3 ms·

I am absolutely confident there is no shortage of good software engineers willing to drop everything and move to another part of the country for $500k/year. Abs

by DenisM 14y ago

I am absolutely confident there is no shortage of good software engineers willing to drop everything and move to another part of the country for $500k/year. Absolutely no shortage. If you raise your wages, you will find someone to do the work. If you can't afford to raise the wages, your business plan is not viable. I mean, I could use a houseworker to clean my house for $1 per day, does it mean I should get my wish as well? Nope. Skilled immigration is valuable for another reason though - the more talent in the leading industry the better it is for the country, and draining other countries of their talent is also a valuable competition tactics.

yajoe 14y ago
There are many people leaving Microsoft right now. Mostly good people. There are four types of people who stay at Microsoft: 1) Top performers who are on a fast-track (<1% of workforce) 2) People who can't get jobs elsewhere (30%) 3) People who have families and are tied to Redmond area (40%) 4) People who can get jobs elsewhere but have visa restrictions and are afraid to upset their status (30%) Everyone else leaves or has already left within 2 years. I joked with a colleague yesterday, "Hey, have you talked to anyone from the old team?" "Yeah, I've been forwarding their resumes..." Microsoft is working to reduce people in #2 and #3 through its performance review system. They then want to increase people in #4 so they have more people who can't leave them as they start cost cutting when Win8 isn't a roaring success. I personally find it heart-wrenching to watch friends who would leave their abusive situations and work for a start-up but cannot due to silly visa paperwork. I just don't trust that Microsoft would want more people to come without restrictions to work for a specific company. It does't benefit them at all. I just wish skilled computer science people could work for whomever they want. Our industry would be so much better off. So long as you pay taxes and are a lawful person, I support anyone living in this country.
- malandrew 14y ago
  I just wish skilled computer science people could work for whomever they want. Our industry would be so much better off. So long as you pay taxes and are a lawful person, I support anyone living in this country. Amen to that. I wish more people though this way. Citizenship based on birthright is a really antiquated notion in my view and I'm surprised more countries, at least smaller ones, haven't experimented with this idea more.
- gms 14y ago
  Being on a visa allows you to switch jobs. The new company has to pay a small fee to do it, but any medium-to-large company will do it.
- DenisM 14y ago
  >I personally find it heart-wrenching to watch friends who would leave their abusive situations and work for a start-up but cannot due to silly visa paperwork. H1B holders can switch from company to company without problems, there is a small amount of paperwork and a fee. Greencard applications are also transferable.

by DenisM 14y ago

yajoe 14y ago

There are many people leaving Microsoft right now. Mostly good people. There are four types of people who stay at Microsoft: 1) Top performers who are on a fast-track (<1% of workforce) 2) People who can't get jobs elsewhere (30%) 3) People who have families and are tied to Redmond area (40%) 4) People who can get jobs elsewhere but have visa restrictions and are afraid to upset their status (30%) Everyone else leaves or has already left within 2 years. I joked with a colleague yesterday, "Hey, have you talked to anyone from the old team?" "Yeah, I've been forwarding their resumes..." Microsoft is working to reduce people in #2 and #3 through its performance review system. They then want to increase people in #4 so they have more people who can't leave them as they start cost cutting when Win8 isn't a roaring success. I personally find it heart-wrenching to watch friends who would leave their abusive situations and work for a start-up but cannot due to silly visa paperwork. I just don't trust that Microsoft would want more people to come without restrictions to work for a specific company. It does't benefit them at all. I just wish skilled computer science people could work for whomever they want. Our industry would be so much better off. So long as you pay taxes and are a lawful person, I support anyone living in this country.

malandrew 14y ago
I just wish skilled computer science people could work for whomever they want. Our industry would be so much better off. So long as you pay taxes and are a lawful person, I support anyone living in this country. Amen to that. I wish more people though this way. Citizenship based on birthright is a really antiquated notion in my view and I'm surprised more countries, at least smaller ones, haven't experimented with this idea more.
gms 14y ago
Being on a visa allows you to switch jobs. The new company has to pay a small fee to do it, but any medium-to-large company will do it.
DenisM 14y ago
>I personally find it heart-wrenching to watch friends who would leave their abusive situations and work for a start-up but cannot due to silly visa paperwork. H1B holders can switch from company to company without problems, there is a small amount of paperwork and a fee. Greencard applications are also transferable.