If you don't want to outsource your jobs to India how about to a ship floating in international waters 3 miles off the coast of Los Angeles, California? A company called
SeaCode plans to float a ship in international waters with 600 Indian Software Engineers on it. Why would they do this? Well to avoid taxes and limitations of legal immigration programs like H-1B visas would be my guess.
It still amazes me how far Americans will go to fuck other Americans out of work. This coming from a former executive mind you.
SourcingMag.com
Roger Green and David Cook seem like your run-of-the-mill high tech execs -- well dressed, well spoken, bright guys. That is, until they tell you their business plan. (I heard it at a party last night here at the Gartner conference, then did a quick interview with them.) And then you have to wonder, are these guys whacked?
Here’s their basic idea:
Take a used cruise ship, plant it in international waters three miles off the coast of El Segundo, near Los Angeles, people it with 600 of the brightest software engineers they can find around the world (both men and women), and run a 24-hour-a-day programming shop, thereby avoiding H-1B visa hassles while still exploiting offshore labor cost arbitrage and completing development projects in half the time they’d take onshore or offshore.
...
A year ago, they formed SeaCode, Inc. with Mr. Cook serving as CEO and Mr. Green as COO. They’ve signed on a marketing director and CTO and, even more importantly, found an investor. Start-up costs won’t be cheap. A broker right now is searching for just the right ship to buy -- somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 million.
Boston Globe
Still, it is hard to resist the analogy. Here we are, with thousands of American software engineers clamoring for more work, and these two guys have a plan to carry even more jobs offshore. Not to India this time, or to China. Just . . . offshore. They figure three miles out in the Pacific should be far enough.
... Of course the SeaCode concept isn't nearly as popular with Americans worried about the loss of jobs to foreign competitors.
"All it would do is be a further contribution to eroding the job opportunities for skilled American workers," griped Jack Martin, special projects director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.
Why send work to a ship at sea, when you can easily send it to Bangalore or Beijing? Because many companies are disappointed with their forays into overseas outsourcing.
"It seems perfect until you actually go and do it," said Green, who did his share during an 18-month stint with an Atlanta company that ran overseas help desk services.
Tipped by: SlashDot
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