Click the picture to see the book’s web page.
Dave Thomas — not the founder of the Wendy’s burger chain, but author
of the highly- acclaimed book The Pragmatic Programmer — helps to put out a series of
useful programming books bearing the Pragmatic Programmer mark. One
such book coming out in August is titled My Job Went to India (and all
I Got was This Lousy Book). Here’s a bit of the book’s description from
its site:
HINT: It’s not “their” fault, it’s ours…
The American IT job market is slowly coming apart at the seams, and
it’s all our fault. Most of us have been stumbling around letting our
careers take us where they may, and now we’re surprised when our
companies are shipping our jobs overseas for a fraction of the
price. It’s time to take control of our careers, and in the process,
learn to stay both relevant and employed. This book will show you how
to take action to avoid becoming yet another casualty of offshoring.
There’s a little more detail about this book in my professional blog, The Farm.
Dave notes that some people have written to him claiming that the
book’s title is racist. Dave in turn has set up a forum in the form of
a wiki page where you can comment on the issue and even vote on what he
should do.
My own feeling is that the title is not racist, based on the old maxim “if it bends, it’s comedy. If it breaks, it isn’t.”
What do you think?
5 replies on “What Do You Think of This Book Title?”
How is this racist? Seriously, I don’t see it. Is there a slur here that I am not aware of? Am I that naive?
I believed that those who allege that the title is racist say that there is racism implied by the title, that it says “Those damned Indians who have no right to do so are taking our jobs”. It’s quite a stretch, which is why I don’t see any racism in this title either. I just see:
Lola thinks that this is a hot topic. However, she is not sure what else she can say that would be any different.
The fear may be that India will get a bad rep or negative association. Compare to the 70’s/80’s when manufacturing jobs in North America were lost to Japan etc., some folks held a grudge against the country.
My job went to India. India threw it back, and I caught it on the rebound. (Really.)