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Updates to H-1B

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Re: Updates to H-1B

#961

Post by acuozzo »

DiggyJohnson wrote: post #903
SauciestGNU wrote: post #658

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would I work in person for less money when I can work remote? For in person work on critical applications like satellites, I'd expect (spitballing here) a staff eng to be making 300k base with substantial bonus/espp on top. Consider that most midsize tech companies are going to pay staff level 200k or above and ask how the company in question compares, before pricing in the crushing inflexibility of in person wor…

> I'd expect (spitballing here) a staff eng to be making 300k base with substantial bonus/espp on top This is a fairytale in DoD work and while I think there's room for us to improve our compensation I'm not sure this is a reasonable number at the moment. Please don't flame me for this, just sharing my opinion. I work on a critical DoD new-work project. The only way to achieve that number in this sector would be priv…

That number shows up very often for the Principal SWE LCAT on contracts serving agencies at Ft. Meade.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#962

Post by m00x »

mrep wrote: post #944
m00x wrote: post #736

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do coding interviews 2-3x/week for a private, but large company. We do not lack candidates, but we lack qualified candidates. Most people that I interview have no clue how software actually works. Most are leetcode monkeys or just really awful. We mostly hire seniors because of the industry we're in, but we've started hiring interns and juniors due to the lack of decent candidates. We'd love to hire US candidates,…

From your other comment, you pay $400-700k for L4-L6. Since your company is private what percent of that is liquid (cash or RSUs you can immediately sell for cash). Also, what locations are you hiring in? Cause, if you are asking me to move to the outrageous housing market that is the bay area only to make half my money in shitty stock options that might not evaluate to anything, than I think I found your problem.

SF/Seattle/Chicago

We pay $400k base + bonus for L6, but around $270k for L4

RSUs bump that to $400k on the low end for L4 and $700k for L6.

We don't pay FAANG level for sure, but the bar is lower.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#963

Post by m00x »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #749
m00x wrote: post #736

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do coding interviews 2-3x/week for a private, but large company. We do not lack candidates, but we lack qualified candidates. Most people that I interview have no clue how software actually works. Most are leetcode monkeys or just really awful. We mostly hire seniors because of the industry we're in, but we've started hiring interns and juniors due to the lack of decent candidates. We'd love to hire US candidates,…

If this true, why doesn't FAANG have the same problems? I noticed that your post did not discuss any of the negatives about your company or its offers. When I have struggled in the past to hire, it is always because my company or its offers were pathetic. Pretty simple. If your company or offers are weak, then your candidate pipeline will (likely) be weak.

Plenty of candidates, just not many that are good.

We're fintech, so it's boring. We don't do AI and we don't move fast and break things because that would cost us more than we'd make. We just move faster than the competition. Similar companies would be Stripe/SoFi.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#964

Post by Cumpiler69 »

sunshowers wrote: post #940
Cumpiler69 wrote: post #820

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>American culture is profoundly anti-intellectual. Then why are US tech companies the most successful?

Mostly because of the foreigners, and the small portion of Americans that are pro-intellectual.

EU also has a lot of immigrants as well, and also an even bigger culture of education and intellectualism. Why then don't they have more successful tech companies?

I think you're omitting the giant impact of the FED, wall street, power of the USD world reserve currency and the VC investor incentives of risking billions on ideas that may or may not be profitable, with the low risk for investors if their investments don't pan out.

All stuff that doesn't exist outside the US.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#965

Post by account42 »

Ardren wrote: post #764
0086b416f103 wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We cannot find qualified applicants. Your company is incompetent. I've applied to hundreds of companies like yours within Huntsville, AL in the past year, rejected or ghosted all the time. Defense morons will talk about how hard their work is and how they can't find anyone to do it. Completely skip over how prevalent affirmative action is in their hiring process; who were you guys interviewing in 2020? Why is the d…

Wow, I can't imagine why companies don't want to hire you

A rant on the internet has nothing to do with how someone acts as a (prospective) employee.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#966

Post by allarm »

csomar wrote: post #646
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…

> Yes, we pay well. > No, we don't pay as much as Meta. Are you saying you pay well as comparing to the local McDonalds? That being said, my guess you can't find "qualified applicants" is because you are putting too many restrictions and paying too little. So you end up with students who will take anything and then you come here to complain about the lack of talent.

> No, we don't pay as much as Meta.

>> Are you saying you pay well as comparing to the local McDonalds?

That's just disgusting.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#967

Post by mrep »

m00x wrote: post #962
mrep wrote: post #944

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From your other comment, you pay $400-700k for L4-L6. Since your company is private what percent of that is liquid (cash or RSUs you can immediately sell for cash). Also, what locations are you hiring in? Cause, if you are asking me to move to the outrageous housing market that is the bay area only to make half my money in shitty stock options that might not evaluate to anything, than I think I found your problem.

SF/Seattle/Chicago We pay $400k base + bonus for L6, but around $270k for L4 RSUs bump that to $400k on the low end for L4 and $700k for L6. We don't pay FAANG level for sure, but the bar is lower.

That's pretty good. Can you liquidate those RSUs for cash? If so I'd be interested in possibly applying as I'm in Chicago where housing isn't outrageous. If not it could still be tempting depending on the company and what I think of it.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#968

Post by DiggyJohnson »

GenerWork wrote: post #924
DiggyJohnson wrote: post #907

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work in the space. You are massively understating the difficulty of finding candidates willing to get a security clearance, and the cost to the company of sponsoring those clearances. It's not as simple as the compensation number alone.

>You are massively understating the difficulty of finding candidates willing to get a security clearance, and the cost to the company of sponsoring those clearances. I find this hard to believe. I'd totally get a security clearance, but no company seemingly offers it, they only want people who have a pre-existing clearance.

Well that’s the second half of the issue with clearances, they cost the company a fortune to sponsor.

Re: Updates to H-1B

#969

Post by michaelcampbell »

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…

> No, you can't work remotely. You (even programmers!) have to touch the things we build in order to build them and nobody has an ISO certified clean room in their house.

I get that this is a legitimate requirement here, but in many companies it just isn't. And this is a huge limiting factor. The way housing is nowdays, no way I'm moving for a job without a relo package.

This isn't necessarily "we can't find qualified applicants", but rather "...that we will pay enough to make this switch"

Re: Updates to H-1B

#970

Post by Spooky23 »

commandlinefan wrote: post #888
Spooky23 wrote: post #663

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Developers aren’t fungible, and are hard to hire. Try getting a bunch of people to sling some boring Java or mainframe code. They don’t exist. The trap with the older worker is a guy wants $250k, but will perform at the level of a $75/hr body shop guy. Skills don’t align - that’s always the risk of engineering.

> wants $250k, but will perform at the level of a $75/hr So... literally what we've been saying about the H1B visa program for decades? That Americans _are_ available with the skillset you need, but not willing to work for the wages you're offering, so you bring somebody from overseas, which is actually illegal per the H1B rules that never get enforced?

Nope. A $75/hr contractor makes less than a fast food assistant manager.

Where I’ve worked in the past, the preference was to get students and grow them into the company. Longer term contractors were for work nobody wanted… it’s hard to attract anyone interested into churning out J2EE and COBOL.

It’s pretty hard to transition senior people purged from big companies into these roles. Your purged assistant director from a fortune 50 is unlikely to take to being an IC in legacy tech. They transition well into pre-sales and program management roles, especially if they have domain expertise in a vertical.

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