Date:         Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:09:38 -0800
Reply-To:     "Kenneth M. Lin" <kenneth_m_lin@sbcglobal.net>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "Kenneth M. Lin" <kenneth_m_lin@SBCGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: SAS Programming Opportunites and the Normal Distribution
Comments: To: sas-l@uga.edu
In-Reply-To:  <fe3cafcb-d625-40d1-816d-496943c69859@2g2000prl.googlegroups.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=original

Your argument clearly indicate that you do not understand statistics.  To
compare two normal distributions, you need to obtain their means and
variances.  Yes, India and China have a lot more people than U.S.  However,
what are of percentage of population that goes (or can afford to) to
college?  How many SAS developers are there in India?  I have worked with
Indian developers and in some cases we couldn't communicate at all because
their English was so poor.  Sure, their hourly rates are low but I spent so
much time explaining simple tasks that at the end we didn't save any money
and the project didn't finish on time.

"xlr82sas" <xlr82sas@aol.com> wrote in message
news:fe3cafcb-d625-40d1-816d-496943c69859@2g2000prl.googlegroups.com...
> Hi SAS_lers,
>
> Recently I have had to write letters of references for several
> unemployed US SAS programmers.
> These are programmers I have worked with in the past.
>
> One was hired for a 2 month gig with a bunch of other programmers with
> the object to
> keep the best programmers and fire the 'least productive'.
> There is nothing wrong with this persons SAS programming skills.
>
> He did  not make the cut.
>
> Recently I wrote another reference for him for a computer science
> master degree program.
>
> When I look at his competition, I think about the normal distribution.
> India has over
> 1 billion people and China has over 1.2 billion, I think there are
> over 150,000 Indians and
> Chinese studing Engineering and computer science in US universities
> and many more in their
> respective countries. The normal distribution dictates that their are
> a lot more gifted Indian
> and Chinese SAS programmers than US SAS programmers. I have been a
> member of a falling minority
> of US programmers. I work with Chinese and Indian contractors day in
> and day out and the
> top Chinese and Indian SAS programmers are
> considerably better than the best US programmers. Again you cannot
> fight the normal distribution
> just like you cannot stop the sunrise. This is not to degrade US SAS
> programmers, it is a fact
> of life.
>
> and Chinese SAS programmers than US SAS programmers. I have been a
> member of a falling minority