As I hear more and more news about the offshore software movement taking hold, I do find myself being concerned about those here in the States. Employment is still pretty shakey and not only that, who really wants to loose their job to someone they will likely never even be able to meet anyway?

Offshore software development, already considered the bane of U.S.-based programmers, is growing stronger, according to officials at Sun Microsystems (Profile, Products, Articles) and IBM (Profile, Products, Articles) who spoke at the Evans Data Developer Relations Conference in San Jose, Calif., this week.

While growth in the United States is somewhat flat, programming is taking off in areas around the globe ranging from India and China to Mexico, Spain, Brazil, and Vietnam, said Matt Thompson, director of the Technology Outreach & Open Source Programs Office at Sun. Other areas of importance include the Philippines, Malaysia, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia.

“I’ve spent the last 16 quarters every quarter going to India. I’ve been in China six times,” Thompson said.

“India and China are our two biggest investments,” he added.

The cost savings gained by moving development outside the United States has been well-documented of late. But Thompson noted that costs now are rising rapidly in India.

Thompson stressed the quality of programming overseas. “The stuff they’re putting out is really good,” he said.