Specialise or Generalise

[vetran]

Interesting point, even though I know you were just trolling, is it racist / fattist / genderist to have a preference as to what you find attractive?

Should I be concerned that I could be considered homophobic because I prefer 'quality time' with a male rather than female?

Definitely - get HWMBO to dress in a skirt and take hormones immediately! Buy comfortable shoes and enjoy them.


Luckily I'm a bloke and what my lower brain thinks is attractive is fairly varied and most definitely NOT restricted on racial lines.

I always say the sexiest thing a woman (sorry blokes just don't get me going) can bring to bed is enthusiasm! (whipped cream is a close second!)

Far too many accusations out there. If you think we all should fit in a particular box you probably aren't worth knowing.

[_V_]

I've specialised in blue eyed blondes

That's not inclusive. I bet you also discriminate prospective partners by gender also.

[Lance]

If you're new, and have the time to plan/train for the future, then pick something that is harder to offshore / be picked up by cheap consultancy body shops.

Anything except coding then?

[ladymuck]

The only job that can't be offshored is anything in the personal care sector.

[vetran]

The only job that can't be offshored is anything in the personal care sector.

Amusingly enough the client I had who onshored with lots of nice chaps from India seems to have brought it back. I was looking at some tehnical information and I came across a chap doing that job in the late noughties years after they brought in overseas "experts". Apparently the client was upset with a 3 day outage that we would have fixed in 20 minutes (according to my sources).

Anything can be offshored and more likely onshored then offshored. The big problem is doing it well, communication is the issue. So get into something that needs communication.

Personal care is already seeing the onslaught of robots and AI. Soon most of the below minimum wage jobs will go.

Hospitality did you see the robots delivering to Covid isolation visitors? Yo Sushi is effective with their conveyor belt. Building will go with printed walls and prefabs. etc.

We need retraining as this is coming inside a decade. you think the miners were screwed/

[ladymuck]

I did consider afterwards about delivery drivers and supermarket workers (front and back of house) but all that could be done by robots if not already.

Skeleton (probably literally with the low wages) staff needed to deal with "unexpected item in loading bay" is about it.

Robots and AI (both initially coded by offshore devs before they become self-replicating) will doom us all.

[Whorty]

Anything except coding then?

Yup.

[Whorty]

The only job that can't be offshored is anything in the personal care sector.

Not true, there are shed loads of jobs that can't be offshored ... or at least, it's very very very difficult. Mrs W for example was a UK pensions expert, registered with the FCA etc. You would need to pass buckets of UK professional exams that take years, do CPD each year and get UK PI insurance to give advice ... not something that is easily (if ever) offshored.

I'm a CIMA quailfied accountant. You can do these exams abroad, but again highly unlikely that my role can be offshored. Not least as accountants are by their nature risk averse and want to see the whites of your eyes before they hire you.

These are just 2 examples. I'm sure others will have many more (Vet is another one that springs to mind, as does hairdresser).

Programmer though ... you're buggered

[vetran]

Not true, there are shed loads of jobs that can't be offshored ... or at least, it's very very very difficult. Mrs W for example was a UK pensions expert, registered with the FCA etc. You would need to pass buckets of UK professional exams that take years, do CPD each year and get UK PI insurance to give advice ... not something that is easily (if ever) offshored.

I'm a CIMA quailfied accountant. You can do these exams abroad, but again highly unlikely that my role can be offshored. Not least as accountants are by their nature risk averse and want to see the whites of your eyes before they hire you.

These are just 2 examples. I'm sure others will have many more (Vet is another one that springs to mind, as does hairdresser).

Programmer though ... you're buggered

Funny really I had this discussion about accountants with Roger Rabbit about a decade ago. I predicted centralisation, cherry picking and offshoring using automation.

Lets see

Concur and similar are processed frequently in India.

SAP, SAGE, Xero can also and frequently are run remotely. There is frequently no technical barrier.

Many international countries do the processing offshore in India, the strategic decisions are frequently made in MDCs because that is where the experience is but our overseas competitors are watching & Learning.

Having seen what a mess some auditors have made on some large firms its difficult to see how offshore resources could do a worse job, many Indians have a good sense about corruption & naughty behaviour and would call it out if properly supported.

But even on the remote chance all the accountant jobs stay in the UK, if everyone else is out of work its going to be very unpleasant to live here.

Again pensions if no one has one what are the advisors going to do?

The thing about technology is it changes things we need to be ready.

Agree Vet & Hairdressers are fairly safe if anyone can afford their services.

[Whorty]

Funny really I had this discussion about accountants with Roger Rabbit about a decade ago. I predicted centralisation, cherry picking and offshoring using automation.

Lets see

Concur and similar are processed frequently in India.

SAP, SAGE, Xero can also and frequently are run remotely. There is frequently no technical barrier.

Many international countries do the processing offshore in India, the strategic decisions are frequently made in MDCs because that is where the experience is but our overseas competitors are watching & Learning.

Having seen what a mess some auditors have made on some large firms its difficult to see how offshore resources could do a worse job, many Indians have a good sense about corruption & naughty behaviour and would call it out if properly supported.

But even on the remote chance all the accountant jobs stay in the UK, if everyone else is out of work its going to be very unpleasant to live here.

Again pensions if no one has one what are the advisors going to do?

The thing about technology is it changes things we need to be ready.

Agree Vet & Hairdressers are fairly safe if anyone can afford their services.

Re Sage etc, you're talking about the technology, not the people that use the technology. Most of this tech now is going cloud, but the people who do the numbers are in the UK.

Re Concur, the roles that are offshored are the low level data processing ones. These roles are not performed by qualified accountants based in the UK. Actually, with most of the solutions I implement they're not performed by any human anymore as we can automate so much more thus removing the 'low value' roles.

But, what you're talking about are the internal business roles, not the role that I do. I advise the finance teams. I run design workshops. I design and build the finance systems and processes. I consult and advise on best practices.

You're falling into the typical IT trap of thinking technology is all that matters. This is why I'm engaged by companies, to bridge the gap between techies who don't understand the business, and the business who don't understand technology.

HTH If you need me to go over this in more detail I'll send you my day rate so you can raise a PO for my advice.

But even on the remote chance all the accountant jobs stay in the UK, if everyone else is out of work its going to be very unpleasant to live here.

With the sunny uplands of post Brexit Britain, why would everyone in the UK be out of work?