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Surviving Outsourcing?
Posted by
kdawson
on Wed Jul 09, 2008 04:35 AM
from the frying-pans-and-fires dept.
from the frying-pans-and-fires dept.
An anonymous reader writes "As some of you may know, HP is negotiating with DPWN, parent company of DHL, to take on outsourced parts of DPWN's global IT Services business unit. As a worker in that business unit, I and my colleagues are part of what HP is negotiating for. I moved into my current position fresh out of university and so far haven't experienced corporate shake-ups or outsourcing initiatives. I enjoy my work and the opportunities that go with it, which is why this announcement was so distressing to me at first. Then I began hearing about the opportunities HP has internally. If you've been through a similar experience, what advice would you give for someone being outsourced? Should I 'ride the wave' and join the new company and culture, or dust off the old CV/resume?"
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Why not try it? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's always a good idea to have the CV up to date, but I don't see why you shouldn't ride the wave for a while until you can determine just how good the surf is.
If you don't like them, you can always leave then.
Re:Why not try it? Its experience (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Why not try it? (Score:5, Interesting)
Just what I was thinking - do both!
I went through something similar a couple of times within a few months a little while ago. First time round I got a lot of reassuring "we want your expertise" noises, then a payoff and a goodbye. Then I got a new job at a small company and it happened again.
Second time it was another big company (let's call them "large indigo") and we had all the same talks and speeches and the same reassurances, only they actually meant it. Unfortunately it's very hard to tell this. Anyway,I'm still with them and am not only very happy (and in the same job) but it's kinda cool having the opportunity to move around the company and the world once you're on the inside.
So, YMMV, but don't be too pessimistic.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Listen to Nursie, buddy. Do both FTW! Unless they keep paying you through a downturn, you're employer isn't thinking in terms of loyalty to you, so don't get emotionally attached to a job (not in this industry at least).
Stay flexible, market yourself and always keep an eye on the door (to see who's coming in and going out).
Good luck. This kind of experience can be really stressful, so this is a good time to learn to relax and take care of yourself.
Who stole my cheese! (Score:4, Interesting)
In reality nobody can expect a life-long career based on one industry, let alone one employer. For example, I started my full time working life in 1976 as HS drop-out pumping petrol - driveway service went extinct a long time ago where I live. In my early 20's I had a wife and kid and I worked/lived at an old growth sawmill in the middle of nowhere for a year or so - the forestry lease ran out in 1984 and the area is now a national park. Worked on scallop trawlers (fishing) for a year or so - few boats left after the govt. bought back licenses to stop overfishing and protect fish breeding grounds. Worked shift work in a nylon spinning plant in the late 80's - govt signed a treaty and phased out the corporate welfare (tarrifs). Been a well paid geek since ~92-93, whodathunk it?!?
I'm 49, not counting jobs
BTW: I agree a big diverse employer can offer a great deal in the way of internal opportunity.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
IMHO, it depends on the company, but expecting much in the way of loyalty from your employer is misplaced. On the other hand, if they find you valuable (and you're making them money) then they have every reason to be happy with you.
Re:Why not try it? (Score:5, Interesting)
This would seem to be the obvious thing to do.
I got outsourced a couple of years ago, (not to HP) and I couldn't say it's any better or worse than it was before. I do have the advantage of UK employment law on my side, which in theory ensures I remain on cmparable terms and conditions. I ended up with a poorer pension scheme but a higher salary to make up for it, and a few minor changes in other benefits - mostly good.
Not everybody stayed on, but most people did. One guy left, then got re-hired because he was too valuable to lose. Most of us are doing pretty much the same job as we were before, although those in leadership roles probably have more responsibility than they did before.
In theory there are more opportunities for me. A lot of that is going to depend on me seeking them out. At the least, I shall end up doing work for other customers besides my original employer which gives me exposure to different ways of doing things.
In my limited experience - I got sort-of outsourced once before: massive reorganization which involved setting up a new company to handle IT for the whole group - it needn't be bad for you. I certainly think that some of the other posters are being needlessly alarmist and cynical. Go with it, and try to be involved in the changes.
Parent
Re:Why not try it? (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah... I wouldn't worry about finding a new job quite yet. As someone who's currently in the middle of an IT outsourcing to HP, I noticed that most folks have at least six months after the official announcement before they start laying people off.
That said, I wouldn't put too much faith in finding something on the HP internal job board. You'll soon have tens of thousands of EDS employees looking at those jobs as well.
