My Job Went to India: And All I Got Was This Lousy Book

'My Job Went To India (And All I Got Was This Lousy Book)' is a examination of the trend of the past decade or so of how jobs are traveling across the Atlantic Ocean at an artery-spurting pace. You might hear all the propaganda and assume that the good ol' United States is still #1 on this planet, but the simple facts are that the 2 countries that each have 1 billion+ people (India & China) are the future of this planet, and there is a reason why. Not only are Indian software professionals much cheaper to hire, costing American companies much less rupees than dollars, Indians have one thing in mass majority that the USA used to have. They are HUNGRY. India can only sit back and laugh as their country excels while the United States just sits back on their laurels, always assuming that they will at the top of the food chain, for little reason than they just are MEANT to be there. This book is a nice examination of this trend, and while it is very discouraging at times, it tries to help the reader by pushing the main point that in order to save your job and your career, you always have to adapt and learn. If you find yourself on the street one day (and usually it's a shock to most people who do), make sure that you are prepared and you can strike back at the market that put you on the street by having the skill set and determination to overcome any challenge put in front of you. This is an entertaining and important book that should be read (and followed) by all software developers who need to stay on the cutting edge of this competitive market. ***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Chad Fowler shares his India outsourcing experience and insight and he provides simple truths about the importance of anticipating and adapting to change. Lessons learned in this book can be applied to any field, not just technology. The world is changing faster and faster and to stay on top means learning how to be champions of change, not resistors. Fowler offers readers excellent advice on how not to be left behind. Fifty-two ways to save your job, as the title suggests. None of us can afford to be complacent in our current successes, knowledge, or skillsets. Complacency breeds arrogance and laziness. These are very simple truths. The people who take the time to learn new things and adapt to changing business environments more quickly are the ones who are going to come out on top. Right now, we're seeing the tide shift and those diligent people in India are reaping the rewards of their hard work. Outsourcing or off-shoring...whatever you want to call it, it is not going away. And it is not the dirty word it was a couple of years ago. Outsourcing is old news! The epiphanies of "The World is Flat" is old news! Companies who have not yet shifted some of their operation to India or China or Western Europe are likely feeling a little panicked. And I think they rightfully concerned. As companies continue to expand outsourcing to India (Citrix, IBM, Microsoft, Siebel, et al), for any of us to keep our jobs, we need to continue to find new and BETTER ways to be provide value. For some, it means learning new technical and/or language skills. For others, it means changing careers altogether. Adapt, adapt, adapt. This book was excellent--it's well written, it's timely, and frankly, I found it very reassuring. I recommend "My Job Went to India" in particular to my fellow American friends and coworkers who run the gamut from being concerned to downright paranoid (whether they'll admit it aloud or not) about the prospect of "**INSERT COUNTRY NAME HERE** (India) taking precious jobs away from **INSERT NATIONALITY HERE** (Americans). If I can digress for just a moment, I want to tell you how I found this book. I stumbled across it in Barns & Noble--one of those mega stores with the multiple floors and separate coffee and lunch stands. You know, the ones that are the size of a mini mall? I went there to pick up some programming books. I decided I needed to brush up my programming skills and I was trying to determine the best way to get started and what language to focus on first. The store's tech selections were overwhelming. I was in the store for three hours pouring over books. The more I searched and read, the more lost and frustrated I felt. And, if I'm being honest, the more stupid and ill-prepared I felt. I picked up Foweler's book because the title caught my eye just as I was about to leave. I read the cover and laughed (okay, snorted) so loud the person next to me took a couple of steps away from me, out of concern that I was crazy or possesse

I think this book suffers from a poorly chosen title. It makes it seem much more of a niche book than it is. "Take Charge of Your Career" would have been a better title. This book is for those of us who really want to be in this sector and are looking for what the right moves are. It is too easy to end up working in an IT job that you floated into rather than worked towards or deliberately chose. The last line of the book says it best: "Satisfaction, like our career choices, is something that should be sought after and *decided* upon *with intention*.

This is a great compliment to The Pragmatic Programmer. That book presents short, sweet descriptions of successful habits for a programmer to follow while practicing their craft. My Job Went To India arms a programmer with habits and practices that will help enhance their career. I love books with short chapters, and this one has fifty-two of them. They read quickly and many end with exercises to apply the practice or skill recently discovered. Much of what a programmer must do to advance his craft these days is more closely related to business than software. Many programmers, myself included, are somewhat intimidated by the need to learn these skills. Fowler breaks it down and make this subject matter far easier to approach. The essence of this book is tons and tons of experience distilled into words. Sure, you could learn all of this stuff over a decade in the industry, but you might have some frightening, tight times in between. I feel like My Job Went To India has given me a leg up by focusing the topic of managing a programmer's career into fun-to-read, easily digestible chunks that are all highly actionable.

Chad Fowler has written a gem of a book that is full of wisdom, and is deeply insightful in a way that only someone with Chad's experience (of working with a fortune 5 company in the U.S. and in India) could have. Written with compassion and empathy for it's intended audience, the book conveys a very important message -- that it's not about Americans beating Indians out of jobs or Indians beating Americans. It's about building things of value and making software developers better. I believe this book is going to be of as much value to the leaders of organizations that hire software developers across the globe as it will be to the employees of those organizations and will provide benefits to readers in unexpected ways. It provides a blueprint for continuous learning and self- improvement as well as a way to motivate oneself to always aspire to reach higher and achieve more and enjoy the journey along the way! This is a must-read book that has already found a permanent place on my bookshelf as it will in the bookshelves of all the others whom I plan to gift copies to. I HIGHLY recommend it.