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> Your typical tech company is likely to be sophisticated enough to onboard skilled workers outside the US and support them working remotely, in which case, the

by screye 6y ago

> Your typical tech company is likely to be sophisticated enough to onboard skilled workers outside the US and support them working remotely, in which case, they are not impacted by this policy. Do you really think that ? We have worked with team members in different time zones (Europe, India, China), and even with WFH it is a massive headache to work with someone whose schedule runs with a 12 hour offset. Also, the COVID crisis makes relocation a massive pain in the ass for anyone who is being moved countries as of this time. > This behavior has been documented in great detail. Exactly, and still, time and again, the US govt. wants to solve the issue with a blunt tool that kicks everyone, highly skilled or not, out of the country. It is easy enough to find companies like this. Ban companies that run IT consultancies from hiring H1Bs, unless they pay the market rate. Blanket ban companies who are known abusers (Infosys, TCS). My faith in Hanlon's razor has dwindled over the last few years. This isn't incompetence. This is malice. The visa laws are always sufficiently less exploitative than the career/monetary gains of working here as an immigrant. (especially pronounced for Indian/Chinese candidates for whom a GC is impossible). I do not find that to be a coincidence.

toomuchtodo 6y ago
> Do you really think that ? Yes. I have worked at both at a successful (ie profitable) fully remote startup that employs hundreds of people, and now at an enterprise that is fully remote with thousands of employees across several continents. If you can't manage teams remotely, you can't manage.
- screye 6y ago
  Wow, that is a strong claim. Not all companies are structured to be innately remote. My team for instance is really struggling to adjust to remote settings, despite having a flexible WFH setup and working closely with remotely located teams before. It is little things. Relationships between colleagues get colder. The people I used to see daily were also great friends of mine. Giving constructive feedback and taking criticism is a lot easier when it is by a friend and face to face. Meetings lose the wonderful flow they can have when in person. Brainstorming and white boarding has all but disappeared. The way I see it, with no offense meant. If your work can be done fully remotely. Maybe it isn't that difficult to begin with. Big decisions need big discussions and big consensus. My best progress has been made when I get a room together with a team mate, with a huge board and we brainstorm for hours on end. 90% of the time coding is the easiest part of the job. That it can be done remotely, doesn't alleviate the bottleneck much. Or maybe if your team consisted of introverted, brutally objective people from the get go, who like the additional coldness of remote communication, then sure. But, it actively excludes a lot of the workforce.
  - finnthehuman 6y ago
    I agree that it's management. I have two primary projects right now, and the difference couldn't be more stark. One has most of the issues you describe, the workflow has gotten cold, meetings are mechanical, communication is poor, the team slack is dry. Problem solving is hard over email, only one person on the team proactively makes phone calls. And of the two offices, this one had the most people that would chime in on conversations from over the cube walls. On the other project, management has taken the "overcommunicate" route to WFH. Everything feels collaborative, I talk to everyone often enough that nothing that would naturally come up in the office but might not be big enough for an email gets dropped. I have better insight into the electrical and mechanical engineer's tasks than I did while in the office, we identify points of future collaboration calls in meetings, and I've gotten to know people joining the project during WFH well enough over video calls that we now chit-chat over slack. Perhaps the most striking sign of a culture difference is around 2/3 of people on both projects only turn their webcams on for calls regarding the 2nd project.

by screye 6y ago

toomuchtodo 6y ago

> Do you really think that ? Yes. I have worked at both at a successful (ie profitable) fully remote startup that employs hundreds of people, and now at an enterprise that is fully remote with thousands of employees across several continents. If you can't manage teams remotely, you can't manage.

screye 6y ago
Wow, that is a strong claim. Not all companies are structured to be innately remote. My team for instance is really struggling to adjust to remote settings, despite having a flexible WFH setup and working closely with remotely located teams before. It is little things. Relationships between colleagues get colder. The people I used to see daily were also great friends of mine. Giving constructive feedback and taking criticism is a lot easier when it is by a friend and face to face. Meetings lose the wonderful flow they can have when in person. Brainstorming and white boarding has all but disappeared. The way I see it, with no offense meant. If your work can be done fully remotely. Maybe it isn't that difficult to begin with. Big decisions need big discussions and big consensus. My best progress has been made when I get a room together with a team mate, with a huge board and we brainstorm for hours on end. 90% of the time coding is the easiest part of the job. That it can be done remotely, doesn't alleviate the bottleneck much. Or maybe if your team consisted of introverted, brutally objective people from the get go, who like the additional coldness of remote communication, then sure. But, it actively excludes a lot of the workforce.
- finnthehuman 6y ago
  I agree that it's management. I have two primary projects right now, and the difference couldn't be more stark. One has most of the issues you describe, the workflow has gotten cold, meetings are mechanical, communication is poor, the team slack is dry. Problem solving is hard over email, only one person on the team proactively makes phone calls. And of the two offices, this one had the most people that would chime in on conversations from over the cube walls. On the other project, management has taken the "overcommunicate" route to WFH. Everything feels collaborative, I talk to everyone often enough that nothing that would naturally come up in the office but might not be big enough for an email gets dropped. I have better insight into the electrical and mechanical engineer's tasks than I did while in the office, we identify points of future collaboration calls in meetings, and I've gotten to know people joining the project during WFH well enough over video calls that we now chit-chat over slack. Perhaps the most striking sign of a culture difference is around 2/3 of people on both projects only turn their webcams on for calls regarding the 2nd project.