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by Anand M.
Original Post: Outsourcing Job Losses - Hype??
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The problem actually boils down to perception and thus fewer students are now majoring in computers in the US now due to this. This may become the actual threat in the years to come.
Yet the view that job opportunities in computing are dwindling fast is both common and potentially damaging to America's competitive prowess, according to David A. Patterson, president of the Association for Computing Machinery.
He pointed to the declining interest in computer science as a major among American college students, based on a survey last year of the intentions of students entering college. The results suggested that only 1 in 75 students would major in computer science, compared with 1 in 30 in 2000.
"The perception among high school students and their parents is that the game is over â that all computing jobs are going overseas," observed Mr. Patterson, who is a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley. "It's an extraordinarily widely held misperception."
I have seen this phenomenon in India too. During the tech boom, almost every student wanted to be in computers. Then the bust came and a batch or two were left with no campus placements, as companies froze hiring to handle the bust. After the bust for two to three years, computers were at the lower end of preferred courses. Now with the stabilization in the IT sector, students are slowly trooping back to computer specializations.