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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

#181

Post by visadoor »

throwaway6496 wrote: post #167
jsprogrammer wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

Visadoor builder here. Thanks for the feedback. Its on my todo list.

What data are you seeing missing? AFAIK its pretty accurate, but http://visadoor.com/h1bvisa-database is the archive database and is usually upto a quarter old.

Realtime (updated daily) is at http://visadoor.com/h1b-lca-database.

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

#182

Post by cortesoft »

codeonfire wrote: post #94
ryanSrich wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

If they hire a software engineer to build a bridge, they have more problems than the job title.

I don't really follow this argument, since it isn't like all the 'certified' engineers are interchangeable. You would have just as many problems if you hired an electrical engineer to build your bridge as you would if you hired a non-certified software developer to do it. Are people really worried about software developers trying to illegally build building?

I mean, we don't legally limit who can call themselves an engineer in the US, but you still need certifications to actually BUILD something that requires engineering work. That seems like a much more effective control than limiting who can call themselves engineers.

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

#183

Post by throwaway6496 »

visadoor wrote: post #181
throwaway6496 wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

Visadoor builder here. Thanks for the feedback. Its on my todo list. What data are you seeing missing? AFAIK its pretty accurate, but http://visadoor.com/h1bvisa-database is the archive database and is usually upto a quarter old. Realtime (updated daily) is at http://visadoor.com/h1b-lca-database .

Sorry, visadoor looks accurate, but I meant to say that the salaries were missing in the new distribution visualization.

BTW - thanks for visadoor!

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

#184

Post by stygiansonic »

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…

The certification is more than just "an expensive piece of paper". In some jurisdictions (Canada), an engineering accreditation board has to certify that the courses taught during the course of obtaining an engineering degree contain certain material - thus enforcing a standard across all degrees, regardless of the university/institution.

Without this, it's arguable that having an "engineering degree" (in a certain discipline, say software eng) from one university would not all be comparable to having one from another institution - thus decreasing the overall quality of the industry. I'm not saying having the standard solves all these sort of problems, but I am saying that it makes things better.

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

#185

Post by donw »

shas3 wrote: post #99
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…

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…

The problem as I see it is that H1B isn't really immigration; it's even classified as a "non-immigrant" visa, created so that companies can temporarily employ foreign workers.

H1B holders are effectively tied to their employers. Sure, they can in theory find other jobs, but the timeframes and restrictions are very different to those of an actual immigrant.

Immigration of talented people would be fine. I would love to see a merit-based system. But the H1B system is hardly immigration.

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

#186

Post by IndianAstronaut »

ForHackernews wrote: post #151
rconti wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a huge surprise to me. When I went back to college, I graduated in 2006 and IS/CS/CE rates were at all-time lows. I guess it's been awhile now, but the numbers probably rebounded so recently that the only glut of talent (if there is one) is in very recent grads. We do not have major unemployment in the Valley. It's very very very hard to find good people.

> It's very very very hard to find good people. Any time somebody says this, I always mentally add "...at the wage I want to pay." It is not hard to find good people if you offered a million dollar salary. If there were a legitimate labor shortage, wages would be skyrocketing. Instead, we get employers whining and agitating for increasing the H1B quota.

Smaller companies just can't afford it. Also, a developer will keep other people employed at the company. If our company had no developers, all the sales/accountexecs/marketing/etc people would be out of a job.

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

#187

Post by cesarbs »

donw wrote: post #185
shas3 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The problem as I see it is that H1B isn't really immigration; it's even classified as a "non-immigrant" visa, created so that companies can temporarily employ foreign workers. H1B holders are effectively tied to their employers. Sure, they can in theory find other jobs, but the timeframes and restrictions are very different to those of an actual immigrant. Immigration of talented people would be fine. I would love to…

Keep in mind that many companies start sponsoring an H-1B employee's Green Card as soon as they start working at the company. When considering those companies, H-1B is about immigration.

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

#188

Post by nashashmi »

lsaferite wrote: post #84
nashashmi wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

THIS IS WHERE YOU NEED ANONYMITIZATION.

How do you retain the ability to filter and anonymize a single data point result?

you remove the data entirely and lump it into "other". I guess states or entities with less than 5 occurrences should be categorized as other.

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

#189

Post by cesarbs »

ild wrote: post #119
ensmotko wrote: post #2

It'd be interesting to see how H1B salaries compare to normal salaries, but that data probably isn't publicly available, right?

Many, many Indians come in on L1/B1/tourism visa and work completely illegally.Or may be politely asked to return a bit of money on coming back to India.

L1 is a work visa for company transfers.

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

#190

Post by IndianAstronaut »

varunjuice wrote: post #124

Has anyone tried to determine if the prevalence of H1B visas results in a downward pressure on salaries in the tech sector? In theory, it shouldn't because H1B visas are supposed to be filled when you can't find a citizen or a resident, but I wonder.

It may lower salaries down. This is not unique to software. Immigrant construction workers lower some wages, shipping steel industries abroad lowers wages and causes unemployment.

The important issue is if it is a net good for the economy and society. Lower wages in one area can also mean lower prices for the rest.

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