[Steven W.]

those who've worked in the field know that these types of IT positions are usually held by those who couldn't cut it in a real, competitive or R&D environment. Their labor truly is repetitive and boring and near always attracts the least qualified of candidates. Only once in my professional career did I entertain such a position, leading new development of the in-house trading systems for one of the nations largest mutual fund companies. What I found & confirmed, however, was that all of the other people who worked in the company, under the auspices of IT, outside my direct hire line, were complete & total idiots and would all h ave been barely capable of holding technology positions in near any other environment. Seriously, near absolute morons. Then, one day, I was speaking with the Executive VP of the IT Dept. and he "confessed" that the job he was now holding was what he'd always dreamed about, "back in the days (he) started as a JANITOR for Salomon Smith Barney" (not the company we were then working for). That little tidbit confirmed all my worst suspicions and I got out, quickly, and never again considered working with or for anybody that would fall under the umbrella of "IT"

[clamper1797]

those who've worked in the field know that these types of IT positions are usually held by those who couldn't cut it in a real, competitive or R&D environment

Excuse me ... it's not just "jelly bean" programmers that are being replaced by H1B's. I personally know at least several dozen cutting edge hardware design engineers ... some with advanced degrees who are out of work or were out for extended periods of time because of the H1B program ... including myself.