I hear all the time about how America is losing its
manufacturing base.
I make stuff all day long - am I counted in America's
manufacturing base?
There are lots of people like me who make stuff all day
long, I know lots of people come to America from lots of
places to make stuff like I do and there are lots of
people who would like to come here to do what I do.
The stuff I make is new - people only started making this
stuff in the last 50-75 years or so.
So can you guess what I make?
I'll give you a big clue - lots of people
get paid to make stuff like this but lots of people
also believe we should give this stuff that we make
away for free.
any clue?
Because this is one type of thing we make in America that
as far as I know - we make more of every year.
Its code.
software.
programs.
its what makes our modern economy run.
Why is making code considered a 'service sector job'?
To me a service sector job is when you are paid to
provide a service and once you provide it, the value is gone.
So, like if I am paid to hold the door open for you, that's a
service. Perhaps somebody values that service enough to pay
me to do it - but once I've done it - there's nothing left.
If I write a program [say excel, or netscape], once I've done it,
it is still there. So just because the cost of manufacturing this is
so much cheaper than normal stuff, does that make it a service?
[for example, it may cost 1 million dollars to build a shoe factory and
two dollars per shoe to make shoes - but it might only cost 250,000 dollars
to write a web browser and then every copy costs exactly zero dollars to make.]
This is the new economy I'm thinking of - and this is the direction that
manufacturing in this country is going.
But since people don't consider software 'manufacture' real manufacturing -
we are losing this manufacturing base also...
so, that's my take on 'making things up'...