Due to low birth rate, Japan abolishes social sciences, STEM for all.

[DGuller]

OK Martim.

Eh? 

Martim Silva famously has met and talked to most major players in the world.

I think he also got a handjob from an ambassador while speaking at UN, if I recall correctly.

[Hamilcar]

Certainly in HK the employers keep saying they don't find enough IT people.  I have personally seen a major government IT project fail because the contractor can't hire enough IT people with salaries that can keep the project within budget.  We had to kill the project and start over.  I seldom, if ever, hear any employer complaining about the lack of social science majors.  Not sure about Japan, of course, but my guess is they are in the same boat.

So the problem is really with the government not wanting to pay the IT people enough. There are enough IT graduates, you just don't want to pay them what they demand.

[The Brain]

Certainly in HK the employers keep saying they don't find enough IT people.  I have personally seen a major government IT project fail because the contractor can't hire enough IT people with salaries that can keep the project within budget.  We had to kill the project and start over.  I seldom, if ever, hear any employer complaining about the lack of social science majors.  Not sure about Japan, of course, but my guess is they are in the same boat.

So the problem is really with the government not wanting to pay the IT people enough. There are enough IT graduates, you just don't want to pay them what they demand.

[Hamilcar]

Crazy idea, right?

[celedhring]

Also, Japan have a dire demographic problem. It's not lack of STEM graduates, it's lack of graduates. I'm not knowledgeable enough about their society and laws, but they need immigrants.

[Martinus]

Also, Japan have a dire demographic problem. It's not lack of STEM graduates, it's lack of graduates. I'm not knowledgeable enough about their society and laws, but they need immigrants.

From what I heard, many people do not want to migrate there due to Japanese people's horrible racism.

[Monoriu]

Certainly in HK the employers keep saying they don't find enough IT people.  I have personally seen a major government IT project fail because the contractor can't hire enough IT people with salaries that can keep the project within budget.  We had to kill the project and start over.  I seldom, if ever, hear any employer complaining about the lack of social science majors.  Not sure about Japan, of course, but my guess is they are in the same boat.

So the problem is really with the government not wanting to pay the IT people enough. There are enough IT graduates, you just don't want to pay them what they demand.

I see it as a sign that we need more STEM graduates.  The problem is we don't have enough of them.  Government contract - lowest bidder wins.  If the lowest bidder wants to pay us $x, we'll pay $x, no more.  We don't determine how the contractor pays the IT people.

[Hamilcar]

I see it as a sign that we need more STEM graduates.  The problem is we don't have enough of them.  Government contract - lowest bidder wins.  If the lowest bidder wants to pay us $x, we'll pay $x, no more.  We don't determine how the contractor pays the IT people.

So your solution is for the government to pay a shit ton of money to produce more IT graduates so it can save 10% off the budget for the next project? That's some stellar long term policy there.

There's an appropriate American saying: you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

[Valmy]

From what I heard, many people do not want to migrate there due to Japanese people's horrible racism.

How bad are the Japanese exactly?

It is more likely since Japan is an island they can control it better. Like Australia and New Zealand do.

[Martinus]

I used to wonder how do government bureaucracies often end up acting in a such inefficient and moronic manner they do - why doesn't noone challenge that at one point or another. Now, it seems based on what Mono is saying, not only they realise that, they consider it a good idea. 

[DGuller]

Well, both of you could be right.  You have to pay the market rate to get the people.  But the market rate may reflect the fact that there aren't enough people.  The fact that the going rate is very high for IT people may indicate that there are a lot of projects requiring IT that are not getting done due to not being able to compete with other projects for resources.

[Monoriu]

I see it as a sign that we need more STEM graduates.  The problem is we don't have enough of them.  Government contract - lowest bidder wins.  If the lowest bidder wants to pay us $x, we'll pay $x, no more.  We don't determine how the contractor pays the IT people.

So your solution is for the government to pay a shit ton of money to produce more IT graduates so it can save 10% off the budget for the next project? That's some stellar long term policy there.

There's an appropriate American saying: you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

I doubt an IT professor costs more than a humanities professor.  The solution is to fire the humanities professor, and use the same amount of money to hire an IT professor to train programmers.  Same cost, better ouput. 

[Martinus]

From what I heard, many people do not want to migrate there due to Japanese people's horrible racism.

How bad are the Japanese exactly?

It is more likely since Japan is an island they can control it better. Like Australia and New Zealand do.

Not sure to be honest - it's just that I met a bunch of people each separately telling me about the rampant and explicit racism in Japan. I understand it is pretty anecdotal though.

[Monoriu]

I used to wonder how do government bureaucracies often end up acting in a such inefficient and moronic manner they do - why doesn't noone challenge that at one point or another. Now, it seems based on what Mono is saying, not only they realise that, they consider it a good idea. 

It is about priorities.  Private companies prioritise the bottom line.  Governments prioritise not getting accused of accepting bribes.  The priority is to set an objective standard and follow it, so that no civil servant can be accused of corruption.  That's why the lowest bidder wins rule.  Whether the contractor can actually carry out the contract takes second place. 

[Martinus]

Yes, as I said, this is horribly inefficient and wasteful. Only idiots pick the cheapest offer in a tender.