Laid Off, Now What? • Hacker News Board

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#151

Post by vsskanth » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 7:29 PM UTC

addicted wrote: post #95

mancerayder wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Typically it's the Democrats who are pro-immigration, but in reality they don't care much about H1B style immigration and are in fact likely against it due to American tech unions hating H1Bs, Wait, what? Tech unions? I've never seen a single union in my entire 20 year career. I was sympathetic up until you complained about that. What unions? The H1B stuff goes back and forth politically. If you ask me, if the econ…

The whole argument that Democrats, who have voted for bills that help resolve H1B issues by vast majorities and Obama passed executive actions that among other things allowed H1B spouses to work, provided a grace period, and until Republicans sued and had it rolled back in court allowed for H1 B green cards to be filled from infilled green cards in other categories, don’t really care is a remarkably wrong statement,…

It's not that simple. All those democratic actions for H1B you've described are merely tokens when you consider how much attention they paid to undocumented immigrants (DACA). They've completely neglected the kids of H1B workers who have been here decades but have to leave the country when they turn 21. None of what they've done provides an attainable pathway for permanent residency for legal, tax paying high skilled workers from India.

Democratic immigration policies always prioritize family based and undocumented immigration. They have clear electoral benefits from this (see AZ and TX). Reforming H1B and the high skilled immigration system is only an afterthought.

Republican policies have at least put forward some kind of points-based system. They however want to reduce family based immigration which is an absolute no-go for Democrats.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#152

Post by tdeck » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 7:29 PM UTC

nbm wrote: post #113

kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "My grandparents were labor leaders and I'm pretty certain they'd be ashamed I can't or haven't done more to rectify this. Unfortunately tech unions are typically the ones railing against H1Bs entirely. The mere presence of H1B workers fundamentally increases worker supply (by definition). In fact it was the "US Tech Workers Union" that championed recent actions against H1B workers. And let's be honest they were no…

The “US Tech Workers Union” doesn’t appear to be a union at all. It appears to be a subsidiary of the “Progressives For Immigration Reform” non-profit aimed fairly exclusively at the H-1b issue, and the only spokesperson I can see for it is the executive director of PFIR. So, I wouldn’t take the “US Tech Workers” as being representative of tech workers or tech workers unions without further research.

Funny to see this pop up because I happen to know who is behind this cluster of sites (i.e. https://ustechworkers.com/ https://www.cfpup.org/) and it's basically one super right-wing guy and some wealthy donors. None of these is a real union or even a real community group. It's wealthy lobbyists who want to oppose immigration. I always thought it was really shady.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#153

Post by scarface74 » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 7:29 PM UTC

I read through most of the comments before posting and I am still ambivalent about whether we should allow more or less people immigrate to the US.

But, the more I read about the H1B system, I am sure that if we as a country think people are deserving to come over here and we think they add to our economy, we should treat them like humans and not have them in constant fear of being deported at the whim of their employer.

Decent people can disagree about immigration, but I don’t see how decent people can disagree about how you treat people who took all of the necessary, legal steps to be here. It’s just human decency.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#154

Post by yibg » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 7:30 PM UTC

YZF wrote: post #104

kinkrtyavimoodh wrote: post #10

H1B rules are quite ridiculous (or more accurately, cruel). Do people here know that even this 60-day grace window was only put into place relatively recently by the Obama administration? Before that, you technically had to leave the country the day you were laid off. Never mind that you might have a house a family and might have been living here for more than a decade. You would officially be staying illegally if yo…

I had a job offer and TN status with a US company and I decided (last minute practically) not to move to the US for precisely this reason. That I'd have to leave the country on the same day I lost my job. Doing this with a family seemed too risky for me. I'm not sure what my parallel universe life in Seattle would have looked like but I've no regrets staying in Canada.

FYI TN also has a 60 day grace period.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#155

Post by thewarrior » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 7:31 PM UTC

tomp wrote: post #112

ram_rar wrote: post #99

My undergrad college final year students were one of the last ones where many of us inclined towards coming to US for grad school. This was back in 2013, when INR was also doing very poorly and I remember, my semester fees was as volatile as crypto. Nowadays, I always tell my junior folks to calibrate all the pros and cons on being in H1b visa very seriously. The level of uncertainty can drive you nuts. Its not just…

I’m not from India but from an almost-first world EU country, and I’ve been working in London for a while. My advice for someone else in my position (starting out) would definitely be to try to go to the US. Salaries are just so much better, it’s incomparable. You could save in the US in a year as much as you would make (post tax) in Europe in 5 years. Even in London and Switzerland, pribably the best-paid countries…

As someone who chose to stay in London for me the increased certainty is worth the hit to my salary. Salary matters but it isn’t everything. Obviously it’s not the same for Europeans who can get a green card in a few years.

