ability to route converged voice and data traffic through private global networks is cutting telephone system infrastructure and operating costs. Along the way, IT jobs are disappearing as voice and data networking functions merge. The technology also makes it easier and less expensive to route help desk and customer support calls to distant call centers in places like India, where labor costs may be one-fifth of what companies typically pay U.S. workers.
Likewise, the rise of the PC years ago helped level the playing field for aspiring programmers everywhere by putting unprecedented computing power into the hands of people and institutions that could never have afforded access to a mainframe. And with the emergence of the Internet and collaborative tools, local development groups have evolved into virtual teams with a global reach. Team members can be quickly selected and assembled based on expertise and lowest labor cost.
The rapid pace of technical change has always discounted technical experience, making it easy for the new kid on the block to catch up. New hires, fresh from graduate school and steeped in the latest technologies, have often taken the exciting positions while veteran programmers were shunted into dead-end jobs maintaining legacy systems and products. Sorry, the new guy doesn't do Cobol. Today, the new kids aren't even on your block. The plum projects are moving overseas, where competent programmers can be hired for salaries of $10,000 or less.
Meanwhile, the programming process itself is becoming more efficient and automated, reducing the number of programmers needed. Some companies have begun embracing techniques such as extreme programming, which advocates say improves both productivity and software quality. One company I recently spoke with claimed to have seen a 40% productivity gain on some projects, which greatly reduced programmer time.
Until now, many IT professionals have rationalized that only less desirable, low-level positions were under threat -- jobs like the one I