Ask HN: Tariffs' Effect on Software Export and Consulting
With the February 1, 2025 tariffs coming, how will they affect software exports and coding consultancy work?
* Poor people stay poor
* Middle class complains but is largely unaffected minus not being able to buy a new iphone every year
* Upper class doesn't give a fuck.
There won't even be a government in 4 weeks
Just Elon and his "hand gestures"
My guess is that POTUS, who fancies himself a master negotiator, will try to leverage this to get some concession to declare victory and grift some money - the markets are going to crash and I’m sure the whole Trump, Elon, and the billionaire family and their orbit has pits and short sales in for next week.
The question is what will other countries do? Targeting software is an obvious way to inflict pain on the US government.
You and I are pawns. For you, the smart move is to be prepared to slash your costs quickly. That means figure out what costs you can slash. Have an idea of who to lay off, what contracts to terminate, and what services to drop. If you depend on foreign partners, how do you afford a higher rate or replace them with someone in your jurisdiction? The goal is survive to fight another day if you depend on foreign trade or on US business of you are outside the US.
All of this sucks and will hurt a lot of people. But it’s outside of your control, accept that and don’t blame yourself.
I spent a year paying off debt after working for BigTech remotely (no longer there), moved to a condo 1/3 the size of our house in tax free Florida after our youngest graduated.
Our budget now as far as fixed expenses is only 3.5% more now than it was after we first paid off all of our debt at the end of 2020 even though inflation is up 21% since that time.
We save more than 3.5% in state taxes.