Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Trump's visa plan leaks: American techies first

theregister.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 75 posts

Re: Trump's visa plan leaks: American techies first

#41

Post by dragonwriter »

tropo wrote: post #33
marcus_holmes wrote: post #8

This'll be interesting. Tech workers hate Trump, and have been forcing SV bosses to say bad things about him. But this move is clearly going to benefit us (well, I'm in Australia so not affected directly, but "us" as tech workers). Raising tech salaries and reducing the ridiculous exploitation of immigrant tech workers is good. SV bosses would clearly like to continue paying less for tech workers, and the visa progra…

Tech workers in SV seem to hate Trump, but tech workers are not only in SV. There are also tech workers at defense contractors all across the deep south, and they definitely do not hate Trump. They might roll their eyes at his antics or prefer a tougher stance on Russia, but "lock her up" is a very real desire. The H1B issue kind of resonates with them, since many are older people with families, though obviously the…

> but "lock her up" is a very real desire.

Given that Trump abandoned that almost immediately after being announced as President-Elect, how is that a reason to support him now?

Re: Trump's visa plan leaks: American techies first

#42

Post by snogglethorpe »

astrodust wrote: post #37
amalag wrote: post #6

Something should be done as long as we hear stories like this from Disney and other companies: http://www.computerworld.com/article/3077302/it-careers/it-l...

There's a substantial difference between actions like that where they're clearly out-sourcing to slash costs and situations where you're trying to build an engineering team with top talent and want to tap the top 1% from all over the world, not just the local labor pool. The reason there's a lot of foreign workers in the valley is becaus these companies poach the best . Just look at how many Canadian software enginee…

I suspect another reason that politicians are so eager to stomp on H1B workers is because they're an easy target: most people don't care, and the H1B workers themselves can't vote, so pandering to anti-foreigner hysteria is a good bet for a politician...

Re: Trump's visa plan leaks: American techies first

#43

Post by yongjik »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #8

This'll be interesting. Tech workers hate Trump, and have been forcing SV bosses to say bad things about him. But this move is clearly going to benefit us (well, I'm in Australia so not affected directly, but "us" as tech workers). Raising tech salaries and reducing the ridiculous exploitation of immigrant tech workers is good. SV bosses would clearly like to continue paying less for tech workers, and the visa progra…

> But this move is clearly going to benefit us (well, I'm in Australia so not affected directly, but "us" as tech workers). Raising tech salaries and reducing the ridiculous exploitation of immigrant tech workers is good.

As a US green card holder currently living in SV, I must say I'm really confused what you mean by "us". At first I thought you meant "US citizens who are tech workers", but it's possible you really meant all tech workers?

In any case, considering the past two weeks, I don't think most SV folks would consider Trump as a net positive, even though this particular action might benefit some of them.

Re: Trump's visa plan leaks: American techies first

#44

Post by wdcgu »

DanAndersen wrote: post #20
refurb wrote: post #10

What about non-tech workers that come to the US through an H1-B? Scientists come to mind. If you don't have a PhD, your starting salary isn't going to exceed $100K. Are they just out of luck?

There's already a good number of US-citizen PhDs in non-CS/"tech" fields who are being underutilized. Perhaps such moves will help prioritize them and adjust some of the supply/demand issues.

Not all PhDs are equal. You're not hiring them to flip burgers at McDonald's

Re: Trump's visa plan leaks: American techies first

#45

Post by wdcgu »

Benjamin_Dobell wrote: post #16
Alex3917 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Raising tech salaries and reducing the ridiculous exploitation of immigrant tech workers is good. Why not keep the H-1B floor at 60,000, but require employers to contribute another 60,000 to a fund to pay for Americans to be retrained as tech workers?

I don't think that's particularly fair on immigrants. It sets a double standard as to what people are worth. PS. Also Australian... yeah, we're awake at this time. EDIT: To clarify, I'm not at all suggesting screw over Americans either. I'd not be thrilled working in any industry where I'd spent years getting qualifications, just to be constantly undercut by any group of people. However, I don't think encouraging com…

It's called a free market. Too bad if you're on the losing end.

Re: Trump's visa plan leaks: American techies first

#46

Post by jlardinois »

Two questions (one fact-based, one opinion)

1. This article notes that the various proposed H1B reforms would require (for some definition of require) that companies make an effort to hire Americans before offering positions to visa workers. Isn't this already a requirement?

2. I agree $60,000 is a very low minimum. But how is $130,000 reasonable? Even in this industry that's a significant salary.

Re: Trump's visa plan leaks: American techies first

#47

Post by jlardinois »

kavok wrote: post #36
qball wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I know of no better way to objectively measure "in high demand" than "well-paid." Sure, if the entire US had uniform costs of living. However, it's only the Bay Area that has costs (and local competition and investors) that keep those salaries at their current heights. Every other company not based in Southern California who can't find workers will suffer, whereas before they'd at least have a chance, albeit a slim…

Depends on the skill level and experience. 130,000 could be a senior developer / architect salary in parts of the Midwest. My company has paid contractors 5,000/week before.

Depending on what you consider senior (I've seen job listings that seem to use it to mean "anything that's not new grad"), that could be a salary in the valley.

Re: Trump's visa plan leaks: American techies first

#49

Post by marcus_holmes »

zxcvvcxz wrote: post #27
marcus_holmes wrote: post #8

This'll be interesting. Tech workers hate Trump, and have been forcing SV bosses to say bad things about him. But this move is clearly going to benefit us (well, I'm in Australia so not affected directly, but "us" as tech workers). Raising tech salaries and reducing the ridiculous exploitation of immigrant tech workers is good. SV bosses would clearly like to continue paying less for tech workers, and the visa progra…

> Raising tech salaries and reducing the ridiculous exploitation of immigrant tech workers is good. > tech Are we able to replace "tech" with other types of workers? Or is nationalism only ok when it protects this particular class of workers?

I was referring to self-interest. You could replace "tech" with "steel" but that conversation probably wouldn't happen on HN...

Re: Trump's visa plan leaks: American techies first

#50

Post by marcus_holmes »

yongjik wrote: post #43
marcus_holmes wrote: post #8

This'll be interesting. Tech workers hate Trump, and have been forcing SV bosses to say bad things about him. But this move is clearly going to benefit us (well, I'm in Australia so not affected directly, but "us" as tech workers). Raising tech salaries and reducing the ridiculous exploitation of immigrant tech workers is good. SV bosses would clearly like to continue paying less for tech workers, and the visa progra…

> But this move is clearly going to benefit us (well, I'm in Australia so not affected directly, but "us" as tech workers). Raising tech salaries and reducing the ridiculous exploitation of immigrant tech workers is good. As a US green card holder currently living in SV, I must say I'm really confused what you mean by "us". At first I thought you meant "US citizens who are tech workers", but it's possible you really…

let's define "us" as "the people reading this who do things with technology for a living".

and the net positive thing is the interesting bit - when does self-interest trump social values? (pun intended)

Post reply on HN