BT attacked over UK IT skills claims

[Scarlett]

Just spotted this little article on ZD net

BT outsourcing

A UK Biz outsourcing just to save money! Heaven forbid !

I mean what is the world going to come to if companies just outsourced based on the cost rather than anyones ability to do the job ?

with BT, it's problems are management cockups going back YEARS with old men in charge, minds stuck in the mud, unable to grasp the notion, let alone the reality, of modern technology.
This was evident in it's sale of BT Cellnet, even then it's share of landline calls was falling fast, overseas deals which they were forced to withdraw from, all attributed to the mess they are in now.
Bad as everyone believes it is, I'm sticking with NTL for my 3-in-1 package.

[SMHarman]

According to the article BT have been offshoring since 1995, so here they are a decade later moaning that they have not recruited and trained anyone up through their ranks in the UK for the last 10 years so they don't have any late 20's early 30's developers workign for them with the right skills. Wonder why?

[patrickp]

Originally Posted by atlantis

with BT, it's problems are management cockups going back YEARS with old men in charge, minds stuck in the mud, unable to grasp the notion, let alone the reality, of modern technology.
This was evident in it's sale of BT Cellnet, even then it's share of landline calls was falling fast, overseas deals which they were forced to withdraw from, all attributed to the mess they are in now.
Bad as everyone believes it is, I'm sticking with NTL for my 3-in-1 package.

At least other companies are more honest about it when they outsource like this.

Only BT would think anyone would believe they're outsourcing for reasons of skills availability...

[Escapee]

I wouldn't agree and take BT's side for one moment on this issue.

However, trying to recruit good people as technicians, test engineers and development engineers for hardware is a very difficult task in this country.
My present company is conducting around six interviews a week for test technicians/engineers, the candidates are pretty dire. I have not been involved in the latest interviews, but apparently the only guy any good last week was 63 years old.

Nothing against his age, but its not a long term fix for a company going places. They have started an apprentice scheme, and taken on a few promising young technicians, but its something the company has only been able to do since expanding.

The situation does not look good for companies on the up, but does for good engineers seeking work.

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by Escapee

Nothing against his age, but its not a long term fix for a company going places. They have started an apprentice scheme, and taken on a few promising young technicians, but its something the company has only been able to do since expanding.

But BT certainly have the size to run such apprentice schemes.

Originally Posted by SMHarman

But BT certainly have the size to run such apprentice schemes.

not on the KPI list, though, doesn't count, not worth investing in a future we could be spending millions to shape, when we can increase sales, by advertising, now

[patrickp]

Originally Posted by Escapee

I wouldn't agree and take BT's side for one moment on this issue.

However, trying to recruit good people as technicians, test engineers and development engineers for hardware is a very difficult task in this country.
My present company is conducting around six interviews a week for test technicians/engineers, the candidates are pretty dire. I have not been involved in the latest interviews, but apparently the only guy any good last week was 63 years old.

Nothing against his age, but its not a long term fix for a company going places. They have started an apprentice scheme, and taken on a few promising young technicians, but its something the company has only been able to do since expanding.

The situation does not look good for companies on the up, but does for good engineers seeking work.

However, a) the situation probably isn't any better in the places that companies like BT outsource to and b) the experience of people who encounter the results of such outsourcing tends to support this - the outsourcees are no better than comparable insourcees (boy, am I coining 'em tonight!) and are often worse.