The Pragmatic Craftsman :: Simplicity from complexity : by Stanley Kubasek ::

Stop Whining!

That’s the general theme of this excellent article published in Software Development Times (read the article here). If you wonder who Ed Yourdon is, then do a search on Amazon.com and you’ll see. Needless to say, Ed Yourdon, is one of the most influential Computer Science minds that you’ll hear about. What’s more, he predicted the fall of American programmers in his book, Decline And Fall of the American Programmer. In this article, he shared some very valuable points. Points, that if you take them seriously enough, will put ahead of the competition — wherever it might be. I’ll explain in a little more detail.

My initial view on outsourcing was that something has to be done about it. I still think so: companies need to be encouraged to create jobs in U.S., not given tax incentives to create them elsewhere (if that’s the case, though). But I also agree with Ed Yourdon: We need to stop whining and take our future into our own hands — become the best. If we are the best, outsourcings is a non-issue.

“Stop whining. Stop waiting for someone to solve the problem. Take charge of your own jobs, your own career and your own future. No one else is going to do it for you,” says Yourdon. He goes on to say that yeah, the loopholes should be eliminated.

The bottom line, he says, is that we have to make sure that we are in the top 10, or top 20 percent in our companies. If we are not, we are doomed to lose our jobs, regardless of what politicians do or don’t do.

What can we take out of it: get into a position in your company so that you are needed; become wanted. If you’re there, you don’t have to worry. Otherwise, becoming a software craftsman would help.

I really recommend reading the article, Outsourcing Realities: Time to Stop Whining.