Some interesting comments in the last day or so. From where I sit, I do not particularly fear off-shored software. It is indeed true that you can hire three or four developers abroad for the price of one locally, but the downsides are also huge. You lose control of your software. You lose internal knowledge about it and you create a management nightmare for those in the UK who have to deliver the product. It is also harder to keep on top of quality. Sure, there will always be companies out to make a quick profit, but similarly, customer's expectations of technology is rising and in a world of more competition, standing out from the crowd on price is not necessarily the way to win business. Customers are also looking for quality and excellence of service which by and large is difficult to deliver from afar.
Graduates will no doubt talk of the difficulty of getting jobs after gradation. This isn't necessarily due to a lack of jobs, but from an employers point of view, there is a lack of good candidates. Simply having a degree doesn't really cut the mustard any more. We are looking for bright enthusiastic types that have more strings to their bow than simply having turned up to lectures.
Similarly, the jobs market appears to be skewed towards the large corporates with their fancy assessment days and recruitment budgets. And yet, ironically, these are the companies most likely to recruit offshore. I know Lloyds for example have a massive offshore presence. Yet in the small and medium business world where distinction in the market is often made on quality, we really struggle to recruit at any level.
Swings and roundabouts I know, but there isn't a government conspiracy. We are where we are. The future is bright for software. In Manchester where I live, I have seen a boom in jobs over the last 5 years with small startups popping up all over the place. But we are not looking for any old computer grad. We are pretty picky so if you want a job, you need to stand out from the crowd.