

Government Quietly Changes Rules on Foreign Tech Workers - jyu
http://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/04/07/government-quietly-changes-rules-on-foreign-tech-workers/?mod=WSJBlog

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cstejerean
I don't get while everyone likes to complain that there are these high skilled
American engineers that can't get jobs because of cheaper H1B workers? Where
are the people because I know many companies paying top dollar that have a
real problem finding talent.

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jcromartie
> Where are the people

And to you I say "where are the companies?" I know that I can speak for myself
and my peers that these mythical $100K positions that companies are having
_such_ a hard time filling are pretty hard to come by.

This move by DHS looks like blatant brown-nosing to corporate interests who
have been pushing this "shortage" crap in order to cut their bottom line. It's
pretty clear that cost cutting is the main motive when the average H-1B worker
is paid thousands less than the average native employee in the same field.

P.S. I understand that companies DO have a hard time finding talent. The
market is filled to the brim with JavaSchool clones that flood HR departments
with hundreds of resumes week after week. The companies should, however,
actually try to _reach out_ to good talent instead of just wading through
piles of resumes.

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sanswork
How do you propose they reach out to the good talent? I ask because I know
managers at a number of companies near me that cannot find good developers.
They can find 100 far less than ideal ones but finding one that is worth
hiring and doesn't already have a good job is proving near impossible. So how
would you recommend they go about finding these people?

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osipov
they can start by lowering their standards...

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sanswork
Why should they spend their money on less than ideal candidates when
apparently a lot of highly skilled and great developers are out of work and
desperate?

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osipov
>finding one that is worth hiring and doesn't already have a good job is
proving near impossible

I think you answered your own question. At some point they should just take a
look at the harsh reality and concede that they aren't the most attractive
place to work for the money they pay.

~~~
sanswork
It's harder to convince a quality person to leave a stable position for
another stable position than it is to convince them to come to yours from no
position despite what perks you may offer.

I think one of the few companies in IT who doesn't have this issue right now
is probably Facebook, Google use to be in that position until recently when
there seems to be some backlash.

The harsh reality is that there really is a disproportionate number of bad to
ok programmers in the North American market compared to good to great
programmers.

So I guess getting back on topic. Is there a shortage of developers? No. Is
there a shortage of quality developers? Probably.

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maximilian
This is like, a BFD. I have some foreign friends that would love to use this
when they graduate. Can you imagine, all the students who will bring a
printout of this change to their job interviews to prove that the company can
hire them. Pretty awesome for them. Probably more competition for me when _I_
try to get a job in a tech company.

