Sign in
in
   
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."  -Aristotle

About Me

I am a co-founder of Notches, an early stage startup currently based in NYC. We are building a free, open reviews network that anyone can participate in and anyone can build on top of. You can find out more on our official blog.

Read more about my background.

Connect with me on...

Recent Readers

Flickr Photos

 

Warning:

This article is more than 45 days old. Given the speed at which the technology world moves, this post is probably somewhat out of date. Please keep this in mind when reading the post. If this is a tutorial, please check whether you are using the same versions mentioned in the article.

A quick rant on H1-B Visas

On a related note, I agree with Faisal's criticism of Wally's H1-B rant. I don't purport to be an expert here (quite the opposite), but we need to remember that outsourcing is different than the work visa issue.

In the former, work is exported from the country because those in places like India or Brazil are willing to work for less. On the contrary, "insourcing" entails bringing workers into the country. These workers will make the same as you (if not more, because they are presumably "specialists"), pay taxes like you, and spend money in our economy like you. Indeed, this is not done because it is cheaper - in fact, the immigration hurdles actually make it more expensive. Price is not the driving factor, but rather quality - companies are willing to pay more because they feel they are getting quality they couldn't get otherwise. In other words, it's more analogous to importing an expensive foreign car not otherwise sold here - it costs more but there is no reasonable substitute.

(Note: The question of whether it is true that certain foreign are indeed better is a separate matter. The interview process is, after all, a subjective and often flawed way of measuring talent and potential, but it's the best we have now. It might also be said that, like the car that no one else has, it's the lure of the green grass on the other side of the fence. That said, many of the smartest people I've worked with have been here on work visas. Draw your own conclusions, but at least frame the problem correctly).

Perhaps the only similarity is that both bring competition, which might be what Wally and others are really afraid of. Outsourcing usually affects the lower-paying jobs, driving down the wages earned by commodified tasks. (We also have to admit that pure development is increasingly becoming commodified). Insourcing, on the other hand, drives up the expectations at the higher end of jobs. In other words, they work together to remove well-compensated mediocrity.

... But that's another rant for another time, and I should be studying.


View related posts

 

doug said:

That is why they call it h1-b *abuse*.  Instead of only bringing over "specialists" (the intent of the h1-b), consulting *firms* are bringing regular joes over and billing $35/hr per head (paying the developer $12.60/hr).  And to top it off, Fortune 100 companies are earmarking jobs specifically as Indian only (which is blatantly illegal), leaving some equally qualified Americans during the economic down-turn (post 9/11) working at McDonald's.

American companies are almost too impatient to deal with outsourcing directly to India, as the "hands-on" approach desired coupled with the time difference makes for some inconveniences that are nearly incompatible with American business.  Usually they outsource (defined as: "contracting with an outside company") to a firm who manages the outsourced project (which may or may not get done in India).  These firms make such a huge margin (50-100%) on their H1-B guys, that they don't really care if they are on-shore or off.

The end-game is that all Americans are paying the price (by the deflated/diluted dollar as well as the devaluation of our "American education") as a result.  If it is our desire to support Globalization, as a peace process (i.e., if we'd like India as allies), then so be it.  Perhaps the burden to the well educated software developer is at a cost that is bearable to society for the benefit of having allies abroad.

Quite likely though, all of this is an attempt to regain control over the salary expectations on the talent pool that came as a result of the .com era.
June 1, 2006 10:59 AM