How Indian Immigrants Have Changed the face of Silicon Valley
1–10 of 22 posts
Re: How Indian Immigrants Have Changed the face of Silicon Valley
#2As a US citizen, I'd like to apologize for our inane immigration system. Hopefully we can get it changed in the next couple of years.
Re: How Indian Immigrants Have Changed the face of Silicon Valley
#3I interviewed someone last week for a European multi-national. He was a dream candidate, with much more experience than me (I wasn't interviewing him as a manager, but as a potential colleague) and for much bigger companies than me (Yahoo! to name one) and I probably over-compensated in the technical interview because his resume put mine to shame, but he answered all the questions and we had a good chat about various technologies relating to the position. The only reason he wanted to leave San Fran was because he had to as he is an Indian and having visa issues - so now a European company gets the talent. Thanks, America!
Re: How Indian Immigrants Have Changed the face of Silicon Valley
#4I have no doubt that expelling and turning away top Asian talent is bad for American business innovation, but there is another problem here. The advanced degree system is not designed to benefit the individual. I think the amount of work one must put in and the financial rewards one reaps upon graduation are out of sync. PG says as much in his essays.
For a business, they know that if someone has been willing to put up with eight years of crap as a student, they're likely to put up with many more years of it as an employee. Maybe there needs to be a visa program for Asian students without advanced degrees who are starting businesses.
Re: How Indian Immigrants Have Changed the face of Silicon Valley
#5I have no doubt that expelling and turning away top Asian talent is bad for American business innovation, but there is another problem here. The advanced degree system is not designed to benefit the individual. I think the amount of work one must put in and the financial rewards one reaps upon graduation are out of sync. PG says as much in his essays. For a business, they know that if someone has been willing to put…
> Maybe there needs to be a visa program for Asian students without advanced degrees who are starting businesses.
Or smart people, period. I'm Canadian and have an undergrad degree in Psych and Computer Science. I've written code at big media companies that you've heard of and started an online education company from scratch with an American co-founder that's growing nicely.
All told I've helped generate millions for the economy and created hundreds of jobs for Americans, and it's still a pain in the ass for me to start a company in the US (technically, I can start a company without problems. But working for a company I start is nearly impossible w/o an American co-founder).
Re: How Indian Immigrants Have Changed the face of Silicon Valley
#6I have no doubt that expelling and turning away top Asian talent is bad for American business innovation, but there is another problem here. The advanced degree system is not designed to benefit the individual. I think the amount of work one must put in and the financial rewards one reaps upon graduation are out of sync. PG says as much in his essays. For a business, they know that if someone has been willing to put…
>Maybe there needs to be a visa program for Asian students without advanced degrees who are starting businesses.
The link to PG's essay about exactly that: http://www.paulgraham.com/foundervisa.html
Re: How Indian Immigrants Have Changed the face of Silicon Valley
#7As a US citizen, I'd like to apologize for our inane immigration system. Hopefully we can get it changed in the next couple of years.
That's not enough. Get down on your knees and BEG forgiveness.
Re: How Indian Immigrants Have Changed the face of Silicon Valley
#8"India’s best and brightest swept inland, helped turn a valley full of orchards to Silicon."
Uh, no. Those orchards were gone long before South Asians came to Silicon Valley in significant numbers. The demographic makeup of SV engineers was overwhelmingly white American until around a dozen years ago.
With the importation of so many engineers into the US, wages were suppressed and many American students who had the potential to become engineers made the rational decision to pursue other career paths.
Re: How Indian Immigrants Have Changed the face of Silicon Valley
#9"For decades, those swells traversed the Pacific and smashed to rolling white breakers south of San Francisco. India’s best and brightest swept inland, helped turn a valley full of orchards to Silicon. And Silicon turned to gold, as baby-faced kings with Coke-bottle glasses made millions overnight."
Could someone please summarize the factual content of the article? The title makes me interested, but I don't have the patience to wade through the novelist-wannabee writing.
Re: How Indian Immigrants Have Changed the face of Silicon Valley
#10Can't remember the last time I saw such a fabulously written piece.