The Peculiar Nature of Software

Computerworld - Much debate on offshoring IT jobs revolves around well-known arguments.
Proponents of offshore outsourcing, who are generally averse to protectionist measures, tend to focus on the traditional advantages of free trade, such as a more efficient allocation of labor resources and the benefits of competition for the consumer. Detractors spotlight the hidden costs of offshore outsourcing, concerns about security and the potential loss of skilled IT jobs in the U.S. Their remedies include proposing legislation designed to protect IT jobs and setting employment requirements for companies bidding on government projects.
Recently, an alarm has been sounded that high-end IT work such as the design of software and the development of innovative software is being claimed by companies overseas . If so, it must be remembered that software has some peculiar aspects, including tremendous job-creation potential, no matter where it's developed.
Imagine that a programmer in India writes a program so useful that it creates thousands of jobs for developers in the U.S. to adopt, support and enhance its functionality.
New software products have had this effect many times; software is often not a final product, but instead a versatile tool that can be used in the production of a broad range of goods and services. And advances in software can also open up to automation areas that were previously off limits.
From this perspective, software development work spans a spectrum that ranges from the production of final goods to innovative research and development. The simple commodity development work at one end of the spectrum resembles the manufacturing of consumer goods, and offshore outsourcing may indeed lead to a partial loss of such jobs in the U.S. At the other end of the spectrum is innovative software development. The potential for such software to create jobs suggests that even if some of this work is done overseas, there would still be benefits for U.S. programmers.
So it's difficult to assess the ultimate impact of offshore outsourcing on the software development market in the U.S. Whatever the tally, it's up to us to stay competitive by focusing on technology-intensive development that requires more advanced skills.
Fortunately, software isn't a market with fixed demand. If enough shirts are manufactured in China, none need be made in the U.S., but the same isn't true of software. Not only is it a market that's still expanding, but its expansion also seems to fuel further expansion. In the foreseeable future, software development will have a multiplier effect. It won't reach a saturation point.
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