I wasn't aware that there is a difference between Software Developer and Software Engineer? What does the latter entail?
The only difference is that a Software Developer works at Company X, and a Software Engineer works at Company Y.
Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry
161–170 of 250 posts
Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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?
We have an office in India that is staffed by a number of exceptionally talented engineers.
Locally the talent pool is shallow, as most if not all the good engineers are well taken care of by their employers (as they should be).
If you're lucky you'll contact one at the right time who is looking for new opportunities.
If you're a Google, Amazon, or MSFT with deep pockets then you can pay to acquire talent. For others, it's not easy.
Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry
#163Common knowledge is that foreign workers will typically have lower wages on average because they have less freedom to switch companies, and as such have less bargaining power. On the other hand, giving greater visibility into H1-B wages like this could exert an slight upward pressure on their wages as well.
>foreign workers will typically have lower wages
>they have less freedom to switch companies
Is there some data/documentation to back this up? As far as I know, an H1B VISA does not tie you to a specific company.
Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry
#164This 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…
In Canada, you wouldn't be allowed to call them an engineer if they didn't have professional certification as an engineer. It's against the law. People have been taken to court over it.
Plenty of companies in Canada offering Software Engineer positions and asking for a degree in CS.
Now I wouldn't class a CS degree as a 'certification in engineering'.
Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry
#165This 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…
In Canada, you wouldn't be allowed to call them an engineer if they didn't have professional certification as an engineer. It's against the law. People have been taken to court over it.
IIRC, the US believe is similar, however the title engineer can be bestowed by a company to an employee while they are working for the company.
Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry
#166I own a company that specializes in hiring H1Bs and placing them into contract roles. The data doesn't look very accurate. For one thing, this data doesn't appear to represent what companies pay. I usually get bill rates up around $100/hr to $150/hr depending on skill and location. Like New York has higher cost of living than Michigan so I can often pull a higher bill rate. The payout to the H1B is works out to be $6…
So you're one of the companies giving H1-B a bad name by abusing it for cheap labor and taking money out of the foreigner's pockets then?
Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry
#167My salary is missing. I earn well over $300k base salary, and H-1B'd in California, 2014. My salary is on visadoor, but not here. If my high salary is missing, what other high salaries are missing, too? Does this give us a distribution that is distorted low?
It's probably also missing lower salaries and middle salaries.
browsing visadoor, I now see a number of high salaries are missing.
If visadoor ever read this, please add salary range filters to http://visadoor.com/h1bvisa-database. E.g., only show offered salaries >= 300000. Thanks!
Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry
#168My salary is missing. I earn well over $300k base salary, and H-1B'd in California, 2014. My salary is on visadoor, but not here. If my high salary is missing, what other high salaries are missing, too? Does this give us a distribution that is distorted low?
There are only 4 cases in CA in 2014 with salaries between 300K and 400K.
Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry
#169I'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…
You nearly hired and processed 38 H1-Bs personally in 2012?
How many American Citizens - children of previous immigrants, or of native americans - did you fucking hire?
Re: Show HN: A histogram of salaries given to H1B workers in the software industry
#170Common knowledge is that foreign workers will typically have lower wages on average because they have less freedom to switch companies, and as such have less bargaining power. On the other hand, giving greater visibility into H1-B wages like this could exert an slight upward pressure on their wages as well.
>foreign workers will typically have lower wages >they have less freedom to switch companies Is there some data/documentation to back this up? As far as I know, an H1B VISA does not tie you to a specific company.
It doesn't tie you to a specific company, but your new company has to be able to go through the H1B process for you as well which definitely increases switching friction.