Parent
Re:Why not try it? (Score:4, Insightful)
Until you've personally proven yourself to a management chain that's proved itself all the way up to the CEO, be ready to be fired at any time.
That means have your resume ready, credit cards paid off, and a savings account. If you can't go six months without any income, just start looking for a job right now.
If you're one of those guys that "does everything" but really has a nebulous job that no one can define, be ready to be fired soon. I've been through three of these things and survived them all, but by God at times I wished they would just fire me and get it over with.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
As someone who was bought out by HP in the past year here's some personal insight.
Every process inside HP is purposely filled with so much red tape it's designed to make you want to quit and not do it. Example buying a piece of software from a vendor, it takes 3+ months and 14+ sign offs, plus like 5 forms that need to be filled out. Someone in legal said this was on purpose to discourage people spending company money.
Internal IT support for anything? Get ready to spend 90+ minutes on hold to a call center
From my experience (Score:5, Insightful)
You should do both. Face it. The reason the shake up is there in the first place is because someone in the food chain isn't making enough money and wants to change things around so that they make more.
This likely will result in a possibility you come on to the new company... or not. Remember a lot depends on how much you are willing to accept as a reduction in pay which ultimately will happen at some point.
In the event that they don't want to pay you what you believe your worth, they will go for the lesser costing options (other people), and you would ultimately be out looking elsewhere.
Been there; done that.
Not necessarily (Score:4, Informative)
"Remember a lot depends on how much you are willing to accept as a reduction in pay which ultimately will happen at some point."
Not necessarily. :)
Been through 2. First ended in a payoff and redundancy, the second resulted in more money as they realised how useful I can be when properly motivated
Parent
Re:From my experience (Score:4, Interesting)
"This likely will result in a possibility you come on to the new company... or not. Remember a lot depends on how much you are willing to accept as a reduction in pay which ultimately will happen at some point."
I've been through two corporation acquisitions in the last 10 years. First time, I wound up making $5K more per year, as an incentive to stay, doing the same job. Second time, I was offered a different job in the new company, making $11K more per year. We've all heard the stories about people being forced to take pay cuts to keep their jobs, but I personally don't know a single person who has experienced that.
The OP should ride this out, keeping a positive attitude and an open mind. Opportunities are born out of situations like this.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Actually it has nothing to do with "logic". Fact is not all downsizings are for the express purpose of saving the business. A lot of companies simply need to improve stockholders portfolio entry valuations, and maybe changes in middle/upper management.
I have been through 5 companies in 5 years, and that the only reason they outsourced and downsized was to pay larger amounts of money to the upper management personnel and nothing else. Everyone there knew it, and saw it. The companies were healthy and doing a
Join the internet instead (Score:2, Redundant)
join it. be flexible. go with the flow. accept outsourcing yourself. if there are people outsourcing, there needs to be firms accepting outsourcing. go post a listing in elance - they post anything there these days, from technical writing to cad/cam. post in other agency sites. make a name for yourself.
Been there - Survived that (Score:4, Insightful)
Here's how it works when you get outsourced: .. you do it.
1. You have your job and you do it.
2. You/Your section get outsourced.
3. You have your new job, which is the same as your old job, and
If you weren't dusting off your CV/Resume at your current job, why would you suddenly do it now? You're going to get the same money for doing the same tasks that your currently doing. If nothing is broke, most likely no-one is going to try and "fix it". You're likely to see less change than if your bosses boss resigned and was replaced by someone new.
Disclaimer: I worked in IT and my area was outsourced. After a little bit in the new company, I moved away from maint/support roles into development roles that just weren't available in my old company. YMMV
Re:Been there - Survived that (Score:4, Insightful)
That might be true in some states, and it is certainly true in the UK where TUPE regulations protect employees' packages when transferring to a new company, but my impression from other discussions is that in general US workers don't enjoy many rights, and a pay cut or redundancy with little/no compensation and immediate hiring of someone cheaper could well be on the table.
Parent
Re:Been there - Survived that (Score:4, Funny)
"UK where TUPE regulations protect employees' packages when transferring to a new company"
I'm certainly glad my package is protected, otherwise new managers could be real ball-breakers :)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Except it rarely makes sense (Score:5, Insightful)
"If nothing is broke, most likely no-one is going to try and "fix it"," is a good principle, but obviously doesn't apply when the whole deal is aimed at fixing it. If nothing were broke, DHL wouldn't "fix it" by pawning off the whole department.
