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As someone occasionally involved in hiring, the important question isn't whether we have "enough" software engineers. It's easy to fill seats. The question is

by dbecker 13y ago

As someone occasionally involved in hiring, the important question isn't whether we have "enough" software engineers. It's easy to fill seats. The question is whether we have "good enough" software engineers. And, as long as we're trying to improve as a company, we'll always want better engineers.

temuze 13y ago
You're 100% right. Why make it difficult for really smart people to immigrate to the US? Better engineers are always welcome at any company. In any case, there's reason to believe many of educated immigrants will become entrepreneurs and create jobs themselves.
- opendais 13y ago
  The article claimed that the logical reason for the company's actions [since they can't underpay] is that they are recruiting for junior / lower paying [e.g. system analyst instead of software engineer] positions when in reality they are getting something like a senior dev with 5-10 years experience. Personally, I think anyone with a 4 year degree should be allowed to get a green card if they can show they have the $$ to live in the US for a year and agree to look for work. Because the way it works now, even if the article is bullshit, it is comically vulnerable to arbitrage [LOL yes, why we do indeed need a 'junior web developer' that knows C so he can understand how our api works...oh, well, we realized after he arrived we needed him to work on this C project that was critical to our infrastructure and is responsible for 100k+/day in revenue while we pay him half of that of the guy that quit] if you can pay a lawyer for an hour. Just my two cents.
- rayiner 13y ago
  The problem is that you have no way of letting in just the "really smart people" and end up letting in a whole bunch of people who aren't better than the ones you already have, who will have trouble finding work when the next tech bubble pops. Tech is a highly cyclical industry, and it's shortsighted to start letting a bunch of people immigrate on every bubble cycle.
JoeAltmaier 13y ago
"For higher paying jobs, like computer programmer, software developer, and electronics engineer, Bright found more than one domestic job candidate for every H-1B application." Wow, so the author thinks you only have to interview 1 person for each job. That's a Polyanna view; reject that statistic and the entire article falls apart.

by dbecker 13y ago

temuze 13y ago

You're 100% right. Why make it difficult for really smart people to immigrate to the US? Better engineers are always welcome at any company. In any case, there's reason to believe many of educated immigrants will become entrepreneurs and create jobs themselves.

opendais 13y ago
The article claimed that the logical reason for the company's actions [since they can't underpay] is that they are recruiting for junior / lower paying [e.g. system analyst instead of software engineer] positions when in reality they are getting something like a senior dev with 5-10 years experience. Personally, I think anyone with a 4 year degree should be allowed to get a green card if they can show they have the $$ to live in the US for a year and agree to look for work. Because the way it works now, even if the article is bullshit, it is comically vulnerable to arbitrage [LOL yes, why we do indeed need a 'junior web developer' that knows C so he can understand how our api works...oh, well, we realized after he arrived we needed him to work on this C project that was critical to our infrastructure and is responsible for 100k+/day in revenue while we pay him half of that of the guy that quit] if you can pay a lawyer for an hour. Just my two cents.
rayiner 13y ago
The problem is that you have no way of letting in just the "really smart people" and end up letting in a whole bunch of people who aren't better than the ones you already have, who will have trouble finding work when the next tech bubble pops. Tech is a highly cyclical industry, and it's shortsighted to start letting a bunch of people immigrate on every bubble cycle.

JoeAltmaier 13y ago

"For higher paying jobs, like computer programmer, software developer, and electronics engineer, Bright found more than one domestic job candidate for every H-1B application." Wow, so the author thinks you only have to interview 1 person for each job. That's a Polyanna view; reject that statistic and the entire article falls apart.