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We Don't Have a Talent Shortage. We Have a Sucker Shortage

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Re: We Don't Have a Talent Shortage. We Have a Sucker Shortage

#761

Post by neffy »

pedrosorio wrote: post #525
neffy wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention we get free health care and decent holidays with that. A 7 weeks holiday allowance has more than a monetary allowance.

> Not to mention we get free health care The (many) issues with US health care do not affect upper/middle class professionals. From a "patient perspective", as long as you are employed as a software engineer in SV, health care is not a concern at all (insurance is covered by the employer). If anything, it is superior to anything I experienced in Europe.

I've experienced American healthcare and European healthcare. I'll take European any day of the week, over the Silicon valley version (and seriously if that's the best, god help the rest. I'm actually lucky I survived the US system.)

The issue in America is essentially that the system is paid by piecework. So the entire system optimises for the number of tests/procedures/operations etc. that can be performed. And that might not be so bad in and of itself, if 21st century medicine was reliable. But it's not, and the sad truth of the US system is that many of the (very expensive) procedures it performs have worst outcomes than leaving the patient alone.

Re: We Don't Have a Talent Shortage. We Have a Sucker Shortage

#762

Post by shoo »

Consultant32452 wrote: post #529
Waterluvian wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm out of touch but 4-5 interviews when they have sought you out and you're a domain expert seems like a big red flag. I've had a few short interviews that quickly turned into a sales pitch on why I should work for them. I've also had the same you experienced: they act like they really want you specifically then feed you into the human resource machine. Basically made me feel scammed so I bowed out after the f…

For my current job I took a 30 minute phone interview followed by an offer. The offer was what I was making as a consultant + benefits/vacation. So really it was a huge net pay increase. The project isn't super inspiring but I almost never work overtime, get 6 weeks vacation and it's 100% remote. This is honestly the best job I've ever had. I really don't understand why people put up with 4-5 interviews, homework, et…

> really don't understand why people put up with 4-5 interviews, homework, etc.

not everyone is negotiating from a position of strength.

Re: We Don't Have a Talent Shortage. We Have a Sucker Shortage

#763

Post by rootusrootus »

bcrosby95 wrote: post #737
varjag wrote: post #736

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You literally described their abilities in terms of how much they make.

I described their abilities with the word great. And said they all make over a certain amount. They didn't always make this much. One used to make 140k working in gaming just 3 years ago. He was still great, just getting paid a fraction of what he could make. But that's gaming for you.

It is really difficult to have a meaningful discussion without any objective measurement of great. I am impressed that you are still trying.

Re: We Don't Have a Talent Shortage. We Have a Sucker Shortage

#764

Post by Consultant32452 »

shoo wrote: post #762
Consultant32452 wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For my current job I took a 30 minute phone interview followed by an offer. The offer was what I was making as a consultant + benefits/vacation. So really it was a huge net pay increase. The project isn't super inspiring but I almost never work overtime, get 6 weeks vacation and it's 100% remote. This is honestly the best job I've ever had. I really don't understand why people put up with 4-5 interviews, homework, et…

> really don't understand why people put up with 4-5 interviews, homework, etc. not everyone is negotiating from a position of strength.

Everyone who currently has a job, that isn't at imminent risk of losing that job, is in a position of power against a company that needs labor.

I'm certainly not widely known in the industry. I don't have any public projects/repos. I've been doing this for almost 20 years, so I do have a pretty extensive resume. But I didn't have extensive resume when I was starting out in the early 2000s just after the internet bubble burst and times were relatively rough in the industry. And I wouldn't have done 4-5 interviews or homework projects even then.

We don't need to accept this kind of treatment from potential employers.

Re: We Don't Have a Talent Shortage. We Have a Sucker Shortage

#765

Post by whttheuuu »

hash872 wrote: post #384

"Why Are You Reposting Jobs With Over 1000 applications?" Because over 95% of them are completely random and do not meet even one single criteria of the job. Or, are fake resumes from H1B consulting shops. Post a senior software developer job in New York? Get ready for over half of the applications to be from a Burger King employee in South Carolina, a security guard in Florida, a mechanic in Idaho, etc. They spam th…

That's still over 50 qualified applicants..

