The number of overseas workers in the UK is driving local talent out. Below is an account from a UK IT professional about why he decided to leave these shores for pastures new.

The post below was in reaction to a blog about the possibility of the UK government offshoring lots of public sector IT jobs. This is a warning to IT professionals and UK plc.

By BobF

“I just got fed up with it all, after 18 years contracting (continuously) I have now taken a permanent job in the Netherlands, this after 6 months out of work and another 6 months working for very low money in the UK (sent out 1,400 CV’s in the 6 months I was out of work; I usually do apps support work for SQL, Java & .NET on UNIX/Linux/Windows web apps so hardly due to an obsolete skill set).

Things have definitely changed for the worse in the last 4-5 years as the Intra Company Transfer bandwagon has run out of control in the UK, most of the companies I’ve worked for have had literally hundreds of Indian Intra Company Transfers staff on board (including a few major Government projects), and I’ve been to some places where even the network infrastructure and PC/Server support staff are Indian Intra Company Transfers (rotated on a yearly or 6 monthly basis of course).

I quite often get calls from agents for jobs in the UK, and they say they can’t get experienced people with skills to which I usually laugh sarcastically, and it usually ends with them asking me about living costs and accommodation and if there is much demand for recruiters over here!

UK industry is making its own bed and will have to lie in it, when was the last time you saw anyone under 30 being brought in for a trainee role who wasn’t Indian Intra Company Transfer?

Since I have been working in Europe I have met many experienced UK IT workers who have moved for the same reason as me, everyone I have spoken too has said they are very unlikely to ever move back.”

Thanks for you contribution to the Inside Outsourcing BobF

Also see the numbers of non EU workers in the UK