If you really want companies to just pay for "skills", then unfortunately that's going to mean a considerable drop in the average salary of a developer in the US and Europe. Globally the average salary of a skilled developer is not what folks are making in the valley.
It's like America's racial desegregation in the 1960s. Life of white workers did not become worse since colored workers joined the professional workforce.
I am in the US. Let it drop then, I will adapt by becoming a digital nomad. Maybe I will move to Mexico or Argentina for the better life there. You can buy much more life quality with half the funds.
I already know some Spanish, it's easy to pick up once I live there. If time zone doesn't matter I can also move to Southwestern China or Thailand.
Rise of wages in developing regions will also create much growth that I can invest into.
We cannot have real social democracy if there is still cheap labor on the planet to outsource to. Closing the pay gap will definitely brew global labor movement that will eventually make life better for everyone.
> I am in the US. Let it drop then, I will adapt by becoming a digital nomad. Maybe I will move to Mexico or Argentina for the better life there.
This is the high technology equivalent of what middle class America has been going through for the last couple decades. Imagine telling a machine operator in Ohio, "sure, we're going to lose all the manufacturing jobs to China. You just need to move there and you'll live like a king!" I suppose it sounds great if you're 26 years old and follow #vanlife on Instagram, but for most of us it's a little more complicated than that.
I know a retired American factory worker who did exactly what you said for his manufacturing career -- relocating to Philippines for introducing American machinery and management practices.
He was a line manager in his late 20s(like a mcdonalds store manager, the bottom level salaried position managing dozens of shift employees) before he went to Philippines. Moved with his wife and kids, and later his parents. His father fought WW2 in Philippines so there is some emotional link.
He ended up making millions(USD) from bonus, investments and sidejobs during 1980-1990s. He said it's impossible to make this much without first hand information of what actually happens in overseas manufacturing.
#vanlife? no, he lived in decent homes and apartments since day 1.
and this is just Philippines, to which China industrialized later but reached much higher levels. I am sure your factory worker relocating to China will have more and better opportunities than him.
