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This article is comparing the average salary of junior engineers (because H-1B employees tend to be junior, they move off of H-1B into green cards after a few y

This article is comparing the average salary of junior engineers (because H-1B employees tend to be junior, they move off of H-1B into green cards after a few years) with the average salary of software engineers as a whole.

_verandaguy 7y ago
>H-1B employees tend to be junior Junior in the industry, or junior to doing work in the US on a visa? I'm nearly a decade into my career and considering taking up work in the US coming from Canada -- is there a better way of starting work in the US as a dev?
- petilon 7y ago
  Yes, the TN-1 visa.
cptskippy 7y ago
> they move off of H-1B into green cards after a few years In theory, not in practice.
- petilon 7y ago
  In practice if they can't or decided not to apply for a green card they leave after 6 years.
  - klipt 7y ago
    Well if you're from India you can apply but the green card backlog for India is ~80 years so you're still going to be on H1-B for a long time.
    - cptskippy 7y ago
      I didn't realize it was that long, it really is indentured servitude at this point.
- thatfrenchguy 7y ago
  We could just fix that by having employees apply for green cards instead of the company sponsoring them.
uasm 7y ago
> "H-1B employees tend to be junior" You do realize that this generalization can't possibly be true? H-1B are reserved for "highly skilled immigrants" carrying out skilled work. You won't find kitchen staff, taxi drivers or librarians on H-1Bs. As a company, junior engineers simply aren't worth the time and effort that comes with sponsoring H-1Bs. Software isn't an "ass in seat" industry - sponsoring juniors simply isn't worth it.
- kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
  You do realize that the "highly skilled" part has been systematically ignored for a couple decades now?
  - uasm 7y ago
    > "You do realize that the "highly skilled" part has been systematically ignored for a couple decades now?" Is that a fact? "Ignored" by whom, and how exactly? Applicants must prove they are indeed exceptionally skilled. Sponsoring employers must prove the candidates are skilled. The petitions involve CVs, references from colleagues, diplomas, supporting evidence, interviews, all kinds of proof. Are you saying it's all just bullshit? Look, we've all met "bad" software engineers. But how much of it is simply subjective judgement? You can't possibly claim those are people coming here on a free pass. For what it's worth, I've met plenty of mediocre "natives". Maybe it's just the talent pool.
    - kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
      The applicants aren't the problem. It's the employers bending and breaking the rules and regulators not enforcing them.
      - uasm 7y ago
        > "It's the employers bending and breaking the rules and regulators not enforcing them" Those are serious accusations, coming with absolutely no proof whatsoever. You can't possibly claim rules are being broken at scale when it comes to bringing in skilled migrants into the US. That just rings like xenophobic scaremongering.

_verandaguy 7y ago

>H-1B employees tend to be junior Junior in the industry, or junior to doing work in the US on a visa? I'm nearly a decade into my career and considering taking up work in the US coming from Canada -- is there a better way of starting work in the US as a dev?

petilon 7y ago
Yes, the TN-1 visa.

cptskippy 7y ago

> they move off of H-1B into green cards after a few years In theory, not in practice.

petilon 7y ago
In practice if they can't or decided not to apply for a green card they leave after 6 years.
- klipt 7y ago
  Well if you're from India you can apply but the green card backlog for India is ~80 years so you're still going to be on H1-B for a long time.
  - cptskippy 7y ago
    I didn't realize it was that long, it really is indentured servitude at this point.
thatfrenchguy 7y ago
We could just fix that by having employees apply for green cards instead of the company sponsoring them.

uasm 7y ago

> "H-1B employees tend to be junior" You do realize that this generalization can't possibly be true? H-1B are reserved for "highly skilled immigrants" carrying out skilled work. You won't find kitchen staff, taxi drivers or librarians on H-1Bs. As a company, junior engineers simply aren't worth the time and effort that comes with sponsoring H-1Bs. Software isn't an "ass in seat" industry - sponsoring juniors simply isn't worth it.

kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
You do realize that the "highly skilled" part has been systematically ignored for a couple decades now?
- uasm 7y ago
  > "You do realize that the "highly skilled" part has been systematically ignored for a couple decades now?" Is that a fact? "Ignored" by whom, and how exactly? Applicants must prove they are indeed exceptionally skilled. Sponsoring employers must prove the candidates are skilled. The petitions involve CVs, references from colleagues, diplomas, supporting evidence, interviews, all kinds of proof. Are you saying it's all just bullshit? Look, we've all met "bad" software engineers. But how much of it is simply subjective judgement? You can't possibly claim those are people coming here on a free pass. For what it's worth, I've met plenty of mediocre "natives". Maybe it's just the talent pool.
  - kevin_thibedeau 7y ago
    The applicants aren't the problem. It's the employers bending and breaking the rules and regulators not enforcing them.
    - uasm 7y ago
      > "It's the employers bending and breaking the rules and regulators not enforcing them" Those are serious accusations, coming with absolutely no proof whatsoever. You can't possibly claim rules are being broken at scale when it comes to bringing in skilled migrants into the US. That just rings like xenophobic scaremongering.