Liaison jobs are jobs that "link" two or more specialties. For example, "systems analyst" jobs work with customers and management to understand and document their automation needs and then transfer such information to computer programmers, who turn the collected information into working software. Thus the liaison worker coordinates customer and management needs into terms the technicians can relate to. Liaison workers usually need to understand both professions or "sides" to some degree. One could call them a "go-between".

Controversy

Free trade

Free trade

Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...

 and the Internet have allegedly made such jobs more common, but perhaps at the expense of direct technology jobs due to offshore outsourcing

Offshore outsourcing

Offshore outsourcing is the practice of hiring an external organization to perform some business functions in a country other than the one where the products or services are actually developed or manufactured. It can be contrasted with offshoring, in which the functions are performed in a foreign...

. It is disputed whether technology-only workers can make an effective transition to liaison positions to replace off shored technical positions, or if companies prefer those with "natural" social and diplomatic abilities over converted technicians. In other words, it may be that companies would rather have candidates with mediocre technical skills and advanced social skills instead of those with advanced technical skills and mediocre social skills.