But a lot of people are waking up to this and offices in places like London and Canada are expanding. I personally know people who make very good money in both places. In fact anecdotally there’s increasing presence of big tech in London as a backup for H1B rejects by all majors. In the long term this will contribute to the decentralization of tech companies outside the US. These policies are short sighted and foolish.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#156

Post by damnyou » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 7:35 PM UTC

firebaze wrote: post #97

jdsully wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not an act of omission, this is a result of compromise with factions that don’t want immigration at all. The fact it discourages people is a feature not a bug.

If you immigrate, you emigrate. If you successfully immigrate (let's say in the U.S.), you have skills sought there. Those skills are probably also in demand in your origin country. You'd stand even more of a chance to be one of a few in your home country, gaining status, gaining visibility, turning the tide. I know I'll probably be flagged for this question, but still: why do this? Why not help your origin country w…

Because most of the world does not have the infrastructure that the US has, and so they wouldn't be able to benefit society (as a whole) nearly as much.

Because some people are queer or from other minority communities within their home country (e.g. Dalit in India), and would be subject to discrimination, including and up to murder, in their home countries. Asylum only covers the most extreme cases and not the day-to-day discrimination that minorities face worldwide.

Because freedom of movement is an inalienable right that comes with being a human, and borders are inherently oppressive.

Because most of the world is a harsh, dangerous place, and supporting the decisions individuals have made to stay or get out, given the circumstances they're in, is inherently a moral good.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#157

Post by 49yearsold » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 7:35 PM UTC

This is mind boggling to see so much effort need to put into getting into FAANG. I am 49 years old and working as an engineering manager in a public company. I have spent decades writing large distributed, Saas, on-premise, enterprise application - many of which I helped implementing, architecting and supporting. Then I just went to leetcode and saw one of the "EASY" question about how to prepare for FB interview. It is something about finding an island that's surrounded by water given a two-dimensional array. I simply stared at it and have no clue how to solve it. Am I the dumb one or does anyone have similar reactions when they see these leetcode problems? Also - if I plan to interview at FAANG - I plan to interview at least for engineering manager positions - but looks like even these positions are tied to these kind of coding questions? I am depressed.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#158

Post by JonLim » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 7:35 PM UTC

returningfory2 wrote: post #31

JonLim wrote: post #22

Does the 60 day timeline include the amount of time you need to be approved for the visa, as well? I wasn't laid off, but am in the process of changing employers with my TN visa. This is probably the least smooth part of the entire interviewing/job changing process, at least from my perspective, as a software dev who doesn't have a degree in computer science or computer engineering. Wish it were all a little more tra…

> Does the 60 day timeline include the amount of time you need to be approved for the visa, as well? No. You must start a new job within 60 days. Due to H-1B portability rules, you can start a new job as soon as your employer has filed paperwork with USCIS. The H-1B processing time doesn't count. I recently started a new FAANG job on H-1B, and because I received an RFE it actually took nearly 3 months after starting…

Oof, that's a long wait. If you don't mind me asking, is it because of the whole H1B status with the current administration, or of additional hoops you had to jump through for the RFE, or something else?

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#159

Post by moises_silva » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 7:36 PM UTC

bonchicbongenre wrote: post #130

nrmitchi wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do people here know that even this 60-day grace window was only put into place relatively recently by the Obama administration? My worst situation dealing with this was a TN status rather than an H1B, where I was told at a border that I could be ineligible for admission to the US because I had no left the day that I was laid off from a previous position. I had to tell the CBP officer that there was a 60 day grace p…

Here's a fun one — my (foreign) girlfriend graduated from a US undergrad, and stayed in the country over the summer to begin her US PhD. She was legally covered as being able to stay in the country in both directions by the grace period after/before her undergrad/grad school respectively. When going to the embassy to renew her Visa, she was told she was staying in the country illegally, and the idiots there wouldn't…

As an immigrant in another country (thankfully more immigration-friendly), I completely understand the frustration. I think however we must see beyond the incompetence of some front-line workers and turn the frustration and complaints towards who's running the country and its policies, not providing training and overall setting a bad example on how to treat immigrants (legal or illegal). I've declined good offers to move to the US because of concerns with the immigration policies, which quite honestly are exacerbated by the current administration.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#160

Post by imtringued » Sun, Sep 20, 2020, 7:36 PM UTC

firebaze wrote: post #97

jdsully wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not an act of omission, this is a result of compromise with factions that don’t want immigration at all. The fact it discourages people is a feature not a bug.

If you immigrate, you emigrate. If you successfully immigrate (let's say in the U.S.), you have skills sought there. Those skills are probably also in demand in your origin country. You'd stand even more of a chance to be one of a few in your home country, gaining status, gaining visibility, turning the tide. I know I'll probably be flagged for this question, but still: why do this? Why not help your origin country w…

What knowledge? The knowledge people gain by working at a foreign software company? Let Albert Einstein work as a delivery driver in Mumbai and he's going to accomplish nothing. Everything is relative and depends on the given situation.