Re: We Don't Have a Talent Shortage. We Have a Sucker Shortage

#766

Post by Hydraulix989 »

chrismcb wrote: post #699
Hydraulix989 wrote: post #688

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it’s illegal to hire based on IQ score.

Are you being sarcastic? At least in the US, you aren't allowed to discriminate based on a protected class(race, religion, sex, age, physical/mental handicap) but iq isn't a protected class.

To be clear, while not outright forbidden, the IQ tests are instead called "personality tests" or "aptitude tests" or "coding interviews" because of this landmine legal vaguery (for example, you mentioned mental handicap -- i.e. lower IQ score -- as a protected class).

Re: We Don't Have a Talent Shortage. We Have a Sucker Shortage

#767

Post by mixmastamyk »

dmode wrote: post #680
riazrizvi wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1000X yes. It’s the result of a PR campaign to increase the H1B Visa allotment. Love H1B employees, they are just delicious! Low wages and zero bargaining power otherwise it’s out of the country with you. It’s also funny because this creates a problem where wages have been driven down to a point where skilled workers can barely afford to support a family in tech zones. So because of these depressed wages in software…

This "H1B causes low wages" meme need to stop. It is such lazy thinking it is amazing. On this very thread people are commenting about outrageous salaries in the valley and peanuts pay in Europe and Canada. Guess which place is full of H1Bs.

H1B is a response to the high salaries and is a mitigation strategy, cause goes a bit too too far.

Re: We Don't Have a Talent Shortage. We Have a Sucker Shortage

#768

Post by mixmastamyk »

sytelus wrote: post #604
rubicon33 wrote: post #208

I feel like a broken record, but I'm going to say it anyways. There is NOT a shortage of software developers. That myth was developed by big tech, and pushed all the way up the ladder, to the top of government. The goal? Reduce labor costs. Big tech has always been 1 step ahead of the employee, just like coal, and metal working was. They saw the huge need for developers and realized their costs would increase unless…

Do you have anything to back this up? The OP article is a lot of complaining but almost no data except what seems like to be one lousy anecdote. I actually had been a hiring manager desperately needing people to fill open positions I had. I'm not saying I got zero resumes. The problem was that most resumes were sort of "I learned JavaScript and HTML 3 month ago" or "I'm a founder of my own company with 3 funky iOS ap…

Sounds like you are looking at junior resumes for some reason, when what you need are experienced folks. You know, older people. If they need a refresher on an algorithm or two, well then you hand them a book or teach them. Like in the old days.

Industry today wants a solution on a silver platter but the universe doesn’t work that way.

Re: We Don't Have a Talent Shortage. We Have a Sucker Shortage

#769

Post by mixmastamyk »

jmcqk6 wrote: post #732
rubicon33 wrote: post #208

I feel like a broken record, but I'm going to say it anyways. There is NOT a shortage of software developers. That myth was developed by big tech, and pushed all the way up the ladder, to the top of government. The goal? Reduce labor costs. Big tech has always been 1 step ahead of the employee, just like coal, and metal working was. They saw the huge need for developers and realized their costs would increase unless…

>There is NOT a shortage of software developers. That myth was developed by big tech, and pushed all the way up the ladder, to the top of government. The goal? Reduce labor costs. What is the line of reasoning than goes from 'there is a shortage of developers' to 'therefore, we need to pay less.'?

They don’t want to pay market rates, so promote a story to slow or reverse wage inflation.

But “don’t wanna pay” (when companies and 1%ers are hoarding like never before) doesn’t equal a shortage.

Re: We Don't Have a Talent Shortage. We Have a Sucker Shortage

#770

Post by mixmastamyk »

ghobs91 wrote: post #368
sergiotapia wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

150% - devs are slowly waking up to this fact. Behind the efforts to teach everybody to code are more sinister motives: lowering the salaries for engineers.

and yet the exact opposite is happening to software engineer salaries, their growth is outpacing tons of other fields.

That mitigation strategies are not entirely effective immediately does not fundamentally change their nature.
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