In what may prove bad news for American software developers, a recent survey from the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) finds that 57 percent of software companies have offshoring operations and have increased staff at these operations during the last 18 months. Of the companies polled with overseas operations, 84 percent cited "growth" as the motivating factor, with increasing both productivity and speed to market close behind. As you might expect, India was the most popular market for offshore operations, followed by Eastern Europe/Russia and China. Despite the fact that skilled IT workers are in higher demand, low-level software developers may soon find themselves competing for a job with cheaper workers abroad.

For more on the offshoring trend:
- see this CNET article