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> The visas bring nearly 100,000 “highly skilled” contract workers, mostly in tech and mostly from India, to the United States every year. > The H-1B program p

> The visas bring nearly 100,000 “highly skilled” contract workers, mostly in tech and mostly from India, to the United States every year. > The H-1B program provides American companies with cheap, temporary contractors who often work longer hours than Americans and take on the monotonous programming jobs Americans scorn. I don't even know where to start. It's the same paradoxical position that journalists have always taken on the H1-B program: that those granted visas are better, faster, and cheaper than American labor while simultaneously relieving the (implicitly higher-skilled) native workforce of "monotonous" (i.e. low-skill and repetitive) work. So, they're higher skilled yet are put to work on low-skill tasks? This is a fantastical proposition.

notahacker 10y ago
It's not exactly a fantastical proposition to argue that joining a large team churning out boilerplate Java for a bigcorp's clunky proprietary payroll system has both a skill requirement and the appearance of being a monotonous gig for the vast majority of Americans actually capable of doing it. I mean, it's probably not wildly exciting for migrant developers either, but they at least get the opportunity to live overseas and an order-of-magnitude payrise.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
sean_patel 10y ago
> So, they're higher skilled yet are put to work on low-skill tasks? This is a fantastical proposition. Correct. And your snarkiness aside, it's true. I have several (Indian) cousins and a couple of uncles / aunties (came as Mainframe / COBOL programmers) who have attested to the same. Even in the Financial Services companies I interned at ( Goldman) and worked at in the past, I've noticed by way of water cooler discussions and whispers that Indian and Chinese H1B works get significantly lower pay -- I'm talking a 30% to 40% lower pay -- than their (mostly white) American counterpart. Many in the exact same Job Title, Role / Grade and Job Description. We also used to offload our Unit Testing and documentation work to these H1B and they did it without complaining. Most of them dream of getting their Green Card and freedom when they can charge Market rate and not be bound to their H1B sponsor / employer.
- politician 10y ago
  Regardless, the H1-B program is sold to the public as a way to bring over highly-skilled individuals into roles that require those higher skills. Yet, time and again we see that the emperor has no clothes: these programs are used to import labor from overseas because it's cheap.
  - oautholaf 10y ago
    I can't speak to any abuse of these programs, but as a US citizen I value my co-workers on H1-Bs and want them to stay.
    - michaelmrose 10y ago
      I would rather we make them full citizens not bound by threat of deportation so they can shop their skills around to the highest bidder rather than being used to depress wages for all. If we are too stupid to see the benefits we derive from making them part of our nation I would rather we send them home. Leaving the status quo as is would be the worst option.
    - HarryHirsch 10y ago
      Without sounding snarky or condescending, you should educate yourself about the H1-B program and about the ways how it is abused. It is as bad as those who have gone though it make it sound.
      - oautholaf 10y ago
        And I haven't met any of them who would prefer it gone entirely...
        HarryHirsch 10y ago
        Your distaste isn't remotely as great as it ought to be.
peteretep 10y ago
> "monotonous" (i.e. low-skill > and repetitive) Monotonous doesn't mean low-skill, simply repetitive and dull. There are many boring (to my eyes, anyway, ymmv) and repetitive programming and tech jobs.
jimbokun 10y ago
That's why the "highly skilled" is in quotes, to make clear these are not the author's words but comes from the proponents of H1B.
- politician 10y ago
  Those quotes are not attributed; it's unclear why they are there. The same phrase does not appear quoted in the headline. Since WaPo doesn't shy from using quotes in headlines -- I just counted 3 instances on their homepage --, it seems fair to attribute it to the paper.

notahacker 10y ago

It's not exactly a fantastical proposition to argue that joining a large team churning out boilerplate Java for a bigcorp's clunky proprietary payroll system has both a skill requirement and the appearance of being a monotonous gig for the vast majority of Americans actually capable of doing it. I mean, it's probably not wildly exciting for migrant developers either, but they at least get the opportunity to live overseas and an order-of-magnitude payrise.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

sean_patel 10y ago

> So, they're higher skilled yet are put to work on low-skill tasks? This is a fantastical proposition. Correct. And your snarkiness aside, it's true. I have several (Indian) cousins and a couple of uncles / aunties (came as Mainframe / COBOL programmers) who have attested to the same. Even in the Financial Services companies I interned at ( Goldman) and worked at in the past, I've noticed by way of water cooler discussions and whispers that Indian and Chinese H1B works get significantly lower pay -- I'm talking a 30% to 40% lower pay -- than their (mostly white) American counterpart. Many in the exact same Job Title, Role / Grade and Job Description. We also used to offload our Unit Testing and documentation work to these H1B and they did it without complaining. Most of them dream of getting their Green Card and freedom when they can charge Market rate and not be bound to their H1B sponsor / employer.

politician 10y ago
Regardless, the H1-B program is sold to the public as a way to bring over highly-skilled individuals into roles that require those higher skills. Yet, time and again we see that the emperor has no clothes: these programs are used to import labor from overseas because it's cheap.
- oautholaf 10y ago
  I can't speak to any abuse of these programs, but as a US citizen I value my co-workers on H1-Bs and want them to stay.
  - michaelmrose 10y ago
    I would rather we make them full citizens not bound by threat of deportation so they can shop their skills around to the highest bidder rather than being used to depress wages for all. If we are too stupid to see the benefits we derive from making them part of our nation I would rather we send them home. Leaving the status quo as is would be the worst option.
  - HarryHirsch 10y ago
    Without sounding snarky or condescending, you should educate yourself about the H1-B program and about the ways how it is abused. It is as bad as those who have gone though it make it sound.
    - oautholaf 10y ago
      And I haven't met any of them who would prefer it gone entirely...
      - HarryHirsch 10y ago
        Your distaste isn't remotely as great as it ought to be.

peteretep 10y ago

> "monotonous" (i.e. low-skill > and repetitive) Monotonous doesn't mean low-skill, simply repetitive and dull. There are many boring (to my eyes, anyway, ymmv) and repetitive programming and tech jobs.

jimbokun 10y ago

That's why the "highly skilled" is in quotes, to make clear these are not the author's words but comes from the proponents of H1B.

politician 10y ago
Those quotes are not attributed; it's unclear why they are there. The same phrase does not appear quoted in the headline. Since WaPo doesn't shy from using quotes in headlines -- I just counted 3 instances on their homepage --, it seems fair to attribute it to the paper.