Dear Bob… Given the threat of offshore outsourcing discussed in your recent columns, what are the ways for a software engineer to stay employable in the US job market? If I focus on and possess expert knowledge in a couple of business domains (e.g., HR and Network Design), in addition to generic C++ skills, would that help? Do you think experience managing offshore projects will be helpful, too? - Searching Dir Dear Bob…Given the threat of offshore outsourcing discussed in your recent columns, what are the ways for a software engineer to stay employable in the US job market? If I focus on and possess expert knowledge in a couple of business domains (e.g., HR and Network Design), in addition to generic C++ skills, would that help? Do you think experience managing offshore projects will be helpful, too?– Searching Direction Dear Searching …Yes, yes, and yes. The worst route to success will be to focus on coding skills. The best will be to focus on jobs where proximity matters and the goal is to help bring about whole business changes as opposed to just delivering working software.Becoming proficient at leading offshore projects will be the icing on the cake, as it were, because that also gives you the flexibility to work for an offshore provider. If you aren’t already aware of it, the successful offshoring companies aren’t really offshoring companies anymore. They’re global service providers, supplying on-site project managers and analysts along with low-cost offshore coding and testing teams. One of their goals is for their on-site staff to be a good fit with their clients both culturally and linguistically. The only nit I have to pick with you is that I don’t consider network design to be a business domain. If you have the luxury of choice, focus on business domains in terms of both industry and discipline. Choose industries based on their long-term potential for growth and their interest to you. To pick two examples, healthcare has long-term growth potential; so does financial services.Business disciplines tend to be a bit more faddish, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make intelligent choices. Supply chain optimization clearly has legs, since it has such a strong potential impact on bottom-line cost. Customer relationship management ought to be a long-term player, but the term has been abused so much that the reality is just a guess. And so on.And by the way … congratulations. You’re thinking about your career intelligently, as an exercise in business strategy. Far too many IT professionals start and finish with “here’s what I like doing.” – Bob ——– Technology Industry