Earlier quoted context omitted.
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> He is a Republican Senator from Alabama. He doesn't need to look at facts. Let's be fair here. That should read: He is a Senator. He doesn't need to look at facts.
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U.S. Senator blasts Microsoft's H-1B push as it lays off 18,000 workers
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Re: U.S. Senator blasts Microsoft's H-1B push as it lays off 18,000 workers
#12I wonder if any H-1B workers would have been among those laid off by Microsoft.
Re: U.S. Senator blasts Microsoft's H-1B push as it lays off 18,000 workers
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
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> He is a Republican Senator from Alabama. He doesn't need to look at facts. Let's be fair here. That should read: He is a Senator. He doesn't need to look at facts.
Some seniors face tough elections, others don't. Republican seniors in Alabama only face compition in the primary and little real completion at that.
Re: U.S. Senator blasts Microsoft's H-1B push as it lays off 18,000 workers
#14If you want to miss the point focus on the headline. We all know there is no shortage of tech workers, theres a glut. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been shipped overseas in the last 10 years, and for what benefit - zero, and we have VCs blowing millions of dollars into companies that want to let you order a pizza on your iphone.
Malinvestment rules the day in the US, that and outright wage suppression when little of value is ever created. Welcome home to America.
Re: U.S. Senator blasts Microsoft's H-1B push as it lays off 18,000 workers
#15"U.S. Senator accuses Microsoft of not treating workers as the generic cogs they are" "'When I go down to the market to get some workers, I always check the label', says the Senator, 'it's our patriotic duty to acquire locally produced workers'"
The locally-produced workers also must be fresh.
Organic might be nice for a few more decades, but let's not discriminate against our upcoming robot overlords too much.
Re: U.S. Senator blasts Microsoft's H-1B push as it lays off 18,000 workers
#16Why hire local talent when you can get a foreigner who will work for cheaper? (Not to mention the foriegner will also work under the shadow of having to go back to their country if they get fired..)
While there might be a good argument for this, I've never seen proof that it was not being abused.
Re: U.S. Senator blasts Microsoft's H-1B push as it lays off 18,000 workers
#17Raising the H1B cap has everything to do with creating downward pressure on wages. There are plenty of tech workers, but not enough cheap ones. Lots of companies also want experts in specific technologies instead of getting a good generalist who can learn quickly.
If you are in tech in the US and don't mind making less money for what you do keep supporting legislation for more H1B's. Just don't complain when you become a commodity, are required to dress "business casual" and cannot work remotely. The reason it is good to work in tech is because companies have incentives to make it a good place for you to work.
If your skills are something that is easy to find those benefits will go away. Most companies are not going to give you these benefits out of the goodness of their heart in today's environment. If they did then the average Wal-Mart worker would be making a lot more and have much better benefits.
Re: U.S. Senator blasts Microsoft's H-1B push as it lays off 18,000 workers
#18I've been thinking about this subject for a few years now. Like many HN'ers, I work deep inside the tech industry. I'm also fortunate enough to have watched the operations of dozens of different companies. I think the real problem here is that the tech industry does not know how to manage their workers. I'm not talking about managing projects, or how to coach or train. I mean the whole thing. The technology sector of…
* disposable workers that they can easily swap in and out as the political winds inside a company changes*
This is a very underestimated point. most hiring is not about skill or productivity. But about building a political base within an organization.
In some areas, this means hiring friends, fraternity brothers, or members of some other in/niche chohort. In other areas it means hiring people of a different stripe. It also shows up in HR very often as the term "head count", which an asset quota that is horstraded amongst managers. Headcount brings with it both momentum and inertia. And is a favorite tool useful for building subtle forms of leverage in an organization.
Its useful to be aware of these dynamics in places like startups and politics because they exist there, too.
Re: U.S. Senator blasts Microsoft's H-1B push as it lays off 18,000 workers
#19Why hire local talent when you can get a foreigner who will work for cheaper? (Not to mention the foriegner will also work under the shadow of having to go back to their country if they get fired..) While there might be a good argument for this, I've never seen proof that it was not being abused.
very very true.
Re: U.S. Senator blasts Microsoft's H-1B push as it lays off 18,000 workers
#20I wonder if any H-1B workers would have been among those laid off by Microsoft.
According to the minimicrosoft[1] blog comments, yes they have.
UK perspective: absolutely no chance of visas for people outwith EU if you are in a redundancy situation locally. Endof. I'm surprised this could even be happening.
Disclaimer: I live in a 50:50 city, in a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood where the 'recent immigrants' are Polish.
[1] http://minimsft.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/18000-microsoft-jobs-...