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Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

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Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

#91

Post by Dirlewanger »

ryanSrich wrote: post #69
grecy wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if you're a certified Engineer. I studied Software Engineering, and I'm accredited by the Institute of Engineers in Australia.

> Only if you're a certified Engineer Not really. If you've got a CS or SE degree you are certainly an engineer. If you've built systems and worked in the industry solving difficult problems you are an engineer. In the US we don't need an expensive piece of paper telling us what we're qualified to call ourselves. EDIT: To be clear I'm referring to software engineering. Not all engineering. I thought that was obvious…

Problem with that is that, at least compared to actual engineers who need to take the FE exam to be called one, it's a complete misnomer and to be frank, a little embarrassing. Most CS/SE programs share no classes with engineering programs except maybe calc 1/2 and one or two others. It just feels wrong referring to myself as a software engineer because a. there's no formal definition of one and b. it's unfair to those who actually are engineers. I didn't slog through statics/Differential EQs/vibrations/Calc 3/Mechatronics/Embedded Systems/etc. like some of my friends, and on a nominal level it's unfair to them.

Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

#92

Post by [deleted] »

ryanSrich wrote: post #69
grecy wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if you're a certified Engineer. I studied Software Engineering, and I'm accredited by the Institute of Engineers in Australia.

> Only if you're a certified Engineer Not really. If you've got a CS or SE degree you are certainly an engineer. If you've built systems and worked in the industry solving difficult problems you are an engineer. In the US we don't need an expensive piece of paper telling us what we're qualified to call ourselves. EDIT: To be clear I'm referring to software engineering. Not all engineering. I thought that was obvious…

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

#93

Post by aceperry »

shas3 wrote: post #61
djb_hackernews wrote: post #12

This gets to the rub of prevailing wage. You are hiring a developer, do you call her an engineer where the prevailing wage is 87k or do you call her a programmer where the prevailing wage is 61k? This type of fraud is difficult to prove and there probably isn't even anyone responsible in the government to verify or investigate issues. EDIT: forgot to mention that the prevailing wage can be determined by salary survey…

Why is there an implicit assumption that the H1B visa program engenders fraud? A lot of H1B discussions on HN focus on fraud and avoid talking about legitimate talented foreigners because that stuff is not as interesting. H1B discussions on HN are like the crime beat in newspapers. Further, 'H1B' seems like a catchall term for hating on immigrant labor in the software industry. Here are some examples on HN that demon…

"A lot of H1B discussions on HN focus on fraud and avoid talking about legitimate talented foreigners"

Not just on HN, but the discussions on H1B are similar everywhere. And just in case you don't understand the controversy, a lot of people believe that the H1B program is being misused and abused, to the detriment of employees here. If you don't agree with that, you should make your case instead of whining about the arguments.

The links you cite don't point to any specific post, and I couldn't go through all of them to figure out which ones you consider bigoted. But if there are bigoted and hateful posts (which are wrong and I don't condone) I would disagree with you that most people here hate on immigrant labor.

Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

#94

Post by codeonfire »

ryanSrich wrote: post #69
grecy wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if you're a certified Engineer. I studied Software Engineering, and I'm accredited by the Institute of Engineers in Australia.

> Only if you're a certified Engineer Not really. If you've got a CS or SE degree you are certainly an engineer. If you've built systems and worked in the industry solving difficult problems you are an engineer. In the US we don't need an expensive piece of paper telling us what we're qualified to call ourselves. EDIT: To be clear I'm referring to software engineering. Not all engineering. I thought that was obvious…

There are some legal restrictions in some places so that apartment buildings and bridges don't get built by the local guy with a backhoe and then collapse.

Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

#96

Post by aceperry »

balls187 wrote: post #83
unprepare wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because we have major unemployment inside of the US. We also have the highest ever rate of Computer Science graduates.[1] Those two combined make the 'need' for foreign tech workers seem very suspicious. On top of questionable need, there are other facets of the program that are obvious areas of potential abuse (employer reported prevailing wages, employer sponsorship forcing employees to stay out of the competitive…

> Those two combined make the 'need' for foreign tech workers seem very suspicious. Anecdotally speaking, it's hard find and hire good engineers in Seattle.

So, would you have to go to India to find good engineers? And if you do, what is the interview process like?

Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

#97

Post by nickysielicki »

In Alaska, software engineers on an H1B made $72,000/year in 2014 In 2014 the Alaska software industry gave jobs to 1 foreign software engineers, 100% less than the year before. Most of them made between $NaN and $NaN per year. The best city for software engineers was Anchorage with an average salary of $72,000.

Hahah.

Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

#98

Post by [deleted] »

JeremyMorgan wrote: post #71
ryen wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The link shows h1bdata.info as a source, which uses data from here: http://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/performancedata.cfm#d...

Yep, and it shows 2,830 H1B applications approved in Oregon in 2012, which sounds more accurate

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

#99

Post by shas3 »

unprepare wrote: post #79
shas3 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is there an implicit assumption that the H1B visa program engenders fraud? A lot of H1B discussions on HN focus on fraud and avoid talking about legitimate talented foreigners because that stuff is not as interesting. H1B discussions on HN are like the crime beat in newspapers. Further, 'H1B' seems like a catchall term for hating on immigrant labor in the software industry. Here are some examples on HN that demon…

Because we have major unemployment inside of the US. We also have the highest ever rate of Computer Science graduates.[1] Those two combined make the 'need' for foreign tech workers seem very suspicious. On top of questionable need, there are other facets of the program that are obvious areas of potential abuse (employer reported prevailing wages, employer sponsorship forcing employees to stay out of the competitive…

It is a hard problem, but there isn't enough evidence to link legal immigration to the shortages and unemployment that you have cited. It is as easy to say "there is some unemployment, so we should make life difficult for non-immigrant aliens, that'll fix it" as it is to say "the sun goes around the earth because we see it go across the sky." It is not clear if you can draw a causation between restrictive (or unfair policies, as it currently stands) immigration and improved employment rates. The debate will be better informed if you can cite studies that say fixing alien-worker policies fixes employment (to any extent). Here's a (partisan) starting point: https://www.uschamber.com/blog/guest-post-economic-impact-hi...

Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry

#100

Post by hyperlz »

JeremyMorgan wrote: post #35

I'm wondering where the data came from and how accurate it it is. "In 2012 the Oregon software industry gave jobs to 38 foreign software engineers." Ok so here I am assuming you mean 38 new H1B engineers were hired in 2012. There is no way that could be true, I nearly hired and processed that many H1Bs personally in 2012. I was working with several others with similar or higher numbers. And that's just one company in…

http://visadoor.com/h1bvisa-database shows 3103 results for 2012. Probably more accurate.
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