The myth of America's missing software engineers

Post by isalmon » Mon, Aug 05, 2013, 6:57 PM UTC

seldo wrote: post #23

"It would make sense that an employer would try to offer a lower salary to an employee it helped move to the United States since that employee also gains the benefit of getting sponsored, but the analysis found the opposite." This makes me want to punch the screen. It is ILLEGAL to pay an engineer on an H-1B less than the median salary for that position, precisely because people were worried that foreign labour would…

Post by moocowduckquack » Mon, Aug 05, 2013, 6:57 PM UTC

pekk wrote: post #29

moocowduckquack wrote: post #12

" Bright.com, a California-based company that uses big data analysis to pair jobseekers with employers, released a report last month that showed that the supposed dearth of high-skilled engineers in the United States may be fiction after all. " Which would presumably be a useful result for Bright's business, if it is true, as it would mean that companies simply are not looking hard enough, which is Bright's business.…

In the place of analysis you have put a lot of snark which seems to be analysis. If another company with a different business had posted - one with an incentive to say there is a shortage of high-skilled engineers, like most big companies hiring engineers - would you be implying their claims are false too? If not, you are being partial; if so, your method is just to say that whatever anyone says must be wrong because…

Post by opendais » Mon, Aug 05, 2013, 6:59 PM UTC

temuze wrote: post #19

dbecker wrote: post #11

As someone occasionally involved in hiring, the important question isn't whether we have "enough" software engineers. It's easy to fill seats. The question is whether we have "good enough" software engineers. And, as long as we're trying to improve as a company, we'll always want better engineers.

You're 100% right. Why make it difficult for really smart people to immigrate to the US? Better engineers are always welcome at any company. In any case, there's reason to believe many of educated immigrants will become entrepreneurs and create jobs themselves.

Post by arink » Mon, Aug 05, 2013, 7:02 PM UTC

seldo wrote: post #23

"It would make sense that an employer would try to offer a lower salary to an employee it helped move to the United States since that employee also gains the benefit of getting sponsored, but the analysis found the opposite." This makes me want to punch the screen. It is ILLEGAL to pay an engineer on an H-1B less than the median salary for that position, precisely because people were worried that foreign labour would…

  "Elements of the H-1B program that could serve as worker protections
  such as the requirement to pay prevailing wages, the visa’s
  temporary status, and the cap itself are weakened by
  several factors."

Post by m_ke » Mon, Aug 05, 2013, 7:03 PM UTC

gdilla wrote: post #24

jcnnghm wrote: post #5

I posted this in response to a comment the last time this came up. That article was killed, so I'm reposting: Whereas the reason there are open positions for programmers at high tech companies is that these companies want star programmers Maybe they should try paying like stars. What percentage of engineers that aren't founders or within the first five employees make over $300,000 a year? The money is in Silicon Vall…

And is GS average pay skewed by a 1% of employees who make globs of money into the 10s of millions in total comp? Do the majority of staffers make normalish wages? Admin assistants, IT, operations, etc?