It might seem as if IT pros, as a general rule, are anti-outsourcing, but that’s not necessarily the case. The outsourcing wave has made it possible for a number of information technologists—including mainframe and minicomputer programming veterans—to embark on a very different career path: as outsourcing services providers. Outsourcing isn’t for everyone, and—as some displaced IT pros admit—it probably wouldn’t have been their first career choice, but there are advantages.

Some IT pros fell into outsourcing as a result of layoffs, early retirement offers, down-sizing initiatives—or (ironically) outsourcing-related job cuts on the part of one-time employers. Others came to outsourcing for an entirely different reason: to vet their own projects, be their own bosses, and (to some degree) to work their own hours.

Michael Mattias is a principal with Tal Systems Inc., a Racine, WI-based development house that specializes in data management applications for manufacturing, distribution, and health care verticals. Mattias—who is involved with COBOL-based EDI work for his clients—came to outsourcing after burning out as an executive in the distribution and services industries.

Mattias says he doesn’t do “outsourcing??? in the disruptive sense. His clients aren’t necessarily cutting jobs and farming out work elsewhere. Instead, he explains, a lot of the work he does is what companies almost certainly wouldn’t—or couldn’t—do on an in-house basis. “I only average two to four days per calendar quarter per client, [so] it’s really not ‘outsourcing’ in my opinion because there is no way the client could justify putting my particular skill set on the full-time—or even part-time—payroll,??? he observes. Nevertheless, Mattias is bullish about outsourcing as a force of history. “I am an unrepentant, unashamed … global capitalist. If outsourcing provides better value, do it!??? Or—as he puts it in another context—“Your competition is global. Deal with it.???

Not a Top Career Choice

Richard Tomkins, an Ottawa-based outsourcing contractor, has a somewhat less sanguine take on outsourcing as a phenomenon. Tomkins—a 15 year veteran of the former Digital Equipment Corp.—lost his job five years ago, in part because of Digital’s merger (in early 1998) with the former Compaq Computer Corp.

“Since 2001 (the big Technology bust), I have been doing some consulting and contracting in various things, in stiff competition with all the other highly qualified people here in Ottawa,??? he explains.

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