I posted this on Yahoo's board as a reply to someone asking why CSC stock is so low.
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There are too many factors in a company this big to pin the rise or fall of the price of stock on any one thing. Normally, you wait these periods out and are just fine, but I can understand the concern.
IMHO, you would be brave to hang in there on this one. CSC's business model is extremely flawed, inflexible, and they are headed for a train reck. When CSC lands contracts they put as much at stake as the company that they enter into the contract with (Sears is only one example of a mess ...). But there is a bigger problem and it takes years to manifest itself. One problem of outsourcing people is that some are re-badged and some are not. This immediately sets up a hostile environment from the begining - on both sides. People who were friends or were able to work together become suspicious of each others motives, worried about their roles, and left to feel that one side got the raw deal. Management on either side doesn't want to hear about it, after all, they just concluded a lengthy and exhausting engagement and think with this new marriage they deserve a long honeymoon. The work place quickly becomes a hell hole, people hate IT and their work, hate their company, hate the people, and loyalty of any kind is out the window. The good ones leave because they don't have time for this as IT is too exciting and they enjoy the learning and making positive contributions. CSC back fills with cheap labor from Canada or India, but nothing gets done. They assume a business is a business, so what if someone with 25 years with the company and advanced IT skills leaves, after all, they are over paid. Business Units are still left with the bills, but no progress to show for it. This so-called transitional period can only last so long.
Remember, just because a company's name has Computer and Science in its name, doesn't mean they are experts in either. CSC is nothing more than a labor management company, one that manages to get the cheapest labor or labour possible. When I left I gave a two week notice and submitted a formal resignation letter, etc. It took them two pay periods to figure out I wasn't working with them anymore. About two months after this they called me to ask for their money back. I haven't heard from them since and given that it's been about 6 months, don't think I will.
For this and many other reason's I think this company is a risky one to invest in and it doesn't look like it's going to get better.
POST A COMMENTITRocks(07/01/2005)
I am working for a very nice American company, and the CEO has written articles against IT Outsourcing, both Infrastructure and Application Development. The director of IT for the company I worked for said that studies have shown that developers code 20-30% of the time, which is why he didn't see the cost savings or other benefits that Gartner etc. claim - i.e. IT is more than simply heads down coding and involves planning, architecting, and most importantly, communication.
lookyLu (06/26/2005)
Amen brother. I, too am an ex-CSC IT developer who got "traded" to them by a company I worked for. Got out as soon as I could. Their mentality on developers is pretty much "Hi. Here's a tank. Drive it. But you can only use the gas pedal. Forget about learning about the tank and don't worry about all those dials, the height of your seat or flashing lights. Oh and those innocent people in your path? Don't worry, they're only your business partners---just run them over. What...you don't think that's a good way to work? OK that's fine we'll replace you with someone in a foregin country for less money who will just do what we say"
me too (06/26/2005)
I left CSC after about 2 months. Thought I would at least give it a try. Well 2 months was enough to see they are running a circus there. After I left, 4 other developers left within 6 weeks. They lost all their top developers and didn't care. The replaced us with developers from India, and they have not gotten ONE project done since. In the 6 months since we all left, they cycled through 3 replacements for the replacements, and none are skilled in the areas we worked in. It is such a joy watching the ship sink from a nice job with a small American company that cares about their employees. The head of IT of the company that sold us out was even quoted as saying he may have made a mistake rebadging our team to CSC, since our skillset (very specialized) is not easy to replace. That was wonderful to hear as well. =)
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