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Laid Off, Now What?

bharathpbhat.github.io

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Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#131

Post by fishywang »

User23 wrote: post #127
fishywang wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What immigrant visa, exactly? H1b is the pathway to immigrant visa for tech workers in the US. For H1b holders born in certain countries, they have to be on H1b visa to be on the 5-10 year long queue to get the green card.

The appropriate E visa[1]. [1] https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrat...

That's the exactly same thing I said: you need to be on H1b (or other non-immigrant visa but allows dual-intention, for example L1) and wait for maybe years or decades (based on your birth country) to get that.

Here's the current queue size: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/v.... For immigrants born in mainland China, E2's current queue is 4.5 years, for immigrants born in India E2's current queue is 11 years.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#132

Post by scarface74 »

kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #10

H1B rules are quite ridiculous (or more accurately, cruel). Do people here know that even this 60-day grace window was only put into place relatively recently by the Obama administration? Before that, you technically had to leave the country the day you were laid off. Never mind that you might have a house a family and might have been living here for more than a decade. You would officially be staying illegally if yo…

> American tech unions hating H1Bs

What the heck is a “tech union”? Who are in one?

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#133

Post by whack »

nickysielicki wrote: post #41
kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #10

H1B rules are quite ridiculous (or more accurately, cruel). Do people here know that even this 60-day grace window was only put into place relatively recently by the Obama administration? Before that, you technically had to leave the country the day you were laid off. Never mind that you might have a house a family and might have been living here for more than a decade. You would officially be staying illegally if yo…

I fully support immigration reform and expedited citizenship for skilled workers. I empathize with you. I have a lot of friends from school who have to deal with this, and it sucks. On the other hand, the H1B system isn’t supposed to import fungible labor. These visa are supposed to be for highly specialized labor — highly specialized to the point that the openings are rare. It’s hard to fault an abused program for b…

> These visa are supposed to be for highly specialized labor — highly specialized to the point that the openings are rare

This is not true. The H1B program is intended to "allow U.S. employers to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. A specialty occupation requires the application of specialized knowledge and a bachelor's degree or the equivalent of work experience". Ie, it is intended to boost the economy by allowing in skilled college-educated immigrants. There's no requirement that they have to possess unique/extraordinary talent, or work in jobs where "openings are rare".

You're probably mixing up the H1B program with the EB1 program, which is indeed intended for immigrants possessing "extraordinary ability". The intent and requirements for H1B are far simpler

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#134

Post by stainforth »

confidantlake wrote: post #38
paxys wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every one of the numerous studies done in this area over the years has come to the clear conclusion that high-skilled immigration produces a net economic benefit to the country and its workers (here's a recent one - https://nfap.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/The-Impact-of-H-... ). Silicon Valley itself wouldn't exist had it not been openly attracting talent from all over the world, and the difficulty in getting visa…

The study is unconvincing. They mention that fields with more h1bs have lower unemployment. Well no kidding, in demand fields attract more h1bs, it isn't the h1bs making it more attractive. Another problem with the study. "...the program enables employers to hire foreign workers when they cannot hire U.S. workers" This is such a lie. My brother has looking for around a year and cannot get his first position. Past few…

That's a great angle for looking at - do we have data on the average age of h1bs? How can a young person already have the specialized skill they're supposedly brought in for?

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#135

Post by User23 »

fishywang wrote: post #131
User23 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The appropriate E visa[1]. [1] https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrat...

That's the exactly same thing I said: you need to be on H1b (or other non-immigrant visa but allows dual-intention, for example L1) and wait for maybe years or decades (based on your birth country) to get that. Here's the current queue size: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/visa-law0/v... . For immigrants born in mainland China, E2's current queue is 4.5 years, for immigrants born in India E2's curren…

There is no mention of H-1B at all on the State Department page I linked you. Where are you getting this from? Sure some H-1B holders manage to later acquire an E visa, but nowhere is it stated to be a prerequisite. Exceptional individuals don't even need a US sponsor to apply.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#136

Post by bradlys »

lowiqengineer wrote: post #123
marcinzm wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is a large place, you can save money for a decade in one location and then use that $1-2 million you built up to move somewhere cheap, buy a mansion and not give much a shit for the next 40 years. Taxes are also generally lower so you keep more. Healthcare costs don't matter since your employer pays for that and gives you good health insurance. School/child only matters later, and you can either move away by t…

I grew up with a dad working for 70-120k and a mom at home. I can’t even imagine how nice the lifestyles of Bay Area kids are.

