The American Worker vs. the Most Qualified • Hacker News Board

Re: The American Worker vs. the Most Qualified

#21

Post by mgaunard » Wed, Sep 02, 2026, 7:57 PM UTC

YesBox wrote: post #13

When I was in high school, I took a physics class. I think I scraped by but one thing the teacher said that has stuck with me ever since was "when you want to test a hypothesis, set the variables to extreme numbers". Very useful framework IMO! If we pursued the "Most Qualified" in its truest form, then ~95%[1] of the jobs in this country would be handed over to foreigners. In isolation, this would be great for US com…

In practice, you hire the most qualified within the pool of people that can reasonably work for you: right to work in the right country, compatible hours, is able to connect socially with the rest of your team, etc.

Re: The American Worker vs. the Most Qualified

#22

Post by breadwinner » Wed, Sep 02, 2026, 7:58 PM UTC

One of the issues is conflation of IT jobs and High Tech jobs. Those making laws don't understand the difference -- they are all "computer jobs" to them. IT does not require immigrant labor. Companies such as Infosys and Tata don't need to be operating in the US. There are plenty of US workers available to do the job.

But High Tech is different. High Tech needs the best in the world, not the best in the US. The US leads the world in tech not because the best ideas were all American but because the best people in the world immigrated to the US. Stopping this will be ruinous to American prosperity.

The seminal research paper that kicked off the AI revolution (titled "Attention is all you need") was written by 2 Indians, 1 German, 1 British Canadian, 1 Pole, 1 Ukrainian, and 2 US born people. These people came to America, worked together and changed the world as we know it. Why would we want to stop it? Has this immigration undercut Americans? Far from it. These immigrants are the lifeblood of the tech industry, and their innovations create jobs.

Re: The American Worker vs. the Most Qualified

#23

Post by petcat » Wed, Sep 02, 2026, 7:59 PM UTC

> An H-1B hire should not simply be marginally better than an American counterpart. They should provide such a leap forward in capabilities such that the rest of the company is elevated in their own knowledge and expertise.

This is an important thing that was recently addressed by the new $100,000 fee to sponsor an H-1B visa. It is especially impacting Indian tech workers in the US [1] since the types of roles that InfoSys and other foreign tech consulting firms are staffing do not meet the bar of "leap forward in capabilities". A US company is welcome to sponsor (and pay for) a visa for a truly exceptional worker. But not just anyone because they're cheap and minimally-capable.

[1] https://thefederal.com/category/news/h1b-visa-indian-tech-wo...

Re: The American Worker vs. the Most Qualified

#24

Post by SpicyLemonZest » Wed, Sep 02, 2026, 7:59 PM UTC

nkrisc wrote: post #9

skmurphy wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“If Something Cannot Go on Forever, It Will Stop.“ Stein's Law

Of course, but there’s a wide gulf between slamming into a wall at 80mph and gently rolling to a stop. The latter requires foresight and action, however.

I don't think the famously young-skewed tech industry is at any risk of slamming into a wall. If Google finds in 2035 it's running out of good seniors in their 30s because they haven't been mentoring college grads well enough, there'll be plenty of experts in their 50s and 60s to pull back in from management or FIRE or age discrimination.

Re: The American Worker vs. the Most Qualified

#25

Post by dstnn » Wed, Sep 02, 2026, 7:59 PM UTC

YesBox wrote: post #13

When I was in high school, I took a physics class. I think I scraped by but one thing the teacher said that has stuck with me ever since was "when you want to test a hypothesis, set the variables to extreme numbers". Very useful framework IMO! If we pursued the "Most Qualified" in its truest form, then ~95%[1] of the jobs in this country would be handed over to foreigners. In isolation, this would be great for US com…

You clearly have worked in a bubble. I find more qualified people in the usa than out of it, this is more of a payment issue than a lack of skill issue.

Re: The American Worker vs. the Most Qualified

#26

Post by mlboss » Wed, Sep 02, 2026, 8:00 PM UTC

Few facts to add color to different point of views:

- PG wants cheap labor so that we can get cheap/hard working employees for startups with a fear of deportation - Palmer cannot hire people on visas because they cannot easily clear security clearance that is required to work in Defense sector. Its better to align with current Government to get contracts.

Re: The American Worker vs. the Most Qualified

#27

Post by patwork » Wed, Sep 02, 2026, 8:01 PM UTC

The open secret of the H1B program is that the credentials are fake. The system whitewashes candidates to provide the illusion of these credentials, but they are in fact no more qualified than an American candidate.

Re: The American Worker vs. the Most Qualified

#28

Post by samtp » Wed, Sep 02, 2026, 8:01 PM UTC

petcat wrote: post #23

> An H-1B hire should not simply be marginally better than an American counterpart. They should provide such a leap forward in capabilities such that the rest of the company is elevated in their own knowledge and expertise. This is an important thing that was recently addressed by the new $100,000 fee to sponsor an H-1B visa. It is especially impacting Indian tech workers in the US [1] since the types of roles that I…

Seems more likely to just lead to larger offices in India, reducing high earners here in America (even if only temporary) and reducing the amount of money that is recycled through American cities.

Re: The American Worker vs. the Most Qualified

#29

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Sep 02, 2026, 8:02 PM UTC

petcat wrote: post #23

> An H-1B hire should not simply be marginally better than an American counterpart. They should provide such a leap forward in capabilities such that the rest of the company is elevated in their own knowledge and expertise. This is an important thing that was recently addressed by the new $100,000 fee to sponsor an H-1B visa. It is especially impacting Indian tech workers in the US [1] since the types of roles that I…

[deleted]

Re: The American Worker vs. the Most Qualified

#30

Post by brightball » Wed, Sep 02, 2026, 8:03 PM UTC

davesque wrote: post #10

The article doesn't address what I think are the main complaints about H-1B: that it is mostly used to cut costs and hire people who have very little freedom to switch jobs. That and all the trickery with ghost jobs meant to only give the appearance of hiring stateside. The example given is also not great. Von Braun was one remarkable foreign expert in a leadership position. On the other hand, in my experience, many…

> The article doesn't address what I think are the main complaints

Over the last 20 years, I've noticed this is most of political journalism today.

Post a headline refuting the thing, ignore the primary issue from the thing you're refuting. People who don't already deeply understand the issue don't know any better.

Everything can be factually correct. It's all just framing by what you choose to leave out / ignore.