Kolawa is not a disinterested party.

His company sells software that facilitates offshoring. So it's in his financial interest to promote the practice.

Anyway...

"Apparently, "although outsourcing may seem widespread, the jobs of many IT professionals are difficult to outsource and essentially immune to it.""

"Many", here, means "a very, very small fraction of the number of people in IT". You'd know that, Dan, if you knew anything about IT apart from what you read in op/ed columns.

Further, even if you're that one-in-50 who fits that description, it's unlikely that your company will keep you on for very long if they cut loose the other 49 employees in favor of a team in India. They'll extract as much of your unique information as they can, and then lay you off.

my wife was struggling today to make our laptop accept a printer, with the help of a tech support specialist in new delhi. when she had to untangle a few cords, she said, 'i'll have to deal with the spaghetti now,' and he said, 'i don't understand, you're having dinner?' he did help her solve the problem, but it throws an amusing sidelight on outsourcing.

Unfortunately, homesourcing in rural areas ain't gonna happen unless there is broadband access in the home. Otherwise, it seems like a great idea.

So, now the poorly trained Dell support person who tells me to reinstall Windows for every issue will be working from home, instead of India. Good to know.