Otte's Assignment 8

I will assume that this question was meant to be answered from the point of view of somebody educated and eventually seeking employment in the U.S. (as the future of computing will obviously be a viable field of study someplace in the world regardless of what happens in the U.S.).

I am not particularly concerned about: "the future of computing as a viable field of study and work." As the report says, the IT industry in the U.S. currently employs more people than it did in the dot-com bubble, and it still has potential for growth. Also, I tend to agree with the free market approach and the theory of comparative advantage. In other words, although there may be short term problems for a limited sector of the U.S. economy; overall, off-shoring will not harm the U.S. economy in the long term. As far as my personal employment prospects go, I believe in that in any competitive industry there is a bit of Darwinism at work. So, hopefully I will be able to obtain and improve the various skill sets that will allow me to be successful (i.e. pursue work that interests me and allows me to obtain my desired standard of living), regardless of the origin of my competition (foreign or domestic).

I agree with most of the report. I like the idea that the U.S. should try to foster innovation and R&D instead of engaging in protectionist economic practices. I also like the parts of the report that point out a few areas where outsourcing may not be appropriate (or, at least, should only be undertaken when various quality and security standards can be met), these include areas of national security, high risk intellectual property, etc. I also enjoyed reading about different countries' approaches to developing their educational and political policies regarding IT, software development, and R&D.

I can't think of anything that I really disagreed with. Often the report gave both sides of an argument, so if I agreed with one side then I disagreed with the other.

The department can encourage my creativity and help me to develop a good conceptual understanding of problem solving in general, as well as encouraging/helping me to learn how to self-teach. This will help me to be innovative and be able to quickly understand new concepts.

Last modified 18 October 2007 at 7:09 pm by MOtte