Anyway, the fact is, DHL thinks it can save some money by passing these guys off to HP. Going by your scenario, it means that, basically we have two sums:
X = how much DHL pays for these guys, managing them, computers, electricity, building rent, overhead, etc
Y = how much DHL would pay HP for the same results
Now DHL thinks X > Y, and HP must think that Y includes a profit margin for itself _and_ pay for whatever they bought that department for. (It's not signing this just to subsidize DHL.) It makes no sense for Y to be the exact same old X plus a positive profit. Basically for your scenario, you have simultaneously X > Y, Y = X + P _and_ P > 0. Something doesn't add up, according to the maths as I know it.
One possibility that happens rather often, is that actually HP will end up fleecing DHL. I.e., that (maybe after a short time) actually Y > X. Quite a few companies found themselves at the bad end of that kind of a deal. (Though in the short term HP takes a small loss to sweeten the deal, the new CEO/beancounte/PHB can show some positive financial results in that quarter, and the shareholders cheer.)
The other possibility is that HP _will_ reduce the costs somehow. Maybe they'll force everyone to do more projects in the same time, so it's not going to be really the same job for the same money. Maybe they'll phase some people out after a while and move some of those jobs to Elbonia. Or maybe after a while they figure out that they can't make that much money there, gut the department and keep just some maintenance or service contract with DHL. Or whatever.
There _are_ a few such outsourcing or privatizing deals done just so someone else gets to fire those people, or ask them to take a pay cut.
So basically indeed YMMV. I'm glad it worked out well for you. Sometimes it does. In some other places it doesn't work like that.
Parent
Re:Except it rarely makes sense (Score:4, Insightful)
DHL doesn't necessarily think it can save some money. Y might be larger than X at the offset, but Y might be lower risk. That is to say, DHL might be able to negociate a fixed deal with HP, but if DHL employ staff themselves it might seem cheaper, but costs could be highly variable.
E.g. suppose a load of your staff leave. Your faced with costs of hiring, and costs of getting expensive contractors in to fill in. X has rocketed here. HP will have to pick up the tab if that happens. Or suppose a project goes titsup. HP will end up paying to get it straight under the new scheme, not DHL.
Parent
No brainer. (Score:4, Interesting)
India or Bust! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:India or Bust! (Score:4, Informative)
Not so much anymore. I work for a big company who a few years ago did a lot of off shoring (not outsourcing, they were employees of the company) to India. We learned a few lessons, including that it's not really the bargain management expected. There's good, there's bad, but it's no free lunch. Now Romania is the new India. I expect the outcome to be the same.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Here is a link to the episodes of season 2 of 30 days [tvshowsondvd.com]
Been there, done that. (Score:2)
Life doesn't offer you a great many opportunities. It does, however, throw a great deal of crap your way.
If you see a chance to turn the crap into an opportunity, go for it.
what should you do... (Score:5, Insightful)
Should I 'ride the wave' and join the new company and culture, or dust off the old CV/resume?"
1) You should always have an up to date resume. Especially when there is some kind of "restructuring" going on.
2) You can do both. Try on the new company. If you don't like it, you can always leave. You can even spin it to new employers as "I stayed on to ensure a smooth transition" to make you look like a team player. This is a great way to get into a new company without having to wade through the throngs of HR drones trying to screen you out of new-hire interviews.
Jumping ship before the move is kinda dumb -- as long as they don't make you sign anything ridiculous. It could be a much better place. Why would you leave when you don't have a reason to? What would you leave for? An unknown new company? Then you are no better off then where you are right now.
Re: (Score:2)
I agree. Put your CV out there. If nothing else, you'll at least get a feeling for what you're worth in the economy. If you like the new company, great, your problems end there. If not, you've already got a head start.
Re:what should you do... (Score:4, Informative)
1) You should always have an up to date resume. Especially when there is some kind of "restructuring" going on.
2) You can do both. Try on the new company. If you don't like it, you can always leave. You can even spin it to new employers as "I stayed on to ensure a smooth transition" to make you look like a team player. This is a great way to get into a new company without having to wade through the throngs of HR drones trying to screen you out of new-hire interviews.
3) I collect job adverts from newspapers. I know this sounds dumb, who uses newspaper adverts to find personnel these days? well some employers do and I find it is useful to do this. Even if it is only to find out who in my locality is doing .Net, Java C/C++, Web development, App development, Embedded etc.... I also like to keep regular track of what is on offer at online job centers/forums even if I am not in danger of being laid off or thinking about moving, for much the same purpose. At the very least it results in me being able to target my job search more accurately.
