Where will the money go? /u/SirArtistic1123 CSCQ protests reddit

This is an entirely rhetorical question – it’ll go to the CEOs and executive suite and such, but I really hope this thread prompts some interesting conversation.

A quick thought experiment: according to the BLS, they’re 1,897,100 software developers making a median of $130,160 per year. The product of that is $246,926,536,000 or around $247B. So let’s say cumulatively SWE’s across the country are taking home 247B a year (very simplified I know!)

If we continue the experiment, say we outsource half those jobs over the next 10 years and the median wage stays the same. In 2034, SWEs will be earning around 124.5B. Now of course, management and C-suite will be making more money in this case, since they are spending less money on devs.

But 124.5B coming out of the economy nevertheless, is a significant amount, and led me to ask the question “Where will the money go?” because much of that 124.5B lost through outsourcing would circulate throughout the economy via rent, mortgage, loans, groceries, travel, entertainment, etc. What would be the long term effects of that be? The purchasing power suddenly becomes a lot lower in states where tech roles are abundant like California, Texas, New York, etc

Am I thinking of things to simplistically? It just seems like as outsourcing continues, AI continuing to improve and increasing productivity of SWE’s (say 1 SWE can do the work of 2) thereby lessening the need of several devs on the team, we become closer and closer to eliminating a huge portion of a high paying positions held by nearly 2 million people.

I suppose its a microeconomic dilemma, and honestly I’m an idiot for thinking this way and overlooking a shitload of nuance, but curious to know what folks think?

This is an entirely rhetorical question – it’ll go to the CEOs and executive suite and such, but I really hope this thread prompts some interesting conversation.

A quick thought experiment: according to the BLS, they’re 1,897,100 software developers making a median of $130,160 per year. The product of that is $246,926,536,000 or around $247B. So let’s say cumulatively SWE’s across the country are taking home 247B a year (very simplified I know!)

If we continue the experiment, say we outsource half those jobs over the next 10 years and the median wage stays the same. In 2034, SWEs will be earning around 124.5B. Now of course, management and C-suite will be making more money in this case, since they are spending less money on devs.

But 124.5B coming out of the economy nevertheless, is a significant amount, and led me to ask the question “Where will the money go?” because much of that 124.5B lost through outsourcing would circulate throughout the economy via rent, mortgage, loans, groceries, travel, entertainment, etc. What would be the long term effects of that be? The purchasing power suddenly becomes a lot lower in states where tech roles are abundant like California, Texas, New York, etc

Am I thinking of things to simplistically? It just seems like as outsourcing continues, AI continuing to improve and increasing productivity of SWE’s (say 1 SWE can do the work of 2) thereby lessening the need of several devs on the team, we become closer and closer to eliminating a huge portion of a high paying positions held by nearly 2 million people.

I suppose its a microeconomic dilemma, and honestly I’m an idiot for thinking this way and overlooking a shitload of nuance, but curious to know what folks think?