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Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
You've hit on one of the key dynamics that has been created from the outsourcing and insourcing policies that have hurt this country. Every society has a population of people who are better suited for manufacturing and blue collar type jobs. It's in everyone's interests to make sure that we continue to have suitable jobs for these people and not push them into a role where they will fail. The unemployment rate for some segments of the US population, particularly young minorities is 50%. One of the lessons learned from what is happening in Egypt and other Arab countries is that having a large segment of unemployed young people is almost guaranteed to cause unrest. Somebody could also make the case that without suitable jobs and with unemployment that high, that many people are directly pushed into crime. People need to eat and have decent health care. When outsourcing first became widespread, Wall Street economists said that we'll just retrain everyone for technology jobs instead. Now that technology jobs have been hammered, these same economists said that we'll just innovate in the service sector. Now that service jobs are being outsourced it's pretty clear that we've all been fed a bunch of nonsense (putting it diplomatically) and that all of these policies have only benefited the wealthiest 2% of Americans.— March 21, 2011 10:50 a.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
One last point about "innovation through start-ups" rather than "innovation through immigration": The start-up dynamic in Silicon Valley (and San Diego!) is a well known and understood process. Many if not all of the tech companies that exist today owe their genesis to Engineers employed at large companies that existed at the time. The engineers who were capable and desiring of a challenge, came up with new ideas for starting a businesses and drove innovation. The US heavily benefitted from this innovation, but all of that is in jeopardy now because insourcing and outsourcing gives people the skills and knowledge to start businesses in other countries. The fact that outsourcing and insourcing displace American workers almost GUARANTEES that more innovation will take place overseas. In the wired interview, Paul Jacobs described this process as "one of the scariest things that is happening in the US". Unfortunately he seems unwilling to recognize that his own hiring policies directly contribute to the problem, and his company continues to be one of the "most vociferous proponents" of the H1B program (according to Dr. Matloff).— March 20, 2011 11:11 a.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
Really one of the best thing that could be done would be to enforce anti-monopoly regulations. What drives innovation is not immigration (no surprise), but rather having small, nimble companies that respond to the market faster and with products that work well. Small companies also tend to hire and reward people with established track records of performance, rather than hiring based on credentials and H1B pipelines (as does Qualcomm). Unfortunately large monopolies also hurt innovation through predatory practices that stifle competition and keep small companies from gaining a foot-hold. Anyone remember Stac Electronics vs MS here in San Diego? Speaking of Microsoft, it's been well known for going on 2 decades now that their dominance with Windows gives them an unfair advantage in the App market. As a minimum MSFT should have been broken up into OS and app companies. The same monopolistic policy that causes MSFT to treat customers poorly also drives them to be a terrible employer. Qualcomm has grown in size to where many consider it to be a wireless monopoly. Double dipping and in some cases triple dipping in IP licensing fees has angered many customers, but because there are few alternatives, the practice continues. The same "who cares" attitude that irritates customers also carries over into the treatment of workers.— March 20, 2011 10:40 a.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
Failings of K-12 Education in the US has long been pointed to as a reason to import skilled labor, but detailed studies have shown it to be a complete red herring. For example, the Chinese government has allowed only schools in Shanghai to participate in standardized test scores and their test scores came out on top. But if you dig deeper there were obvious reasons for this. The first is that Shanghai is the high-tech hub of China and has the best schools and students in the country. The other thing is there is a weed-out process that steers underperforming students into a blue collar career path in manufacturing. Removing the underachievers will obviously raise the average and skew the results. In the US our "no child left behind policy" means that all test scores are included in the average which lowers the average, even though the top performing group is equal to those in other countries. A case in point is California, we have some of the top performing schools in the nation (including many here in San Diego), but we also have an enormous ESL population that lowers the average so that California comes in close to the bottom in national test scores. Many Northern States such as Montana that you wouldn't normally think of as being educational powerhouses rank very high, but not because their schools are any better than those in California, but rather because they have a lower population of underachieving ESL immigrants.— March 20, 2011 10:10 a.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
Very true. I think that this goes to show that in the new Robber Baron economy, anyone who collects a paycheck from a company is essentially middle class and thereby subject to the same exploitive tools of outsourcing and insourcing. I would think that if the AFL-CIO were to realize this that they could grow in influence and serve to check the current imbalance. Any system that pushes Americans into becoming a minority in the workplace is inherently corrupt. Qualcomm's "Global Workforce Inclusion" has really become a case of "American Workforce Displacement". Though they may try and spin it however they want, their dirty little secret is out.— March 20, 2011 9:38 a.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
Thanks Puppy! It's easy to make a strong case when the system is so obviously screwed up.— March 19, 2011 7:22 p.m.
Shelley Malil Sent to Donovan State Prison to Begin Life Sentence
Awesome story! That was a great song.— March 19, 2011 7:13 p.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
Jennifer, good to see the AFL-CIO is aware of the H-1B Visa problem. There are many in the tech field who feel that during prior White House Administrations, the AFL-CIO could have pushed back on the expansion of the H-1B program, but instead chose to do nothing. By standing by, they were viewed by many as part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. Personally, I think that the AFL-CIO has, at least so far, missed a golden opportunity to champion this cause and thereby recruit from the ranks of the skilled professionals. I (and I know many others) would be willing to pay membership dues if it meant that the AFL-CIO would use it's lobby to counter the growing chorus of tech CEOs that are demanding an increase or removal of the H1B cap. It's outrageous that a company such as Qualcomm would receive 6,224 H-1B Viss here in San Diego for a workforce of only 12,500. As if this weren't enough, the CEO has publicly stated that despite the fact that 60% of their workforce is comprised of foreigners, that they would like to have doubled the numbers of H-1Bs Visas that they had been so far granted. (. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/03/tech-tal… .) If you've read this thread, then you have also seen the link that contradicts the statements of Paul Jacobs that, "The company doesn’t seek out foreign-born nationals". (. http://www.itjobscareer.com/2008/12/h1b-opportuni… .). Clearly in fact the company does seek out foreign-born nationals (in this case a mediocre foreign-born national). It's exactly this sort of anti-American hiring practice and corporate double speak that has many in the profession outraged and worried about their future. We in the profession support your efforts, if in fact it represents a genuine effort to push back on the outsourcing and insourcing policies that have been disastrous for this country.— March 19, 2011 7:06 p.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
Interesting comments. I've read some books about the early days of Apple and all paint Jobs in a poor light but Wozniak in a very good light. It sounds like Jobs has found a niche for himself as being the obsessive dictator needed to ensure that products don't come looking as though they are "designed by committee". The fact that he is successful in this role doesn't make him the messiah that some people would like to paint. I'm also surprised that nobody also mentioned how Apple, after stealing the XEROX GUI concept turned around and sued DRI for it's GEM GUI.— March 19, 2011 5:14 p.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
In fact reading further down in this thread I saw a post by "JenniferDorning" which described efforts by the AFL-CIO to address the H1B Visa problem.— March 19, 2011 4:59 p.m.