381–390 of 469 posts
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It's been such an obvious self-own for tech workers not to capitalize on any of the multiple booms they've seen, and unionize.
employers preempted that option long time ago. h1b visa workers cannot be in an union.
There's a law that says this?
I've been thinking about job searching lately, maybe a bit too much. I'm employed, so it is not any immediate concern for me, but one has to think ahead. Between age discrimination that starts after 50, and how difficult the job search seemingly is...some people will have to work at least until they're 70. That's a solid 15-20 years more, after the job hunting is an uphill battle. If the work search is hard while you…
That’s a long enough tech career to retire. I don’t know you, but I know that even 65 year olds with 6 million in the bank are nervous to retire.
I've been thinking about job searching lately, maybe a bit too much. I'm employed, so it is not any immediate concern for me, but one has to think ahead. Between age discrimination that starts after 50, and how difficult the job search seemingly is...some people will have to work at least until they're 70. That's a solid 15-20 years more, after the job hunting is an uphill battle. If the work search is hard while you…
It's been such an obvious self-own for tech workers not to capitalize on any of the multiple booms they've seen, and unionize.
If there was a union there would be no boom to capitalize on.
In my recent experience (20 yrs experience so ymmv) - basically all jobs you see posted on LinkedIn or on big sites are either fake or might as well be because they are being run through HR - everything is optimized for engagement, not outcomes, so there are lots or meaningless things to do (basically anything on linkedin). You might as well do some of them to stay sane but they'll never get you a job - what's valuab…
Imagine trying to find customers only by cold emailing.
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I suppose if you are including European and Indian salaries and American students? But upper middle class students are literally temporarily embarrassed millionaires.
All non-student Americans on HN are making 6 figures or something, I guess?
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Most people don't have the temperament for FIRE. You have to live below your means, save a double digit percentage consistently, and invest. And you have to do it for decades. You need to be able to tough it out through the worst of times (like the dot-com bubble, financial crisis, covid, and random political chaos like tariffs.) You have to tune out the noise and always remember that on a long enough timeline, the m…
And all of that is made easier by having more income.
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All non-student Americans on HN are making 6 figures or something, I guess?
In software? Yes - no matter which part of the country. Maybe a few hold outs in the 90k.
Anyway I'm not American, Indian, or European. I guess I don't exist!
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What could potentially put an end to the current hiring "winter"? We have an increasing amount of immigrants coming over in hopes of getting a white-collar job, in combination with the tech sector shrinking, as well as companies as a whole being much more careful when hiring. There would need to be some explosion in the amount of tech jobs, in order for everyone to be able to get one. However, I just cannot see what…
Your statements contradict each other. If companies are much more careful when hiring, they would not consider immigrants unless the candidate is exceptional, which doesn’t significantly change the number of opportunities for an average worker. Contrary to the conspiracy theories, H1B requires the employer to pay market wage or higher, so hiring an immigrant for a white collar job is extra cost and risk, and only mak…
Something doesn't add up here. If you are paying the market wage, you fundamentally cannot have challenges finding qualified candidates. The market wage isn't established until you already have someone agreeing to your terms...
H1B is built around the concept of past market wages. This is why the 'conspiracy theories' state that H1B drive down wages. Not because the H1B workers are paid less than other workers, but because they are paid the same.
Consider the scenario where yesterday it took $20 per hour to find a willing worker. Your competitor hired that person. Said worker isn't going to come work for you for $20 per hour. He is already positioned with that. He would come work for you for $30 per hour, though. You could offer him $30 per hour, or you could cry and say that you can't find anyone and then hire an H1B for $20 per hour. Technically, in this scenario, the market wage became $30 per hour, but since the H1B was introduced you were able to bring it back down to $20 per hour.
Which isn't much of a conspiracy theory. That's just basic economics. The macro effects are considerably more complicated, of course. H1Bs are granted on the understanding that having two workers being paid $20 per hour is more net beneficial to society than one worker making $30 per hour. Including economically over the long term — where businesses that are able to expand with more workers will eventually be able to pay all workers more, although the "trickle down" crowd will dismiss that idea.
The so-called conspiracy theories disagree with that notion, believing, no doubt because they are thinking of it from an individualistic point of view rather than a worldly point of view, that they would be better off making $30 per hour instead.
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UBI sadly is purely a fantasy. We don't have money even for retirement funding, which shows cracks in every country. And UBI is basically a lifetime pension.
> We don't have money even for retirement funding We only don't have it because we refuse to collect it. There is enough wealth in the world to end hunger, poverty and allow people to age to death in dignity, but we lack the political will to achieve any of these things.
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And all of that is made easier by having more income.
Yes, if you can avoid the traps of life style inflation. That's easier said than done.