To anyone just starting their tech career in the US, pay attention to the parent comment.
Edit: parent deleted the comment, so here it is: (I sincerely hope the parent is not getting hauled off in handcuffs as we speak.)
As a former Intel engineer the only thing that surprised me
is how high up these abuses went. These companies and their
leaders are scum to the highest degree. Between refusing to
consider american candidates, mandatority never ending
"crunch" time and suppressed wages I can only warn others
to stay as far away from the companies listed in this
article as possible, especially if you have an engineering
degree.
If you don't actually do anything its can be a pretty
rewarding career assuming you have a knack for abusing
others... such actions are highly rewarded at these
companies. The number of H1-B visas I saw pleading for
relief would astound even the Foxconn taskmasters.
H1-B visas are one of the major motivations behind the "immigration reform" being talked about in Washington DC. The purpose is to drive down tech salaries.
Don't believe them when they claim they are trying to improve labor conditions for minorities or something. To truly help non-US-citizens they would be requesting more green cards and US citizenship. H1-B leaves a person in a limbo world where they are essentially an indentured servant of the company. And the result is lower wages for everyone.
Intel's hiring and HR fiasco has been a running joke in the industry for decades now.
Read iWoz (by Steve Wozniak) to find out about Jobs' behavior at Apple.
Intuit appears to be at the center of this class action suit.
The real surprise is that Google joined them. Good thing Facebook didn't!
They've acquired a company that builds military robots [1]. I think it's safe to say their sense of ethics is all but gone. The only question here is when exactly they became "evil" (in their own terms).
I am working in the US under a temporary work visa, and by no means Im enslaved or abused. I have a market competitive wage for my skills, and have the most engaging and rewarding job i ever found as a software engineer other than personal projects.
In fact, It's a huge effort and sacrifice to move to the US for work, leaving friends and family behind. US is not qatar, i can always leave whenever I want and work in argentina.
Increasing the number of workers would , by supply and demand, lower wages. And that of itself its a very reasonable goal for any big company. Thats why companies back "teach to code" programs, "teach science in school" and many other education related endeavors, simply to increase the worker base.
Also visas provide a very strong incentive for the US government to sponsor: tech is one of the most outsource-able jobs out there, and that means lots of money and taxes go to other countries. Moving the talent prevents that.
Just so you know, the problem of people going to the US for tech jobs is a huge concern in other countries, that cant provide competitive wages as the US.
I agree that calling an H1B an "indentured servant" is a bit of an hyperbole.
But you certainly have a lot lower leverage than an US citizen.
As you say, you can leave whenever you want, but you went through hardships to go to the US, and back in Argentina you're going to find awful working conditions - a 25.000 pesos salary is about 1500 dollars right now, good luck with that, and that's the salary I was offered not very long ago.
So, you're lucky you're not treated differently at your company, and most H1Bs I know aren't either, but some do have abusive bosses or situations they have to tolerate or get deported.
Of course there is definitely a leverage difference, but its impossible to completely eliminate that in a migratory concern. Argentina has very low requirments for immigration, so if an american went looking for work there, he wouldnt have nearly as much hassle from the government to do it. And even then, he would be less leveraged than locals: "you dont know the language as fluently" , or the market, or whatever.
About the argentinian wages: you can work from argentina to an outside company as well, which is what i used to do. Wages are less, but so are taxes and cost of living. If you want to get a US wage and live the Argentinian life, you are taking the best from one and the best from the other, its not a sensible comparison.
At least with what I see on the visa, companies have a lot to lose by "abusing" the power: a formal complaint could put the organization under review and that is probably not a walk in the park.
Overall, from the US market perspective, getting "slightly cheaper labor" is still much better than straight down outsourcing.
Edit: parent deleted the comment, so here it is: (I sincerely hope the parent is not getting hauled off in handcuffs as we speak.)
H1-B visas are one of the major motivations behind the "immigration reform" being talked about in Washington DC. The purpose is to drive down tech salaries.Don't believe them when they claim they are trying to improve labor conditions for minorities or something. To truly help non-US-citizens they would be requesting more green cards and US citizenship. H1-B leaves a person in a limbo world where they are essentially an indentured servant of the company. And the result is lower wages for everyone.
Intel's hiring and HR fiasco has been a running joke in the industry for decades now.
Read iWoz (by Steve Wozniak) to find out about Jobs' behavior at Apple.
Intuit appears to be at the center of this class action suit.
The real surprise is that Google joined them. Good thing Facebook didn't!