This IT worker had to train an H-1B replacement (Bring back American jobs!)

Computerworld ^ | June 10, 2014 03:10 PM ET | Patrick Thibodeau

[impimp]

I came here on an H1-B and it is an injustice that someone with my skill had to be subject to a lottery. Luckily I won the lottery but a low level techie with 1/5 the salary could have received the honor of working in the US before me.

[zaxtres]

Here is the truth... the Indian companies are exploiting the H1B visa program not by bringing over a single worker to replace an American but using the position to cycle through many IT workers. They do this by sending a worker here from India for one to two years then they go home. The American worker loses their job but the Indian worker makes 2 to 3 times more with an American Salary than with an Indian salary. Its rare to find an Indian worker who stays longer than 2 years unless they are management. Of course for certain things, its federal law that only a US Citizen can do so these companies based in India will hire a US Citizen but they will not give those people any career advancement because those jobs are only reserved for Indian employees of that company. A couple of years back it was under the radar but a well-known Indian company was sued because of this tactic. It is well known in India but very few people see it happening here. People complain that an foreign worker is taking their job, but its more that a position is being filed by many foreign workers who get cycled through the position.

I have worked for an multi billion international Indian company like this and there were major issues with their code that I would consistently bring to my lead who was Indian. I think at one time we had to rollback one integration that went on for several months before the Indian lead would finally admit there was a problem. Another data was not getting through and the Indian worker refused to own up to the mistake. I had to raise the issue up the chain of command finally to an American PM. Another time I was spending three to four hours a day with a worker in India who was supposed to know how to do basic SQL commands and I was training him on how to do it. I once sent him back the script and told him to fix it. He told me to fix it. I knew more about how to do the job but I was getting paid less than he was.

Another time there was a major memory leak because resources kept getting opened and but never closed. That’s basic coding 101 people! Open a resource, close it.

I don’t frown down upon these people for wanting to have a better way of life for themselves but I do frown upon it at my expense and every other American’s expense.

[xzins]

I am sorry for misunderstanding what you wrote, DManA. Thanks for clarifying.

[jennychase]

Once I asked new H1B programmer from India to find data from table. then I went somewhere, when I came back that joker was searching my desk, I asked him what are you doing ? He told me, he is searching data. He got fired same day but his Indian based company offered two more for same price.

[ex-snook]

"I think these American companies are traitors."

Any companys that puts money before country are indeed greedy traitors. Soldiers in the military are dying for their country, is it too much to give up a few bucks?

And you can include those members of Congress who voted to make it possible.

[Oatka]

Fact is the American worker cannot compete because there are many eager young Indian coders who will work long hours for little pay.

I posted along the following line a while back, but it bears repeating. I worked with Indian programmers in Texas back in the late '90s. One of the married woman told me she'd be glad when her husband finished his 6-month gig at another business as he was putting in 60-70 hour weeks. I mentioned that at least he got overtime and she said "No, he was on salary and got only a $500 bonus" at the end of the gig. The real hooker was that his H1B company worked him all those hours, but only billed the customer for 40. So the customer always hired Indians as, under that arrangement, they nearly worked for half the U.S. rate.

Some high-powered economist was praising the H1B system, saying that the companies had to pay the same rate as U.S. citizens, so they weren't taking any jobs away. I wrote him about the above incident and he replied, "That's against the law!" No S... Sherlock, as employers will always find a dodge. What got me was that this guy was supposed to be an expert. It reminded of of that Rodney Dangerfield bit in "Back to School" where he clued the professor in on how the world REALLY works:
Thornton Melon (Dangerfield): Oh, you left out a bunch of stuff.
Dr. Phillip Barbay: Oh really? Like what for instance?
Thornton Melon: First of all you're going to have to grease the local politicians for the sudden zoning problems that always come up. Then there's the kickbacks to the carpenters, and if you plan on using any cement in this building I'm sure the teamsters would like to have a little chat with ya, and that'll cost ya. Oh and don't forget a little something for the building inspectors. Then there's long term costs such as waste disposal. I don't know if you're familiar with who runs that business but I assure you it's not the boyscouts.
Dr. Phillip Barbay: That will be quite enough, Mr. Melon! Maybe bribes, kickbacks and Mafia payoffs are how YOU do business! But they are NOT part of the legitimate business world!

[CodeToad]

We already have a massive population of illegal aliens from places like India. They overstay their visas then apply for a Taxpayer Identification Number. They get one, then a driver’s license, and then can always apply for jobs.

[Oatka]

Risking Topic Drift, here’s the YouTube link to that bit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlVDGmjz7eM

[meadsjn]

what would happen if the U.S. government were to impose restrictions on the H-1B visa and raise the cost of using it, and whether that could change the economics of offshoring and encourage more insourcing.

The cost of using an H-1B to an employer should be whatever the displaced US worker was earning per year, for each and every year the employer uses the H-1B worker, plus whatever the employer is paying directly for the H-1B worker.

Why? Because that is what the employer's actions are costing the US economy.

There are more available US citizens with the required degrees and skills than there are jobs available, yet the jobs are going to foreign workers, and for higher salaries than the US workers they are replacing. The quality of work is no better; the knowledge, skills, and abilities are no better. Someone has to be subsidizing this economic slaughter of US workers, and government is the only such entity I know of that subsidizes such backward, destructive policies.

[a fool in paradise]

I have worked in two shops that off-shored. One stayed with it even though the code sucked and had to be re-worked every time because in their words they were too deeply invested (and about half the American staff was still foreigners). The second I had the say so and within 6 months of taking the reigns I cut loose the off-shore element and hired two in house developers to take the place of four.

The decisions to offshore are often made by higher ups (at the companies I've worked) who never have to personally deal with the repercussions of that decision. They see it as cost savings (salaries and benefits). They don't want to hear of impact on established project schedules which makes it rougher on the team working stateside with the offshore workers.

I'm still looking for a new gig but have been pleased to learn that at least a few companies I've interviewed with have gotten tired of dealing with issues associated with offshore or even just outsourced work and are bringing jobs back to inhouse permanent positions.

[a fool in paradise]

Harley motorcycles this. They fired their in house IT and went with a contracting service notorious for H1B workers. The company offered some of the old guys their jobs back for ridiculously low wages.

IBM laid off their technical staff and then expected them to move to India to earn 17% of their old salaries.

US corporations like US talent, but they don't want to pay for it. We are talking billion dollar corporations. I don't want wage caps on executives but persons like Bill Gates lied to Congress about the LACK of US talent to personally enrich himself of BILLIONS. If he's going to p!ss on my career by lowering salaries industry wide, then I am going to point out his deliberate deceit to the legislature of this nation. Mr. Gates may no longer run MS, but the legacy of his actions live on.