4 ms·

An H-1B is intended for individuals with specialized skillsets. Specialized, yes, but it isn't supposed to be for completely unique skills. If someone is one o

by lacker 6y ago

An H-1B is intended for individuals with specialized skillsets. Specialized, yes, but it isn't supposed to be for completely unique skills. If someone is one of the top 100,000 software engineers in the world, that is a specialized skill set. And it makes sense for our country to encourage those people to immigrate.

rayiner 6y ago
> And it makes sense for our country to encourage those people to immigrate. That’s a decision for Congress to make and it hasn’t done that. What it has created is a temporary immigration system for skilled workers. The skills don’t have to be unique, but employers must prove that they can’t find workers with that skill set domestically at prevailing wage rates. And that it seems absurd for places like Facebook to say that when they reject so many applications from talented developers.
- gautamdivgi 6y ago
  That it has a fairly well documented system I suppose? Their interviews are well defined. They tell you what their interviewers will look for. The hire/no-hire decision is made by a panel not a single individual. Whether tech interviews should be algorithmic or not is beside the point. But they have a very well-defined process. So every rejection and acceptance is probably very well documented.
- lacker 6y ago
  And that it seems absurd for places like Facebook to say that when they reject so many applications from talented developers. It isn't absurd at all. Facebook is one of the companies doing this the right way. Facebook interviews H1-B candidates in exactly the same way it interviews American citizens, and they pay the same to H1-Bs and American citizens in the same role. When they reject an American candidate, it's because they don't think that candidate is sufficiently skilled, not because they want to hire a foreigner with the same skills for cheaper.
  - SamReidHughes 6y ago
    If Facebook loses any candidates in this general pool because they were outbid by other companies, then they could have filled the slot by paying an American more than the H1-B.
  - one2know 6y ago
    No it fucking does not. I interviewed with facebook ten days ago. Management cancelled my phone screen and instead I got a generic interview with a foreign manager "where do you see yourself in five years" followed by a reject within 12 hours. Stop the fucking bullshit goddammit.
- DiogenesKynikos 6y ago
  There are not anywhere near enough American-born skilled software engineers to supply the US tech industry. Take foreign-born software engineers out of the picture and the majority of software engineers in Silicon Valley are gone. You can't make up for that by just offering higher wages. Maybe a few top companies would be able to manage it, but only by poaching all the engineers from other companies. Ultimately, the industry will move elsewhere if US companies can't hire foreign engineers. The US only supplies a fraction of the world's software engineers. There's no inherent reason why the world's tech sector has to be so concentrated in the US.
- flowerlad 6y ago
  > And that it seems absurd for places like Facebook to say that when they reject so many applications from talented developers. That's nonsense. FB pays upwards of $200K per year to fresh CS graduates. Compare that to $60K made by a chemical engg graduate. If there were plenty of talented developers why are they paying such astronomical salaries?
  - Yoofie 6y ago
    > If there were plenty of talented developers why are they paying such astronomical salaries? Because Facebook (and Google, for that matter) discovered a money hose that is called online advertising, so they can be more liberal with the money they dole out. Also, SV tends to be expensive. The amount of money your are paid does not necessarily mean you are the best and brightest, as much the HN/software types like to believe.
    - flowerlad 6y ago
      > Because Facebook (and Google, for that matter) discovered a money hose that is called online advertising They are more generous because they have more money? Preposterous. That's not how businesses work. Businesses pay the lowest possible salaries regardless of how much money they make. If they are paying high salaries that's because that's what it takes to hire the top talent. The laws of supply and demand come into play here, not generosity.
xyzzyz 6y ago
And how are you going to show that your candidate actually has the “is in top 100,000 in the world” skill? I think that US should have an option to give residency to top professionals, but H1B visa hasn’t been designed to allow that, and it is now used for that through hacks, legal fictions and tacit agreements.

by lacker 6y ago

rayiner 6y ago

> And it makes sense for our country to encourage those people to immigrate. That’s a decision for Congress to make and it hasn’t done that. What it has created is a temporary immigration system for skilled workers. The skills don’t have to be unique, but employers must prove that they can’t find workers with that skill set domestically at prevailing wage rates. And that it seems absurd for places like Facebook to say that when they reject so many applications from talented developers.

gautamdivgi 6y ago
That it has a fairly well documented system I suppose? Their interviews are well defined. They tell you what their interviewers will look for. The hire/no-hire decision is made by a panel not a single individual. Whether tech interviews should be algorithmic or not is beside the point. But they have a very well-defined process. So every rejection and acceptance is probably very well documented.
lacker 6y ago
And that it seems absurd for places like Facebook to say that when they reject so many applications from talented developers. It isn't absurd at all. Facebook is one of the companies doing this the right way. Facebook interviews H1-B candidates in exactly the same way it interviews American citizens, and they pay the same to H1-Bs and American citizens in the same role. When they reject an American candidate, it's because they don't think that candidate is sufficiently skilled, not because they want to hire a foreigner with the same skills for cheaper.
- SamReidHughes 6y ago
  If Facebook loses any candidates in this general pool because they were outbid by other companies, then they could have filled the slot by paying an American more than the H1-B.
- one2know 6y ago
  No it fucking does not. I interviewed with facebook ten days ago. Management cancelled my phone screen and instead I got a generic interview with a foreign manager "where do you see yourself in five years" followed by a reject within 12 hours. Stop the fucking bullshit goddammit.
DiogenesKynikos 6y ago
There are not anywhere near enough American-born skilled software engineers to supply the US tech industry. Take foreign-born software engineers out of the picture and the majority of software engineers in Silicon Valley are gone. You can't make up for that by just offering higher wages. Maybe a few top companies would be able to manage it, but only by poaching all the engineers from other companies. Ultimately, the industry will move elsewhere if US companies can't hire foreign engineers. The US only supplies a fraction of the world's software engineers. There's no inherent reason why the world's tech sector has to be so concentrated in the US.
flowerlad 6y ago
> And that it seems absurd for places like Facebook to say that when they reject so many applications from talented developers. That's nonsense. FB pays upwards of $200K per year to fresh CS graduates. Compare that to $60K made by a chemical engg graduate. If there were plenty of talented developers why are they paying such astronomical salaries?
- Yoofie 6y ago
  > If there were plenty of talented developers why are they paying such astronomical salaries? Because Facebook (and Google, for that matter) discovered a money hose that is called online advertising, so they can be more liberal with the money they dole out. Also, SV tends to be expensive. The amount of money your are paid does not necessarily mean you are the best and brightest, as much the HN/software types like to believe.
  - flowerlad 6y ago
    > Because Facebook (and Google, for that matter) discovered a money hose that is called online advertising They are more generous because they have more money? Preposterous. That's not how businesses work. Businesses pay the lowest possible salaries regardless of how much money they make. If they are paying high salaries that's because that's what it takes to hire the top talent. The laws of supply and demand come into play here, not generosity.

xyzzyz 6y ago

And how are you going to show that your candidate actually has the “is in top 100,000 in the world” skill? I think that US should have an option to give residency to top professionals, but H1B visa hasn’t been designed to allow that, and it is now used for that through hacks, legal fictions and tacit agreements.