[Gllug] [Long] Down-under response. Was: File On 4 on waste in Govt computing projects

[Christopher Hunter]

On Wed, 2010-03-03 at 02:45 +0000, JLMS wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 11:47 PM, David L Neil <GLLUG at getaroundtoit.co.uk> wrote:
> > On 03/03/10 10:52, Richard Jones wrote:
> >>
> >> No surprise to anyone on this list ...
> >>
> >> http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/fileon4/fileon4_20100302-2038a.mp3
> >>
> >> Rich.
> >>
> >
> >
> > Rich, (and GLLUGers)
> >
> > Many thanks.
> >
> > Much to my surprise I was able to hear this all the way down-under, and
> > using the MPlayer Plug-in to Firefox under CentOS - having heard that
> > the BBC has recently taken negative steps towards our FOSS community, to
> > say nothing of being too shy to support expatriates or 'educate the
> > natives' (ie imitate the grand vision of the "World Service" - the WWW
> > ^H technology that came before the Internet...)
> >
> 
> ><mega snip>
> 
> I have a Kiwi colleague, working in London, he could not find a job
> down under and had to come back to the UK for work, he said the
> situation down under for IT professionals is dire (or do you think
> they are immune to outsourcing to India and  other economic pressures?
> They even are in a similar time zone as the Philippines, Singapore and
> other "next generation" outsourcing hotspots which makes things
> particularly challenging).  This friend is no dumber, has worked in
> top companies in the UK for several years.

That's pretty much the story I've heard too.  Friends of mine (a married
couple from Melbourne) who are both coders, cannot find properly paid
work anywhere south of the Equator, and are both taking crash courses in
French, German and Spanish so they can work in Europe.  They have a
project for a French car maker at the moment, but that finishes this
summer, so their language learning is now taking up all their spare
time!

> As for economists predicting how the UK (or Aussie or Kiwi) economy
> will do in the next 10 years, phwa!, like if they really knew what
> they are talking about (have we forgotten how little foresight about
> their own field of "expertise" these fellows have in general terms?)

It's pretty much a given that the current crowd of criminals have pi**ed
away any wealth this country ever had and run the economy so far into
the red that we will never recover, unless the debts are written off -
like they have been for so many third world countries.  Financially,
we're worse off than much of the third world - it's just that we have
the "financial acumen" to hide the fact.  Gordon Brown's ONLY ability is
being able to lie - about the economy, about his own snout in the
trough, about his personal dealings with the staff forced to work for
him, and even about his own sexuality...

This country no longer has any kind of manufacturing base worth
mentioning - it was killed by the massive inflation through the 60s and
70s and by trades unions making British companies uncompetitive against
even our immediate neighbours, let alone the rest of the world.
Government support for industry became non-existent, so all the major
manufacturers moved abroad.  We used to lead the world in science,
technology and engineering, but nowadays we even fall way below the
Italians!  

Our education system is a poor joke, with ever falling standards,
teachers not actually allowed to teach properly,  "dumbed-down"
examinations, worthless "degrees" from bogus "Universities" and a
significant proportion (roughly 40%) of the population who are
functionally illiterate and innumerate.  The last thing a government
like this wants is an educated populace who are able to see through the
lies and evasions....

Now - here's the problem:  I've lived and worked in many parts of the
world (I'm 51, and have been a professional electronic engineer for 28
years).  I can't find anywhere else I'd rather live.  

I live in a pleasant part of North London, in a house I own, with my
wife.  I have a challenging job that's reasonably well paid and that I
really enjoy (despite all the frustrations of dealing with Government
departments).  Life's pretty good (although I'm not in the best of
health because of a dodgy heart).  England's still a pretty good place
to live - despite the lousy weather, inept government and rapidly rising
crime rate.  

I do have the choice to leave - Chartered Engineer status gets you into
any country in the world - but I'm going to stick it out.  The next
Governmental crowd of criminals can't be worse than the current lot, and
the economy will always recover somewhat.  I'll probably lose money on
my house in the long run, but it's not meant as an investment, it's to
keep the rain off my head and my belongings off the street.

<Rant Mode Off>

Trust me - from one who's been there frequently -"down under" isn't much
better than up here.  There aren't all that many reasonably well paid
jobs, and prices are rising markedly as their economy suffers too.  NZ
is in a better state than Australia, but I don't want to move to "Wales
with a funny accent" (my daughter's description on her first visit there
when she was 7!).

Chris




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