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According to BusinessWeek computer programmers’ jobs in US are among those of highest risk of being outsourced. In 2006 there was only 396k of (various) computer programmers in US compared to 530k in year 2000. That’s change of (about) -25% in just 5 years.  It’s even worse for data entry clerks - they jobs fell by -35%! BUT, at the same time, statistics for demand of computer system designers and analytics (NOT programmers) are higher then ever.

Point taken I guess.

I’m sure you’ve heard already countless of times about outsourcing, flat word and all that… but the moment you read statistics like this it really hits you. Every single day you really ARE competing not just with an extra bunch of people on the market, but with (quite literally) hundreds of millions of skilled professionals out there - people probably equally smart as you, just will less opportunities (yet!) and with way way lower salary requirements than yours.

The only logic way to compete with them is to always keep one (or two?) step ahead - learn things they cannot learn (yet), work in professions they cannot do (yet). The question is - how long can  you keep that one-step-ahead distance? And what will happen when you cannot keep it anymore?

Today TechCrunch posted a note saying that after they (and lot other blogs) criticized Google over their Google Video markeplace shut-down refunds, the company admitted their error and decided give users full refund via credit card (and not Google Checkout as it was previously announced) and allow them to watch purchased videos six month longer than it was originally said.

“Well done, Google” - but is it really done well enough? If you buy a notebook, and they find that your battery might explode - do they take it away from you without saying anything? (”sorry”). NO - they replace it free of charge, without forcing me to sign-up to Google Checkout or any other system. THEY failed, so THEY take all the costs - its that simple. (BUT as they did take all the cost and fix my notebook - I still like & trust them. Sometimes, I might even like them MORE because I KNOW now that I can really trust them and that they genuinely care about their customers).

Why couldn’t Google figure out that they owe people full refund free of charge in the first place? My guess is - its all about  money. Refunding subscriptions is costly exercise. So if you say “we will refund you but only through Google Checkout” - you can be sure that some users wont bother, and eventually they will not have to be refunded. But then hey! Google isn’t actually the poorest company out there, is it?

Next time, Google, please take a look at print industry and how they sort out subscriptions. They can’t just close a magazine and say to 1mln subscribers “sorry - we are closed now”. Either they keep a magazine up and running (even if it bring loses - thats why everyone knows long before which title is going to die soon) until all the subscriptions went out OR they refund all of them free of charge (and don’t request people to sign-up to Google Checkout, PayPal, magazine’s bank branch or whatever else…).