Editing Software maintenance (section)

==Workforce==
Maintenance is often considered an unrewarding job for [[software engineer]]s, who, if assigned to maintenance, were more likely to quit.{{sfn|Madhusudhan ''et al.''|2017|p=764}}{{sfn |Reifer |2012|p=7}} It often pays less than a comparable job in software development.{{sfn |Reifer |2012|p=7}} The task is often assigned to temporary workers or lesser-skilled staff,<ref name=Offutt/>{{sfn |Reifer |2012|p=8}} although maintenance engineers are also typically older than developers, partly because they must be familiar with outdated technologies.{{sfn |Reifer |2012|p=8}} In 2008, around 900,000 of the 1.3 million software engineers and programmers working in the United States were doing maintenance.{{sfn |Reifer|2012|p=1}}

Companies started separate teams for maintenance, which led to [[outsourcing]] this work to a different company, and by the turn of the twenty-first century, sometimes [[offshoring]] the work to another country—whether as part of the original company or a separate entity.{{sfn|Rahman ''et al.''|2024|p=1}}{{sfn|Ulziit ''et al.''|2015|p=764}} The typical sources of outsourcing are developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Australia, while destinations are usually lower-cost countries such as China, India, Russia, and Ireland.{{sfn|Rahman ''et al.''|2021|loc=Research Background}} Reasons for offshoring include taking advantage of lower labor costs, enabling around-the-clock support, reducing time pressure on developers, and to move support closer to the market for the product.{{sfn|Ulziit ''et al.''|2015|p=763}} Downsides of offshoring include communication barriers in the form of such factors as [[time zone]] and organizational disjunction and cultural differences.{{sfn|Ulziit ''et al.''|2015|p=764}}  Despite many employers considering maintenance lower-skilled work and the phase of software development most suited to offshoring,{{sfn|Ulziit ''et al.''|2015|p=764}}{{sfn |Reifer |2012|p=2}} it requires close communication with the customer and rapid response, both of which are hampered by these communication difficulties.{{sfn|Ulziit ''et al.''|2015|p=764}}