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Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

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Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

#111

Post by negrit »

_delirium wrote: post #104
negrit wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The facts 6 of the top 10 H1Bs sponsor are: - Indian companies - Using cheap labor - Paying significantly less then other companies. - Responsible for almost 50% of all H1B applications Driving the salaries by immigration is an historical complaint worldwide. HackerNews or not.

If the goal really is to enable highly qualified people to come to the U.S. (separate from the usual immigration process) wouldn't a fairly simple tweak just be to take the wage into account in the allocation? There's currently a fixed quota, with two things that go into allocating it: 1) offers not paying the "prevailing wage" are disqualified; and 2) the remaining offers are allocated in first-come, first-serve fas…

The wage is already part of the criteria for application. USCIS only accept application if the salary of the visa beneficiary is comparable to a US citizen salary doing the same job.

Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

#112

Post by rconti »

unprepare wrote: post #79
shas3 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is there an implicit assumption that the H1B visa program engenders fraud? A lot of H1B discussions on HN focus on fraud and avoid talking about legitimate talented foreigners because that stuff is not as interesting. H1B discussions on HN are like the crime beat in newspapers. Further, 'H1B' seems like a catchall term for hating on immigrant labor in the software industry. Here are some examples on HN that demon…

Because we have major unemployment inside of the US. We also have the highest ever rate of Computer Science graduates.[1] Those two combined make the 'need' for foreign tech workers seem very suspicious. On top of questionable need, there are other facets of the program that are obvious areas of potential abuse (employer reported prevailing wages, employer sponsorship forcing employees to stay out of the competitive…

This is a huge surprise to me. When I went back to college, I graduated in 2006 and IS/CS/CE rates were at all-time lows. I guess it's been awhile now, but the numbers probably rebounded so recently that the only glut of talent (if there is one) is in very recent grads.

We do not have major unemployment in the Valley. It's very very very hard to find good people.

Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

#113

Post by stygiansonic »

grecy wrote: post #58
arenaninja wrote: post #39

Wow, that disparity between developer and engineer... I'm not an H1B worker, but does this mean I should start calling myself an Engineer?

Only if you're a certified Engineer. I studied Software Engineering, and I'm accredited by the Institute of Engineers in Australia.

Not sure why you're getting downvoted, other than maybe because the original topic is US-centric.

In many countries (not sure about the US), it is illegal to call yourself an engineer, regardless of what discipline it is.

In Canada, various provincial bodies (PEO in Ontario) regulate the use of the title "engineer", including derivatives of it such as "software engineer". [0] Some of this might seem heavy-handed (see objection to the MCSE term[1]) and I used to think so, until seeing various articles like this one.[2]

Having the term regulated is useful in establishing a minimum or baseline of knowledge that one has to have. To call oneself an engineer without having had the common/basic education in various topics like calculus, linear algebra or statistics is at best misleading, since an accredited engineering program would have provided exposure to such topics. Imagine having a conversation with an engineer who did not understand the difference (or was not even aware of the difference) between mean, median and mode when it came to categorizing request-response times? I'm not trying to knock on self-learning as it's a valuable skill to have, just the concept of title inflation.

There are exceptions, of course. For example, someone with a Comp. Sci degree would likely possess the requisite knowledge and be equivalent to someone with a software engineering degree in the profession, and this is where perhaps the actions of PEO et al. are a bit overbearing.

0. http://www.peo.on.ca/index.php/ci_id/2266/la_id/1.htm

1. http://www.peo.on.ca/index.php/ci_id/26340/la_id/1.htm

2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8996024

Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

#115

Post by chavesn »

Nice work, love clean and simple data apps like this. (Do they have a good name? E.g., stuff like the NY Times "Upshot" interactive data apps?[1])

Two suggestions:

1. Make the bars consistently positioned and grouped across filter clicks. That would make it super easy to compare different cross-sections.

2. The use of the history API is cool; one tiny nitpick: if the click is equal to the previous history entry, navigate back instead of pushing it onto the stack. That will avoid histories filled with A-B-A-B-A-B back and forth clicks between two pages.

[1]: http://www.nytimes.com/upshot/ -- try scrolling to "Best of"

Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

#116

Post by ild »

balls187 wrote: post #83
unprepare wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because we have major unemployment inside of the US. We also have the highest ever rate of Computer Science graduates.[1] Those two combined make the 'need' for foreign tech workers seem very suspicious. On top of questionable need, there are other facets of the program that are obvious areas of potential abuse (employer reported prevailing wages, employer sponsorship forcing employees to stay out of the competitive…

> Those two combined make the 'need' for foreign tech workers seem very suspicious. Anecdotally speaking, it's hard find and hire good engineers in Seattle.

Depends on pay. For 75k - yeah, hard.

Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

#117

Post by TwistedWeasel »

nickysielicki wrote: post #97

In Alaska, software engineers on an H1B made $72,000/year in 2014 In 2014 the Alaska software industry gave jobs to 1 foreign software engineers, 100% less than the year before. Most of them made between $NaN and $NaN per year. The best city for software engineers was Anchorage with an average salary of $72,000. Hahah.

Same bug for Utah...

In 2014 the Utah software industry gave jobs to 1 foreign software managers, Infinity times more than the year before. Most of them made between $NaN and $NaN per year. The best city for software managers was South Jordan with an average salary of $165,000.

Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

#119

Post by ild »

ensmotko wrote: post #2

It'd be interesting to see how H1B salaries compare to normal salaries, but that data probably isn't publicly available, right?

Many, many Indians come in on L1/B1/tourism visa and work completely illegally.Or may be politely asked to return a bit of money on coming back to India.
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