Subj : Re: Industry Calls for More Foreign Programmers
To   : comp.programming
From : spinoza1111
Date : Sat Aug 20 2005 05:29 am


CBFalconer wrote:
> Scott Moore wrote:
> > spinoza1111@yahoo.com wrote:
> >
> >> I do agree, Jim (despite my other post) that in many cases,
> >> offshore people will lack cultural knowledge helpful in
> >> designing and implementing data systems.
> >>
> >> A simple example is the fact that here in China, dates are
> >> written day, month, year and not as in the USA.
> >>
> >> But the importance of US-cultural knowledge will decline if the
> >> US loses economic importance over the next ten years. And, the
> >> fact that the current Administration has completely dropped the
> >> ball on the economic threat that is China, while foolishly,
> >> indeed criminally, invading Iraq, means that here and in Paris
> >> (where I traveled and worked recently) people no longer look to
> >> the USA for economic leadership.
> >>
> >> Why develop a US-centric software application, with
> >> month/day/year dates or temperatures in Fahrenheit (or whatever
> >> grotty details) when global programmers can develop a
> >> customizable international system instead? If you develop the
> >> application for the US, and the US market dries up because of
> >> Bush's incompetence, you've wasted your time.
> >>
> >> An international developer (whether he or she is Indian, or
> >> American) may be culturally a better bet than some developer
> >> who punches out at Unicode characters and calls code he can't
> >> understand "Sanskrit".
> >
> > Cool. Now tie global warming to programming productivity....
>
> OK.  Overpaid non-productive programmers are busy burning fuel in
> their oversized SUVs, thus producing carbon-dioxide and
> contributing to global warming.  More productive programmers are
> driving hybrids and bicycles. :-)

Fair enough. In my experience, the best programmers are politically
left-liberal and take bicycles or public transportation to work,
whereas oafish and arrogant types, prone to oafish and arrogant bug
writing and throwing their considerable weight around, drive to work in
SUVs, voted for Bush, and can't bloody code all that good.

Any questions?

I'm serious. At Microsoft, it seems to be the division between Gates
clones (skinny guys) and Ballmer clones (fat guys). The Gates clones
seem (to this non-Microsoft person) to write the great code while the
Ballmer types scream at people in meetings. The Ballmer types are
useful, but for such tasks as preparing good presentations, and
organizing dwarf and midget tosses at company picnics.

Which is ironic, because Gates himself wasn't a great coder. That was
Paul Allen.
>
> --
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