Making computer professionals and other engineers: low-priced commodities

Many employers are adapting the "just-in-time" concept to computer professionals. The idea is to "rent," at a minimal price, people with the specific skills needed for a project, and then to dispense with them upon completion of their tasks. Technical professionals are pitted against one another in a race to the bottom as jobs are parceled out, on a global basis, to the low bidders. One aspect is the replacement of in-house technical staffs with temporary, or "contract" workers. A few receive the more exalted title of "consultant." For most engineers, the prospect of spending their careers as temporary workers is very unpleasant.