In a message dated 6/15/2007 06:06:41 Pacific Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>You were (are?) not here on an H1B visa, so I guess I don't understand why you >feel threatened. >H1B visa's were made specifically to address a shortage of doctors and engineers >who are willing to work for obscenely low wages. They have had the result of >permanently unemploying (or under-employing) tens of thousands of engineers and >programmers. Folks who did exactly what they were supposed to do: graduated >college with technical degrees, set down roots in their communities, and worked >hard for their employers. Hi Chuck, I know it's a touchy subject, and opinions vary wildly. The situation probably also depends on where in the US you are. It's also slightly off-topic for this group... sorry. My passport hails from the "mother country". So I was here for quite some time on F-1 and H1B. 23 years to be exact. Not my choice, the government made me wait. I could have gotten immediate Permanent Residency or Citizenship if I was seeking Asylum, or jumped the fence in Mexico, but Europe hardly qualifies for asylum seekers. In 1999-2001, Silicon Valley could not get enough folks to come and work here. The companies I was with during that time could not hire enough engineers, because the market was just dry. Salaries for everyone I know in Silicon Valley on H1B have been into the 6-Figures since the beginning of the new century, sometimes significantly into the 6-Figures. Not sure where you can get obscenely low wage engineers, I am a hiring manager here in Silicon Valley today and gasp at the salaries I need to pay even to attract any kind of talent. Check out HotJobs.com for Silicon Valley to get an idea of what we need to pay these days for an engineer. It's about 2x what Architects are getting paid! During the boom, companies were literally fighting over any engineer just to staff their projects. Huge bonuses were paid, such as free Porsche's as signing bonus etc. It costs companies a lot more to hire H1B than local US citizens. First, the company has to prove under the penalty of law that a comparable salary is offered, then usually companies pay moving expenses and lawyers expenses. Companies were championing like crazy on Capitol Hill to increase the H1B quota, for every engineer they could hire meant Millions of $$ when going to IPO. You can only get an H1B if you have special skills, and get paid exactly what or more than a US citizen would get paid. I have yet to find an H1B that is underpaid for what they do when compared to their immediate US colleagues. What's the reason it's so hard to find good US engineers here? Well, one example may be that my public University Engineering school on the east coast in the 90's had mostly foreigners studying engineering, the US citizens were prevalent in the MBA programs because marketing pays better than engineering. And of the folks in the program 95% were men. The industry, at least here in Silicon Valley, mostly reflects that. Should we talk about and try to change the reasons why engineering programs are not as popular with US Citizens, and Women as other programs? For sure. So I am not sure why there is still a myth that H1B's are cheap labor, or that there are 10's of thousands of qualified unemployed engineers. In my experience it's just the opposite. I know many hiring managers that are looking for qualified engineers. Jobs for qualified folks are everywhere here - again look at HotJobs. Then again Silicon Valley is a unique place, and in other parts of the country it may look different. BTW: there was just a study released that said that more than 30% of all successful start-ups in Silicon Valley are run by Indian immigrants, creating 100's of thousands of new jobs, and helping make California the fifth largest economy in the world. I for one would not want those guys to take their assets and go back to India. What would we do if Ebay where run out of the middle east where the founder is from?? Or if Sergey moves Google to Moscow? These are my opinions, not my employers. bye, Said ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list time-nuts@febo.com https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts