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Updates to H-1B

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Re: Updates to H-1B

#591

Post by diebeforei485 »

Aperocky wrote: post #458
asoneth wrote: post #336

I wonder if switching from a lottery to an auction would help curtail some of the abuse? That is, for each position a company wants to fill with a non-citizen they also have to bid on the visa fee they're willing to pay. The highest ~7,000 bids that month are accepted and paid to the government in exchange for a visa. We could debate things like sealed-bid versus open auction and uniform-price versus paying your bid…

Think you would also lose everyone that's not working in IT/finance in an instant (or until whenever their visa expires). The biologist, geologist, physicists and the likes.

Lottery only applies for initial employment, not for renewals.

Most physicists and biologists and geologists work in universities or labs or other institutions, which are cap-exempt anyway and don't go through the lottery.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#592

Post by profsummergig »

snakeyjake wrote: post #342
HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #161

A supposed shortage of qualified US applicants for tech jobs, especially software developers, doesn't jibe with the huge numbers of US developers currently looking for work, including highly experienced older workers suffering from age discrimination. I'd be surprised if more than 5-10% of H-1B positions are ones where the hiring company has even looked for US applicants.

My employer cannot hire H-1Bs. You must be a US citizen to work for my company. No "US Persons" (visa holders) or foreigners allowed. You have to be eligible for a Secret security clearance. You don't have to get one if you don't want to as there is usually plenty of uncleared work to go around, but you have to be eligible in case that goes away and we need to put you in for a clearance. We cannot find qualified appl…

Curious re: "linear algebra".

What kind of understanding is needed? A basic understanding? It's a vast and unending subject.

And there are well known software apps that do linear algebra these days. Do you folks use a particular software to do it?

Engineering Technician: what does an hour in the life of such work look like?

Thanks.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#593

Post by sciencesama »

janalsncm wrote: post #584
aprilthird2021 wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In general, H1B visas do have such provisions. At least in CA most jobs must provide a salary range. Even if every H1B is the lowest of the range in those postings, that alone means there are many many jobs which fit your criteria.

The ranges are way too low then. I checked H1B salaries and I found the following in San Jose (median rent approx $2200 for 1BR): FLEXON TECHNOLOGIES INC Database analyst: $60k DATA TRACE INFORMATION SERVICES LLC Software engineer: $65k PRIMARIUS TECHNOLOGIES US LLC DATA ANALYST $72k ZOOM VIDEO COMMUNICATIONS INC AI SCIENTIST $74k HBI SOLUTIONS INC DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR $75k BEACONFIRE STAFFING SOLUTIONS INC COMPUTE…

Taking advantage of the system !!

Re: Updates to H-1B

#594

Post by charlie0 »

BeetleB wrote: post #126
crmd wrote: post #68

It’s never been clear to me why this program exists in the first place, other than to put downward pressure on US STEM wages. What am I missing?

Software is one of the few STEM fields where one can get a fantastic job with just a Bachelor's. In most other engineering fields, a MS gives you a significant boost, and a PhD may do so as well. The reality is that in most of those fields, few Americans get an MS/PhD. Go to a typical engineering department and you'll often see the majority of advanced degree students are foreigners. So it's a question of: Do we want…

The reason why foreigners get those degrees is because it's a way for them to stay in the USA longer. I have a friend who didn't win a renewal for their H1B and they signed up for a master's program and applied for a different VISA. So yeah, some foreigners get them because their hands are forced.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#595

Post by shiroiushi »

colechristensen wrote: post #508
snakeyjake wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My employer cannot hire H-1Bs. You must be a US citizen to work for my company. No "US Persons" (visa holders) or foreigners allowed. You have to be eligible for a Secret security clearance. You don't have to get one if you don't want to as there is usually plenty of uncleared work to go around, but you have to be eligible in case that goes away and we need to put you in for a clearance. We cannot find qualified appl…

I've looked at jobs at places like this (some requiring quite high clearance) and the pay is hilariously bad, and I don't make anywhere near peak FAANG rates (or work in FAANG) 50% pay cut for a DevOps/SRE role requiring a Q clearance (DoE version of Top Secret I think) You can't find employees because the job isn't exciting (you're probably not NASA) and the pay is bad. Maybe your recruiters are bad too.

They're probably located way out in the sticks too. Who wants to pack up all their stuff and sell their house and move to the rural deep South for a job that may or may not work out long-term? And if it doesn't work out, they now have to sell the house they bought there (because there's nothing decent in that area on the rental market) and move cross-country yet again?

Re: Updates to H-1B

#596

Post by throwaway2037 »

thephyber wrote: post #328
toomuchtodo wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a shortage of applicants willing to work at what companies want to pay. If it is taking more than 30-60 days for workers to find a role, there are enough workers domestically.

