sysadmin jobs going offshore

[khilari]

Hi guys got this link. Do, have a look and share what you guys think.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/01/technology/nextbigsysadmin0801.biz2/index.htm

[Pete Randall]

Hardly surprising, but I think that, ultimately, companies are going to find that it won't save them as much as they might think. There are advantages to having a sysadmin on site, that can observer a situation first-hand and respond with hands-on action.

HP itself, I think, is finding it necessary to apply a bandaid approach to it's decision to offshore their Support Contract Administration by enlisting VARs to interface between the customer and the off-shored SCA. That has to cut into their savings.

I'm not worried, though - I can always go back to cutting meat. It's kind of the other end of the cow business, but you could say I'd remain in the industry, sort of!

;^)


Pete

[Ralph Grothe]

Shooot, I knew I should have bought this book that I came accross in the bargains shell of our local IT bookstore last Saturday
http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/titles/mjwti/
Must get it,
hope none of my colleagues overhere has read your link yet...

[Marvin Strong]

This seems to be the normal cycle of all IT jobs. In my career I have seen companies outsource, then insource, then outsource. They seem to do this over and over. As if it is going to save them money each time. There will also always be demand for good sysadmins. You can only do so much from 3000 miles away. Be it contract project work or whatever.

I for one am not worried, and even if all sysadmin jobs leave the country(very unpatriotic IMO). There will always be work somewhere.

[Pete Randall]

Think of the security aspects of having your sysadmin work handled overseas. Maybe we should just contract with the Chinese to save them all the trouble of trying to hack into our systems!


Pete

[DCE]

It is the current trend, and companies find a financial incentive to do it. It seems taking the same amount(or more) money from pocket B instead of Pocket A makes the short term results look better.

I have gone through a couple of outsourcings, one outsourced to regional firm, the other to an international firm. In both cases local (read expensive consultants) have to be used for those "unseen circumstances" that arise in the computer world.

There is one thing that is not considered when outsourcing these (or any other) positions. The factor of company loyality. The outsourcer SA's will (or at least should) make their decisions/recommendations based on what benefits their employer, not neccesarily the outsourced firm. In house employees will be more diligent in addressing impacts to the bottom line.

I an now one of those consultants who used to be a SA and now has a much better lifestyle than a regular sysadmin - no on call, regular hours, and MUCH better pay.

In my opinion the pendulum will swing back, and a lot of the companies will in-source some, if not all, of the expertise that they are now outsourcing.

[Rick Garland]

On one note, the article talks about the lack of SA personnel overseas to do this job. So no worries anytime soon.

On another note, hear lots of grumblings through the grapevine about the lack of quality work that is done overseas. Companies may elimate a job and hire 5 overseas at same price. But sloppy work requires 5 hires in this country to support the overseas product. I have seen that directly with the past 2 companies I have been at.

A third note, turnover in some of the oversea countries in tremendous. The companies spend more trying to retain and retrain the employess they still have.

Last, wages/empoyment costs in the overseas are rising. This will keep jobs here.

[John Kittel]

... if I notice a garbage file inadvertantly created and left somewhere on the system, I can't even remove it without first filling out a tracking "ticket" so the managers know what I'm spending my time on, and filling out and printing a separate "change control" form and getting it signed so SOX will be happy. 1) I wonder how the trust and security aspects of offshoring this job would go over. 2) If they want to save money, they could just remove some of these shackles and get 25-50% more value out of me.

[Jaime Bolanos Rojas.]

Khilari!

It's true some jobs are moving overseas, I am in the same continent different country.
I imagine response centers moving overseas, a good company will keep their good sys admins not matter how far the response center is located.
You can not live without your sysadims, a good one take care of his businness, a remote datacenter with all the infrastructure, even thought is good, it will be never as fast or proactive as the very good local sys admin.
It depends on the job, some of them is very smart to move them ( becuase is cheaper ) some of them you can not move them, neither retrain them becuase you can not retrain experience, and 15 - 20 years experience you can not get it in one year no matter how much training you use.

I am happy with my job in a different country, becuase it give me a better life to me, but I would not worry about your jobs, if you are good at it, they are always going to be there for you.

Regards,

Jaime.