Jumping ship before the move is kinda dumb -- as long as they don't make you sign anything ridiculous. It could be a much better place. Why would you leave when you don't have a reason to? What would you leave for? An unknown new company? Then you are no better off then where you are right now.
In my experience when a merger or a wholesale outsourcing happens, the PHBs/corporate-weasels running the transition will either lay off the entire complement of people employed by the 'victim' or they will pick and choose. They will keep the best employees from either side and lay off a whole bunch of others. Few things get a PHB more brownie points than saving personnel/wage costs for the company. The employees that will qualify for the great "...opportunities HP has internally..." are the best and most experienced ones except maybe if this happens during an economic boom period, then you may have a better chance if you are young and less experienced. If there is one thing new arrivals on the job market should learn quickly is that companies will demand loyalty and hard work from you but reserve the right to drop you from the payroll the instant it takes their fancy do pep up their quarterly profit returns by reducing costs. Get used to being stabbed in the back a lot, recover quickly and be prepared to find a new job even before it happens. Choosing carefully what jobs you take is important not only because of the wages you will get but also because of the experience you will get. They pay may be good but can you market that experience easily next time you are looking for a job? I know a few people who fell into the trap of considering only the money.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
Parent
Some outsourcing insights (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I work for a company which, among other things, does outsourcing of IT projects. I didn't come in on an outsourcing deal myself, and I joined the project side of the company rather than the outsourcing side, but the people that I've worked with who were "outsourced in" from clients have been more than happy with their decisions. Essentially, it's cheaper for an IT company to run a dozen IT departments than it is for a dozen separate widgets companies to run their own IT department. Sure, someone might get c
Based on my experience (Score:5, Informative)
I've been on one side or the other of 35 acquisitions. My experience is that the only people absolutely guaranteed of a job when it's all done are those who are have a written retention offer as an incentive to keep them in place and not bail prior to the merger closing. Many people will keep their jobs, some will lose them, and no one other than the aforementioned can be certain of either.
If you are uncomfortable with the uncertainty around your continued employment, then there are two options: live with that stress and all of the potential negatives and positives continued employment or sudden termination bring -OR- take your fate into your own hands and go in search of employment elsewhere ahead of time and on your own terms. No one can really tell you which is better, as you have to determine what your threshold for uncertainty and stress is.
I have known many people who have done both, and have had it work out better or worse for them. Some can handle the stress of uncertainty, some really can't. For those latter ones, taking the initiative to determine their own fate was far better for them health-wise. I have always stayed on through the acquisitions, and it has always worked out well for me personally.
One last word of advice I have for everyone I have ever worked with, for, or over: always keep your resume up to date! Don't wait until you are in fear of your job or suddenly terminated to get it out and "dust it off." Changing jobs is stressful, and this is one thing you can do in happier times to help see yourself through the rough ones. Also, it's great to update it with accomplishments when they are fresh in your mind.
I always encourage my employees and peers to get out their resumes and update them no less than yearly, but ideally as often as quarterly. At the successful completion of any large project, I let my teams know "that is resume-worthy, and these are the points you should include" and list the things I think they should be proud of accomplishing.
Don't let your resume get stale, or when you're out of a job it's one more roadblock to getting yourself back in the saddle.
Good luck with the acquisition, whatever you choose to do!
Lie like you have never lied before (Score:5, Interesting)
Although many factors are beyond your control, you can give the impression that you are really positive about the whole thing. Cooperate enthusiastically about the whole process. You can't stop it, or even slow it down, your goal should be to ensure that management think you are "part of the team" and "have the right attitude".
You need to do wholly BS stuff like ask those controlling this mess if there is some way you can help.
As a techie turned CIO turned headhunter I laugh openly at the "great opportunities" at HP or any outsourcer. My former colleague at PC Magazine Guy Kewney refers to these as "Industry Standard Lies".
They have as much credibility as the many fine offers I get in emails from Nigeria and China for wealth and health.
But you must not share my laughter.
You must sound impressed with these fake offers, maybe even apply for some. This is best done as innocent questions, like asking the new management about them, and how you could apply. They will be selling them to you, so we now have both of you faking it to each other. That will look good when they decide who to dump.
You may wonder if they will be taken in by this fake enthusiasm. The odds are better than you think, unless you have already met some HP managers, and then been amazed that people like this are allowed to be in charge of anything.
They're not exactly very bright are they ?
You will want to leave of course. Anyone who has seen outsourcing knows that the good people will want to walk.
But in any market, you want to be the one who decides when you leave. Buy some time and maybe the horse will learn to sing.
