Outsourcing spurs education diversification
Change brought about by outsourcing has spread from the business scene into the field of learning. Students are veering away from being exclusively involved in traditional computer science to fields offering more job security and less dependence on programming and technical knowledge solely.
With the advances made with and because of the Internet alongside a significant drop in computer prices, more and more jobs are being siphoned off to developing countries with well-educated technology workers and lower wages.
Thomas Malone, professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and author of “The Future of Work” warns, "If you have only technical knowledge, you are vulnerable." It’s no doomsday prediction though, “But if you can combine business or scientific knowledge with technical savvy, there are a lot of opportunities. And it's a lot harder to move that kind of work offshore.”
This has given rise to what is popularly referred to as renaissance geeks. Traditional computer science programming is buttressed with a healthy grasp and even mastery of other fields – be it business and botany or mischief and mayhem. Less emphasis is now given to the tools of the technology trade with focus shifted to use of technology itself and other developments that can be ushered along with it.
The Department of Labor has cited the decline of jobs in the programming fields, but assures of a steady demand for information technology experts. As a matter of fact, there have been increase demands for expertise in customizing technology for specific industries or companies. This does not however, undermine the value programming: just as computer science majors are urged to acquire skills beyond the programming fields, students in other disciplines are realizing the need for computer programs and the accompanying skills for the use of these.
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