Prevalence of offshoring in the Information Security Industry?

Question

After having been a regular code monkey in the US for 6 years now with readily offshoreable skills, I feel like I am fighting an uphill battle against third world wages. While I am not prepared for a drastic career change that will be completely incompatible with my Computer Science background, I was wondering if investing money and resources in getting a degree in Information Security would be worthwhile to get a job that can't easily be offshored.

I would welcome insights from the industry insiders on the level of offshoring that they have witnessed in this industry (in the US) and the barriers-to-entry for someone with an undergrad in Computer Science.

the offshoring-wave is heavily rolling back atm where we do business, at least for those who are emphasizing quality over quantity. i'd suggest your specialize in some areas. btw., (web) sec gets crowdsources nowadays, the same in green. — that guy from over there, Jul 03 '14 at 22:28
Thanks for the suggestion! I do not quite understand what the last part of your comment meant though "same in green"... — Dagney Taggart, Jul 03 '14 at 22:31

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 04 '14 at 09:09

I am interning at a security company in Switzerland as a penetration tester. Funny thing, I had this exact discussion with my boss (who is in the field for 20 years now). Basically, you can't compete with the coding monkeys in Russia and India, they pump out code as much as you breath. That being said, it is believed that outsourcing security related jobs will not take place any time soon. For the sole reason that jobs in security are based on trust. And trust, you can't outsource.

Prevalence of offshoring in the Information Security Industry?

1 Answers1