Don't be easily boxed (Score:4, Insightful)
I.e, don't be just a programmer; learn server management too (if nothing else, you should know how servers work to help you be a better programmer), and get involved in areas outside your job scope as much as possible. That way they can't containerise you easily and therefore know fully the impact of you not being there any more. Not to mention it's more interesting to have a broader skill-set.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Dumb advice.
They will look at how you're performing your primary job. All that other stuff you do, they probably won't even know about, and if they do they won't care. If you're doing all that other stuff, you're not doing your primary job as well as you could, and probably not as well as it should be done even as a baseline.
When they fire people there will be lots of slack to pick up. Wait for that. Pick it up very visibly and you might get promoted.
I've been through three of these things, and the story is
Don't panic (Score:4, Interesting)
A comparable thing happened to my wife. When she told me, I started mirroring her fears and it turns out that wasn't a good idea. I gave her the advice to look around. That was just one possible advice, fueled by anxiety. She basically had to solicit for her own position. We did so, but actually aimed higher. Turns out in the new situation she's much better off.
Now I'm not saying that's going to happen here. First, take the FUD out of your head and put it besides you on the couch. Then, ask around. It's better to find out more from your manager and HR if possible. In the new situation, what kind of jobs are availailable. For young people there are often opportunities here. Keep all options open, but shop around internally as well.
Was in a similar position last year. (Score:2, Interesting)
I work for DHL (Score:2, Funny)
Enjoy (Score:4, Informative)
Just to be sure: Your company/department is being bought by HP, right? I don't how HP works at all, but it is my impression that they aren't all that bad; though, there was a rough patch some years back.
Some 5 years ago I was in a small, but successful company that was bought by Informatica - I'm still here, in case you wonder. I think for the first year or so we all hated it; we really felt like we were pariahs - part of that was our fault; we we resented the whole thing, for a large part because nobody asked our opinion, and I think we all felt rather betrayed. Since then we have worked out our differences, but it didn't happens automatically - management, from the very top, understood that there was a serious problem, and they have consistently tried to do all the right things and address the real problems (as opposed to just trying to look good).
It is very important to feel welcome in a new company, and to feel that you and the way you do things enjoy respect and are valuable. In the beginning I would have left, given half a chance; now I would be very reluctant to change job.
It is very important that feel confident in yourself if you stay in your new company - they have bought you guys because they believe in your product, but also because they believe in you guys. Where the problems can come in is when the lower to middle managers aren't willing to give an inch; they have more direct influence over your daily lives than upper management.
Be prepared (Score:2)
It all depends on how much you depend on this one job. You say that's your first job after university, I assume you're quite young and I hope you don't have too many mouths to feed.
Try to be open and give the outsourcer a chance. Sometimes new avenues open up and you can move into directions you didn't expect before.
Start looking for a new job. The outsourcing is a change, and while you're changing, you might change to something better, if it presents itself. That makes the outsourcer compete with the regul
Do both (Score:2)
Opportunities in HP are fleeting ... (Score:2, Informative)
Even as you hear of opportunities in HP keep in mind that they too are constantly restructuring. One of their support centers in Colorado is moving to New Mexico and the current workers have essentially been told "move or find a new job" (and since they aren't being laid off there's "no package").
Also keep in mind that the Ann Livermore (Executive VP, Technology Solutions Group) has openly stated that her job is to outsource (in most cases this means offshore) as many of hp's jobs as quickly as possible. Th
Read your new contract carefully (Score:5, Insightful)
One reason to outsource people for large companies here is to circumvent work councils. Many large companies here have pretty good social plans for their workers, good pension plans, good health plans, and a key incentive to move your workforce into some subsidiary is to cut those costs.
So read your new contract very, very carefully. Just because something was a given in your old contract doesn't mean it will be in your new contract. If it's not there, consider it gone. This can include things like a cafeteria that was free for the workers (i.e. part of the social plan) suddenly charging you for your meal.
Always Dust The Resume (Score:4, Insightful)
Dust off the resume! *Always* dust off the resume. Keep that baby dusted even when you're happy and foresee no imminent change. I'd ride the wave for now. You'll know when the time is right. But keep the resume dusted.
I know the feeling. (Score:4, Insightful)
Happened to me. I learned that if you are not considered a 'revenue center' you will likely be the first to go - IT Departments, internal audit, accounting are all 'cost centers', and since businesses live to minimize costs...