Judging by the Palo Alto train tracks - it might not be as bright as you might be imagining.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#137

Post by scarface74 »

jen20 wrote: post #105
mathattack wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s cheaper than unwinding a house, no? Especially if you’re leaving the country.

Not necessarily. A house is an asset you can continue to own if you leave the country, by renting it. There is no requirement to be US resident or even eligible to visit the US to own property in the US. Breaking a lease can cost tens of thousands of dollars which is just waste - and if you ever intend on coming back to the country at some point, simply abandoning the lease is not advisable since the impact on credit…

Have you ever tried being a landlord if you are in another part of the same metro area that is only an hour away? I can’t imagine being a landlord dealing with rentals in another country.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#138

Post by marcinzm »

lowiqengineer wrote: post #123
marcinzm wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US is a large place, you can save money for a decade in one location and then use that $1-2 million you built up to move somewhere cheap, buy a mansion and not give much a shit for the next 40 years. Taxes are also generally lower so you keep more. Healthcare costs don't matter since your employer pays for that and gives you good health insurance. School/child only matters later, and you can either move away by t…

I grew up with a dad working for 70-120k and a mom at home. I can’t even imagine how nice the lifestyles of Bay Area kids are.

As I see it, beyond a certain level money and things don't make you much happier. They just give you a different set of things to feel the same level of happiness about.

edit: This is as someone who has experienced household lifestyles going from $250k/year.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#139

Post by kshacker »

akiselev wrote: post #128
kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #10

H1B rules are quite ridiculous (or more accurately, cruel). Do people here know that even this 60-day grace window was only put into place relatively recently by the Obama administration? Before that, you technically had to leave the country the day you were laid off. Never mind that you might have a house a family and might have been living here for more than a decade. You would officially be staying illegally if yo…

Even when you have a supportive (non-exploitative) employer it's an unbelievably precarious position (personal story time!). In order to renew an H1b visa [1], immigrants have to go to a US consulate, which do not exist within the borders of the United States so leaving the country is required. For the vast majority, this is a day trip to Canada or Mexico or a small vacation to visit family in their home country so i…

In order to renew an H1b visa, immigrants have to go to a US consulate

I think you may be confusing 2 things. H1 Validity and H1 Visa. You can extend your H1 from within US and most people do. No one is forced to go out and come back.

However, to extend H1 Visa, what you say is true. The difference is that visa allows you to go out of US, and then come back in, and for you to come back in, you need a visa that is valid at the time of entry.

However, if you wanted to stay in US without going out and keep on extending H1 (to the extent allowed by law), you can.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#140

Post by bradlys »

ramraj07 wrote: post #43
kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[Edit: Parent commenter has now reworded their comment to remove confusion] Huh? OP wasn't a rando who just 'studied' for a few weeks and passed. He has been working in Tech for 7+ years [1]. If anything the moral of this story is it doesn't matter that you have a 7 year experience, you still have to do fucking Leetcode for 2 months if you want to get a new job. [1] https://www.linkedin.com/in/bharathpbhat/

I see _some_ potential acceptability to this idea though. There are a few hypotheses for this to be true: 1. If you're not a good programmer even with leetcode practice you can't get good 2. If you're a good programmer with leetcode practice you eliminate anxiety and are able to perform optimally according to your programming skills Thus, it is definitely semi annoying that you need to "prep" for interviews with leet…

Being a good programmer doesn't necessarily mean you're good at leetcode and just need to brush up. I don't meet almost anyone who uses DP in their daily life but you can bet your ass you'll run into a problem that requires DP in a FAANG interview. And you better put it on the board in under 20 minutes or you're getting passed for the next guy who did 1000+ problems as their prep. It wouldn't be so bad if being a good programmer was sufficient and you just needed a little bit of brushing up - but the arms race started years ago... So, now the bar is very high.

Leetcode is solving small problems, often with tricks, in a very short period of time. Being a software engineer is solving large problems over large periods of time.

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