I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed • Hacker News Board

Re: I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed

#611

Post by maulikmehta123 » Fri, Jun 26, 2015, 2:15 PM UTC

emodendroket wrote: post #568

dsinsky wrote: post #480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe not, but even if not, why are you so sure that would be bad? Let's say the foreign workers would have made the equivalent of $20k in their own country but will now make $60k for Disney in the U.S. vs. the American workers who made, say, $80k but will now end up settling for new jobs that only pay $60k (in addition to their unemployment, social security and subsidized health insurance and other social safety net…

> (By the way, the stylized figures above are very generous to your anti-immigration case, since while there is plenty of evidence that immigrants 2-3x their incomes by working in the U.S., there is no reason to believe that American's actually suffer 25% income losses to do competition from immigrants. Most studies show no change or a positive impact to native workers' wages and the few that show a negative impact s…

yES dISNEY IS SAVING ON WAGES FOR SURE..Although I personally do not agree with using H1B to displace workers I also think American IT workers need to think about what kind of wages they expect for outdated and rapidly changing IT knowledge.. I have an excellent example in my own company.. A 48yr old American IT worker who makes close to 120-130K per annum... Let me tell you he does a good job but his work merely includes assembling PC's for employees, fixing bugs (rebooting Virus scan) and writing minor scripts once in a year to ensure email and server security. Majority of the time he just makes sure that all the employees machines are running smoothly. In terms of education he has an Associate degree in STEM and has been working for the company for 15 years.His position title says Systems Engineer. However a Systems Engineer in Google might actually be working on the Driver less car. Now the reality is that today the work that he has been doing can be taken care of by anyone even without a technical background.. so why pay him 120K? His knowledge was unique and fresh when he joined in 1998 but now in 2015 he is still in the same position , has the same qualifications and doing the same work everyday.. I am not blaming him..for this .. He is getting 120K for a skill set which is obsolete.. why would he think of trying something more or advancing his career..Since our company has a very small IT staff they might not take a step like Disney but otherwise this guy would have been long replaced. If I were him I would look towards more active roles within the company or else If I am so attracted to IT then I would go back to school update myself with the IT of Today and apply to a company that might need my new skills.. Overall my point is that the technical world is such that today nobody wants to buy an iphone 3GS today. Even if there are some buyers then they definitely do not want to pay $600 to buy it

Re: I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed

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Post by anocendi » Fri, Jun 26, 2015, 6:06 PM UTC

spiralpolitik wrote: post #412

anocendi wrote: post #67

It is kind of surprising to learn that those Big Law Firms rolling in huge piles of cash minute by the minute do not want to spend a mere couple of thousands for a member of their team. Is it because petitioning for a candidate without a STEM degree is that much harder?

For most people to sponsor an employment green card you have to show that you cannot find a qualified citizen or PR to fill the position. This is easier for some professions (STEM most notably) than others. Also there are restrictions on when a company can file. For example if the company has gone through layoffs then generally it can't sponsor people for several months.

> you cannot find a qualified citizen or PR to fill the position

This is something I can believe. There definitely is a bigger percentage of US citizens and PRs going to Law School, even in the small sample set I have encountered.

Re: I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed

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Post by greggman » Fri, Jun 26, 2015, 7:30 PM UTC

ericdschmidt wrote: post #513

greggman wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've spent about 8 years in Japan. I love parts of the culture (the good parts, not the bad parts). Things like the service ethic, politeness, safety, and the basic idea of "do whatever you want in your private life but don't put out anyone else while doing it." My guess is that a massive influx of foreigners would likely destroy that culture. Is there any way to open borders and still preserve a place's culture, at…

It wouldn't be doomed. Foreigners could have their cultural enclaves and Japanese theirs. Anyway, this is an extremely minor concern relative to the astronomic benefits of open borders. See my comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9769632

Your comment is very thought provoking but I don't agree the culture wouldn't be ruined nor do I agree it's a minor concern. It's already visibly being ruined by the massive influx of rude Chinese tourists.

Cultural enclaves don't say anything about crime like the fact that 19 times out of 20 if you lose your wallet in Japan you'll get it back with all the money in it. It's hard to imagine that would stay true with a much larger percent of non Japanese culture people.

Re: I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed

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Post by ericdschmidt » Fri, Jun 26, 2015, 7:43 PM UTC

greggman wrote: post #613

ericdschmidt wrote: post #513

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wouldn't be doomed. Foreigners could have their cultural enclaves and Japanese theirs. Anyway, this is an extremely minor concern relative to the astronomic benefits of open borders. See my comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9769632

Your comment is very thought provoking but I don't agree the culture wouldn't be ruined nor do I agree it's a minor concern. It's already visibly being ruined by the massive influx of rude Chinese tourists. Cultural enclaves don't say anything about crime like the fact that 19 times out of 20 if you lose your wallet in Japan you'll get it back with all the money in it. It's hard to imagine that would stay true with a…

The children of immigrants who grow up in the new culture learn it quickly and it becomes their own. American Chinese who grow up here behave just like white Americans. And BTW the Japanese thing you mentioned is likely almost entirely due to more efficient & convenient lost and found process: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/culture-conscious/20140...

Re: I spent the last 15 years trying to become an American and failed

#615

Post by winter_blue » Fri, Jun 26, 2015, 8:37 PM UTC

protomyth wrote: post #586

winter_blue wrote: post #579

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> By all accounts, it doesn't work worth a crud in its current form. You insist that F-1 OPT "doesn't work", but you the fail to give the slightest explanation as to why. OPT allows students to work a certain amount of time after they graduate, and most students cherish being allowed to do so. After OPT expires, they have to go through the H1B lottery. You can start a startup (i.e. be self-employed) on OPT, so it's a…

> You insist that F-1 OPT "doesn't work", but you the fail to give the slightest explanation as to why. Other folks in this thread have pointed out it doesn't work > Ask them why. Because they need a sponsor to switch - that is not freely - and as you say it "costs a company at most $4000" which is not free.

> Other folks in this thread have pointed out it doesn't work

F-1 OPT isn't mentioned any where else in this thread. So you still haven't explained why "OPT is broken".

> Because they need a sponsor to switch ... which is not free

Practically speaking, for people in tech, this isn't a problem, because most/all companies sponsor, and are willing to bear the $3-$4k cost.