For an upcoming story on the role of automation in software development, I started with the premise that automation, like outsourcing, would reduce the stateside opportunities for programmers. Bad idea.

Thomas Claburn, Editor at Large, Enterprise Mobility

November 17, 2004

1 Min Read

For an upcoming story on the role of automation in software development, I started with the premise that automation, like outsourcing, would reduce the stateside opportunities for programmers. Bad idea.Every expert I spoke with disagreed with that premise.

Prashant Sridharan, senior product manager for enterprise tools in the developer division at Microsoft, put it this way: "I don't think automation is a threat to jobs. I think that would be a very far-reaching statement. When we added a WinForms designer, it didn't actually kill people's jobs. It made their skills go a little bit higher up the ladder. Whenever you add tools, you also add the need for people to use how to use those tools. "

I'll be interested to see whether innovation trumps labor arbitrage. I'm not entirely convinced.

For more about the role of automation in programming please see InformationWeek's Dec. 6 issue.

About the Author(s)

Thomas Claburn

Editor at Large, Enterprise Mobility

Thomas Claburn has been writing about business and technology since 1996, for publications such as New Architect, PC Computing, InformationWeek, Salon, Wired, and Ziff Davis Smart Business. Before that, he worked in film and television, having earned a not particularly useful master's degree in film production. He wrote the original treatment for 3DO's Killing Time, a short story that appeared in On Spec, and the screenplay for an independent film called The Hanged Man, which he would later direct. He's the author of a science fiction novel, Reflecting Fires, and a sadly neglected blog, Lot 49. His iPhone game, Blocfall, is available through the iTunes App Store. His wife is a talented jazz singer; he does not sing, which is for the best.

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