Given what you do, moving to HP or one of their ilk (Accenture, etc.) will make you such a revenue center, and thus less likely to be laid off. In those environments (where I currently work) if you do good work and have a good senior manager (director level, selling work to clients) you will remain chargeable, and therefore, employed. It can work out well. One thing I do recommend, though, to someone straight from University - don't fall in love with your job, because it won't love you back, and it may break your heart. Good luck!
Some tips from the "other side" (Score:5, Interesting)
It seems that I am on the other side of the story (dark side?) since I actually work in an outsourcing company. I work in Serbia, and we provide some programming for one company in USA.
It may be that we are not a typical example, but in our case there are about 60 employees in USA and 20 here in Serbia.
Complete R&D, marketing, and all top-jobs in IT are done in USA. Here in Serbia we do very basic tasks only.
In our particular case, we are not doing the job very well. Successful outsourcing requires very good communication channels. Due to geographical difference and esp. if there is time zone difference (like USA - India) communication must be perfect. This is very hard to achieve. That would require trained people in USA to write good specs, to know how to handle tasks and everything. For a beginning, just to know what they want as a product. In practice, that would mean that good managers will do some good work and bad managers will do some bad work, just as if there was no outsourcing. Outsourcing will just make existing communication problems bigger.
In our particular case, since we work in extremely regulated industry, things are even harder. Everything in the process has to be double-checked, documented and so on. In theory, this makes things more easy to outsource, but in practice, as major job has to be done in USA, outsourcing does not seem too beneficial. In our case, only thing you can outsource are junior jobs. But they have problems figuring this, and they try over and over to send us any tasks they find "labor intensive". This won't work. Outsourcing company is not a cavalry you call when you are in trouble. If you want to treat it like a cheap labor for boring tasks, you'll be in a huge problem.
As a complete surprise to a geniuses who believe that outsourcing is a solution for poor business practices, people that work in outsourcing companies are human, too. When treated as junk, they treat their employers as junk, so they tend to leave for small increases in salaries, since their job satisfaction is low and salary in only measure. Even more surprisingly, if treated as humans, outsources tend to behave just every normal employee. They learn about their jobs, they are ready to spend some time there when salaries are not the highest in the city and so on.
It's a bit different story when large company, like HP decides to outsource entire department. I don't see how this could be efficient. It's not a problem to replace junior John Doe with Asok in Delhi, but if you need to replace every trained team-leader, every mid-manager with the Indian counter-part, it seems to me like a recipe for disaster.
When a company outsources it's IT (Score:4, Insightful)
An IT person that's roaming the corridors and works inhouse can always stop by and fix things on the fly while an outsourced IT person always has to get the issue through the issue tracking system in order to motivate the salary. This means that it can add hours upon hours of delay before an issue is resolved.
None of the above (Score:3, Interesting)
Should I 'ride the wave' and join the new company and culture, or dust off the old CV/resume?
I don't like either of those options. Back in my day job days this kind of thing would go on all the time. Outsource rumors and buy outs in private industry, contract changes in military contracting. Either way you're still an employee subject to the whims and petty rules of your employer.
Another option is thinking about banking some cash and starting your own gig. It's harder work and pays less but ultimately you'll be happier. You have to learn about things like quarterly taxes and professional liability insurance, business licenses and what advertising works and what doesn't. The nice thing about tech is you don't need expensive offices or a lot of overhead to get going. You will need enough cash to survive until you have money coming in, which takes longer than you think.
Most people have ideas about what it takes to start a business and those ideas are almost universally wrong. You may not get fabulously wealthy but with hard work and miserly habits you can make ends meet. I was doing okay and it eventually led to a job that is, essentially, layoff proof. And I get an equity position if the company gets bought out. Plus I'm in the envious position of being the person with the whims who makes up the petty rules. Life is a lot better being on that side of the equation.
Having your own gig gives you the leverage to take a pass on the crapass, dead end, corporate cubicle jobs. You'll be happier in the long run. What seems strange to me are people who will argue for the financial security of a day job. Talk about a false sense of security. You can work in the same place 20 years and get fired the next day and won't get squat.
Get out of computer work! (Score:3, Interesting)
Study business management or some other field of work. The trend to outsource computer jobs will never stop. Find something else to do for a living.
Either that or learn a foreign language so you can travel to foreign nations to train the new employees how to do computer work. Invest in a Rosetta Stone CD.
You also could start up your own small business and try to run your own company. I would suggest small business courses at a community college while on unemployment to learn and talking to the SBA as well. You might be able to win some short term contracts and do computer work from home and be able to pay yourself with some money left over to hire more people. Also look into IT moonlighting web sites for small project work.