> If it is taking more than 30-60 days for workers to find a role, there are enough workers domestically. This makes no sense, even if I agree with your first statement. Not every company is willing to completely retrain a worker for something outside of their core competency. Lots of candidates simply aren’t competent, or even reliable employees. Lots of companies would rather a position go unfilled than make a bad…

    > outside of their core competency
I don't mean to point a finger at you, but this term is basically a weasel term at this point... because the "core competency" grows as large as necessary for these companies to complain that they cannot find qualified candidates. In truth, they are not willing to train people missing some skills at the fringe. The original post from someone who works on satellite tech (surely dual-purpose to create killer robots, or whatever) decided to throw into the "core competency" mix that good/solid linear algebra was required. What a farce. I am sure that less than 1% of their work requires it. You can just have one PhD on the wider team that writes all that codes... well, sketches it out, then everyone else integrates it or refines it.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#597

Post by antisthenes »

ponector wrote: post #450
snakeyjake wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My employer cannot hire H-1Bs. You must be a US citizen to work for my company. No "US Persons" (visa holders) or foreigners allowed. You have to be eligible for a Secret security clearance. You don't have to get one if you don't want to as there is usually plenty of uncleared work to go around, but you have to be eligible in case that goes away and we need to put you in for a clearance. We cannot find qualified appl…

So many contradictions! You pay well, but not so much. You search for qualified applicants but can hire a student. You require linear algebra but ok with technical writer. Looks like your managers don't know who they need to hire or don't want to really hire.

> Looks like your managers don't know who they need to hire or don't want to really hire.

It's prevalent in government-adjacent companies. It's all a completely opaque byzantine system to mask the nepotism and the fact that a lot of those people just siphon money from the government like it's a jobs programs.

Not to mention that their application systems are usually complete garbage like Workday or Taleo.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#598

Post by kjellsbells »

b8 wrote: post #453
snakeyjake wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My employer cannot hire H-1Bs. You must be a US citizen to work for my company. No "US Persons" (visa holders) or foreigners allowed. You have to be eligible for a Secret security clearance. You don't have to get one if you don't want to as there is usually plenty of uncleared work to go around, but you have to be eligible in case that goes away and we need to put you in for a clearance. We cannot find qualified appl…

Defense contractors have loads of entry level jobs, but most require you already have a clearance (e.g. wanting US Army 17c or IC vets) or certifications which cost $500+ plus. Many don't sponsor a clearance, because it takes a long time, high chance of the application not passing and because they may just use you to get a clearance and job hop to a higher paying job. Defense contractor jobs are the only ones I've se…

Amen, good to see it wasnt just me. My last job search was this summer and I hit this all over.

I'm fine with working for a defense contractor or the feds. I'm fine with taking a pay haircut relative to FAANG to do something meaningful. I'm even fine with commuting, and the agencies poking into my life to assess a clearance. But I need to move from one job to another without a gap.

Private sector employers won't touch me without a clearance, and in my part of the world there are lots of people who already have one, so I'm not worth their time.

The US government would put me through a clearance, but their hiring practices are so slow and arcane that they're just not viable for someone who needs to find a job starting say in the next 30 days.

I wish it wasn't that way, but it is. So, I stay in the uncleared commercial sector.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#599

Post by fn-mote »

snakeyjake wrote: post #342
HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #161

A supposed shortage of qualified US applicants for tech jobs, especially software developers, doesn't jibe with the huge numbers of US developers currently looking for work, including highly experienced older workers suffering from age discrimination. I'd be surprised if more than 5-10% of H-1B positions are ones where the hiring company has even looked for US applicants.

My employer cannot hire H-1Bs. You must be a US citizen to work for my company. No "US Persons" (visa holders) or foreigners allowed. You have to be eligible for a Secret security clearance. You don't have to get one if you don't want to as there is usually plenty of uncleared work to go around, but you have to be eligible in case that goes away and we need to put you in for a clearance. We cannot find qualified appl…

Wow, I was all ready to look you up in your profile ... until I read all of the follow-up responses.

I knew it was too good to be true.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#600

Post by fn-mote »

biztos wrote: post #535
snakeyjake wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My employer cannot hire H-1Bs. You must be a US citizen to work for my company. No "US Persons" (visa holders) or foreigners allowed. You have to be eligible for a Secret security clearance. You don't have to get one if you don't want to as there is usually plenty of uncleared work to go around, but you have to be eligible in case that goes away and we need to put you in for a clearance. We cannot find qualified appl…

Not to pile on, but if linear algebra is really a part of the day-to-day job and not some manager’s mistaken idea of a proxy for more general talent, then you’re hiring specialists and the pool will not be that large. People who remember all their math and enjoy it and can also code, are also very employable at all the AI companies and departments, including at Meta. And how do you know if someone’s eligible for secu…

> if linear algebra is really a part of the day-to-day job [...] then you’re hiring specialists

It kind of bothers me that the parent and other readers here are passing off knowing linear algebra as some kind of esoteric skill. Linear algebra is a year 2 course in a undergraduate eduation. There are polished libraries to make it fast.

Unless you mean enough knowledge to be writing linear algebra libraries, there is no need to consider this skill a high hurdle.

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