3 ms·

There are many kinds of people on H1Bs. There are people that are brought here by the consultancies you mention and there are graduates from American Universiti

There are many kinds of people on H1Bs. There are people that are brought here by the consultancies you mention and there are graduates from American Universities who get H1Bs after or during their OPT. While I've heard that H1Bs are brought over to depress wages, although there is no data to back that up. In both these cases, there are a mixture of really good people, really bad people who got lucky and everything in between. I also know that there are rampant scams that involve faking Resumes to fake universities, however, there are many many many good people still holding out in the hope that this backlog for Indian's and some other countries resolves and lets them lead a better life. However, according to this article[1], the number of open positions in Programming and Comp Sci. was about 500k and the US produced about 50-60k grads a year, 85k H1Bs wouldn't be enough to take all the jobs and flood the job market. Also, from my own experience, I make over $250k as a Software Engineer, stuck on an H1B forever, while people who were born in other countries get to move on to a Green Card, even if they earn less than that. My company interviews hundreds of people, settling for 'good enough' and yet struggles to fill many open positions. [1] https://qz.com/929275/you-probably-should-have-majored-in-computer-science/ https://qz.com/929275/you-probably-should-have-majored-in-co...

diogenescynic 8y ago
Either you’re lying or misinformed. The data is obviously available, the government has to approve the applications... there are literally dozens of websites that track this “h-1b salary info” and yes they are usually underpaid compared to their peers of comparable skills. I have linked plenty of studies in prior comments. See my above comment showing most are underpaid. Then train local candidates or do apprenticeships. It’s a lie that local workers can’t do the work. Most h-1b is not the complex work... it’s the QA and grunt work. The skills gap is a myth: http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/the-stem-crisis-is-a-myth http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/the-stem-crisis-i...
briandear 8y ago
> While I've heard that H1Bs are brought over to depress wages, although there is no data to back that up. Then why would Disney fired experienced workers to H1Bs? Where the H1Bs that the experienced workers actually trained, more experienced? Clearly not. There is no universe where it could be argued that Disney had a shortage of skilled workers given that they fired the very skilled workers they claimed a shortage of. > My company interviews hundreds of people, settling for 'good enough' and yet struggles to fill many open positions. You know how you don't struggle to fill open positions? You raise the salary offered, improve the benefits, the working conditions. Netflix doesn't have a shortage of workers, but Cisco might. Compare the pay differences between those two companies and you'll quickly understand what "shortage" really means. I find it extremely hard to believe there's a shortage of entry level sysadmins, yet you'll find plenty of H1Bs working sysadmin jobs while experienced Americans sit on the sidelines because their salary requirements are too high (meaning, they expect something more than $75k per year in the Bay Area.) That doesn't define a shortage -- those workers do exist but H1B is cheaper. Of course, there are outliers like those ultra-genius Nobel winner-level people -- however, there's an "O" visa for that category of extraordinary high achiever. Your average H1B is not particularly extraordinary. I've never in my life met anyone working for Infosys that I'd trust to program an alarm clock, let alone trust with mission critical code. However, I've also worked with a few extraordinary H1Bs -- people far smarter than I'll ever be -- but those are certainly the exception in terms of statistics of the visa.

diogenescynic 8y ago

Either you’re lying or misinformed. The data is obviously available, the government has to approve the applications... there are literally dozens of websites that track this “h-1b salary info” and yes they are usually underpaid compared to their peers of comparable skills. I have linked plenty of studies in prior comments. See my above comment showing most are underpaid. Then train local candidates or do apprenticeships. It’s a lie that local workers can’t do the work. Most h-1b is not the complex work... it’s the QA and grunt work. The skills gap is a myth: http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/the-stem-crisis-is-a-myth http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/the-stem-crisis-i...

briandear 8y ago

> While I've heard that H1Bs are brought over to depress wages, although there is no data to back that up. Then why would Disney fired experienced workers to H1Bs? Where the H1Bs that the experienced workers actually trained, more experienced? Clearly not. There is no universe where it could be argued that Disney had a shortage of skilled workers given that they fired the very skilled workers they claimed a shortage of. > My company interviews hundreds of people, settling for 'good enough' and yet struggles to fill many open positions. You know how you don't struggle to fill open positions? You raise the salary offered, improve the benefits, the working conditions. Netflix doesn't have a shortage of workers, but Cisco might. Compare the pay differences between those two companies and you'll quickly understand what "shortage" really means. I find it extremely hard to believe there's a shortage of entry level sysadmins, yet you'll find plenty of H1Bs working sysadmin jobs while experienced Americans sit on the sidelines because their salary requirements are too high (meaning, they expect something more than $75k per year in the Bay Area.) That doesn't define a shortage -- those workers do exist but H1B is cheaper. Of course, there are outliers like those ultra-genius Nobel winner-level people -- however, there's an "O" visa for that category of extraordinary high achiever. Your average H1B is not particularly extraordinary. I've never in my life met anyone working for Infosys that I'd trust to program an alarm clock, let alone trust with mission critical code. However, I've also worked with a few extraordinary H1Bs -- people far smarter than I'll ever be -- but those are certainly the exception in terms of statistics of the visa.