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This article is decent, but it's missing the main component of the problem, which is that companies aren't willing to pay for the level of talent they are deman

This article is decent, but it's missing the main component of the problem, which is that companies aren't willing to pay for the level of talent they are demanding, and instead will smile and offer "entry level" pay for a job that is not entry level. This problem occurs in broader audiences than the tech industry, of course. They are using PR to communicate to the public that there is a shortage, but in reality there is only a shortage of labor in the sense that employers are not offering enough for skilled labor to attract the unicorns they want. The only "shortage" that appears in a highly competitive market with rich labor supply is due to picky employers unwilling to be aggressive with talent acquisition. Try offering a million bucks a year for any given dev job, I guarantee people will be quitting their day jobs to fill your "shortage". The point is that companies aren't willing to give to employees. The selfishness which embodies corporations chasing profit is the root problem here. The lack of training and mediocre wages that companies offer is a symptom of that same issue. Cue people bitching about how "hiring is so hard" when really they should be complaining about "training people is so hard"-- yeah, hiring the perfect unicorn for your machine is harder than investing in someone to make them what you want. "In fact, I’ve come to believe the so-called “talent shortage” is a lie — the real shortage is of companies that are willing to invest in talented people." I have been saying this for quite some time. Nobody is willing to accept that employees are capital purchases which require an up-front investment of capital in the form of training time and training infrastructure in order to make having them mutually profitable. Instead, they expect to unbox "interchangeable" employee labor for free, then provide a (calibrated to be a low-ball) salary once they have the labor they want in hand.

x0x0 11y ago
The reality here is VCs, billionaires, and CEOs are busy talking their book (what is their largest expense? Often, salaries. What does skilled immigration serve to reduce? Salaries. Say it isn't so!) But they're in danger of losing control of the narrative. Secondly, they want to claim, particularly to government, that the tech industry as a whole needs more immigration and more government funded education. ie they speak for us, rather than for themselves, and a small group of owners and the rich. They certainly well understand if they pay more they'll be able to hire nearly anyone they choose or want. They just don't wish to do so. By their fruit you will recognize them. I suggest that, as a working engineer, we refrain from taking advice on what's best for us from many of same people (or their paid advocates) who were recently involved in a conspiracy to reduce our wages. Where's the massive runup in engineering salaries that would accompany an actually tight labor market? Have you, or any of your peers, recently gotten, say, a $10k or greater per annum raise? Without switching employers? Have your wages kept pace with the runup in housing costs in the bay area? It's finally percolating through the collective consciousness that working at startups as an employee often isn't a particularly good deal. See eg Tikhon [1]. But, you know, employees advocating for themselves instead of their bosses; that's class consciousness and socialism and all sorts of evil. To the fainting couch! [1] https://medium.com/@tikhon/founders-it-s-not-1990-stop-treating-your-employees-like-it-is-523f48fe90cb https://medium.com/@tikhon/founders-it-s-not-1990-stop-treat...

x0x0 11y ago

The reality here is VCs, billionaires, and CEOs are busy talking their book (what is their largest expense? Often, salaries. What does skilled immigration serve to reduce? Salaries. Say it isn't so!) But they're in danger of losing control of the narrative. Secondly, they want to claim, particularly to government, that the tech industry as a whole needs more immigration and more government funded education. ie they speak for us, rather than for themselves, and a small group of owners and the rich. They certainly well understand if they pay more they'll be able to hire nearly anyone they choose or want. They just don't wish to do so. By their fruit you will recognize them. I suggest that, as a working engineer, we refrain from taking advice on what's best for us from many of same people (or their paid advocates) who were recently involved in a conspiracy to reduce our wages. Where's the massive runup in engineering salaries that would accompany an actually tight labor market? Have you, or any of your peers, recently gotten, say, a $10k or greater per annum raise? Without switching employers? Have your wages kept pace with the runup in housing costs in the bay area? It's finally percolating through the collective consciousness that working at startups as an employee often isn't a particularly good deal. See eg Tikhon [1]. But, you know, employees advocating for themselves instead of their bosses; that's class consciousness and socialism and all sorts of evil. To the fainting couch! [1] https://medium.com/@tikhon/founders-it-s-not-1990-stop-treating-your-employees-like-it-is-523f48fe90cb https://medium.com/@tikhon/founders-it-s-not-1990-stop-treat...