Posted on 10/02/2012 7:20:23 AM PDT by knittnmom
I've been doing a lot of consulting, too.
There are plenty of people that refuse to retrain. I'm not going to defend them -- their fate is their own fault.
But, I refuse to believe that we have to bring in a bunch of people on H1B visas to fill the gap. There are plenty of people that will gladly retrain.
I've worked at places that are ENTIRELY staffed by people on H1B visas. I find it really hard to believe they couldn't find current US residents (citizens or otherwise) to do at least some of the work.
How about a boycott of Microsoft and their crappy products? Then they wouldn’t need any more workers.
Many of the kinds of guys they need are getting six-figure salaries in India. If you are in India and have a PhD in CS from a good school, you have it made.
Even the schlock Indian programmers who took the two-month Java course in the trade school next to the curry stand are making $25K these days.
Many of the kinds of guys they need are getting six-figure salaries in India. If you are in India and have a PhD in CS from a good school, you have it made.
Even the schlock Indian programmers who took the two-month Java course in the trade school next to the curry stand are making $25K these days.
The H-1B program is the biggest employment fraud ever perpetuated by corporations and it has decimated the IT industry.
It wasn’t that long ago we were telling Americans that manufacturing was dead, get a high tech degree and go to work in the new services economy.
Now with 8% unemployment businesses can’t find folks to do manufacturing or technology? I call BS.
And corporations wonder why young folks aren’t choosing IT careers...
I'm pragmatic about it. I use whatever is right for the task. A good software developer can figure out how to use any programming language and come up to speed quickly -- the real skill is integration of already functional parts anyway.
Where in the Constitution does it say Microsoft has to pay over the odds for employees?
I compete with Bangalore + Mumbai-based IT staff everyday. It’s not hard to adjust to a global market. All you have to do is to price your labor correctly.
One of the issues here is that Americans with IT skills created their own kingdoms within companies in the 1990s.
Those IT managers mostly resisted moving forward and resisted streamlining their operations as technology improved.
Therefore, many non-IT executives still have a bad taste in their mouths for American IT workers who constantly threatened management with disaster if they did not continue to comply with the IT manager wishes.
IT salaries shot up and many have resisted the normalization as more and more students saw the lucrative opportunity at many corporations.
Bottom line: there is blame on both sides.
True enough, and I have no problem letting as many skilled immigrants in - as free agents. I've always been an "open borders - no benefits" advocate, but the feudal serf terms of the H1B visa are unacceptable. Microsoft and other H1B advocates don't want a free market for talent - or anything else, for that matter.
I agree with you rbg81-
I do not understand Makana’s comment
I have been a software contractor for 25 years- I HAVE TO Learn the latest stuff and keep my skills up
In addition, since I know the OLD stuff I am in demand updating old C++ to new C#, and/or fixing old C++ no one else can do
I have also worked at places that were PREVIOUSLY staffed with H1B visa people from India
I had to re-write EVERYTHING
India is onto this and their best and brightest have long since been picked.
Now anyone can get a degree and get shipped overseas to USA and the managers in USA think they can actually code things
I apply the same argument every time I turn on a MLB game or other sport. You telling me that they cannot find good American boys to ball? Let Dominicans and others form their own league and compete.
They JUST LAID OFF about 2000 here in Puget Sound Region not two weeks ago. They moved a bunch of jobs to China at the same time, about 2800 or so.
They then announced they hired people to the tune of 800.
This is nothing but patent bull sh!t. This is what gives corporations bad reputations.
The problem is the bean counters in HR. They think that software developers are interchangeable.
If someone is willing to settle for indentured servitude at a slight discount off the market rate, that person is automatically preferred, even if they have no knowledge or experience relevant to the application.
On the other hand, the guy that is already familiar with the application (perhaps because he wrote the previous version) is considered over-priced.
I've seen development outsourced, only to find we had to throw it away and start over. The bean counters never figure that risk into their cost comparisons.
I saw an ad on dice.com last year for what appeared to be someone to test software that runs GPS receivers.
To do it right is a non-trivial task.
The ad was offering $33 per hour. Contract. In LA.
That’s not even new-grad pay.
They were clearly trying to build justification for an H1B visa, for a guy who would share a one-bedroom apartment with three other guys, and send half his pay home to India or China.
All the while claiming “There are no qualified Americans to fill the job”, hiding the fact that that’s half the going rate for anyone who wants to be able to support a family.
Why does all the whining and crying about finding qualified tech employees always seem to come from Microsoft? Their success has been due to being at the right place at the right time, marketing, and strategy. Their technology is sloppy and mediocre at best.
Programming is a VERY rare skill set in which the general population is not capable of learning.
I live right in the middle of flyover country looking for this talent everyday. There are 10 openings for every qualified C#/.NET developer and I'm including H1B applicants. There is a BIG shortage of this talent.
What programming languages have the worst documentation or instruction sets?
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