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Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
QcomGeek, let me also hit another one of your points here: "International students going back.. Reverse Brain Drain" This just provides a good example why the US should reduce it's enrollment of some foreigners and encourage Americans into STEM fields. It makes no sense for American tax payers to subsidize schools, only to educate those who want to return to their home countries and then compete against us. It also makes no sense for companies to hire and train people on H1Bs who would do the same thing. "And I think it is in US interest that those students come here and study and contribute. Weather you like it or not but they are big part of US innovation machine." To be sure the best and the brightest foreigners should be encouraged to come here and allowed to stay. But that's been the case all along, even before the massive change to the H1B program that has led to so many people crowding STEM fields. Even before the influx of so many people on H1Bs over the past 10 years, engineering and science in the US was a multicultural experience of working with the best and the brightest from across the world. That's one of the things in fact that I've liked about it. Over the past 10 years however, it's actually shifted away from being a multicultural field full of the best and the brightest. Why? Because the emphasis has been on hiring massive numbers of workers who are mostly average, from countries with the lowest cost basis. Not to say that this applies to everyone, but it applies to more people than I would care to say. Incidentally, the Corporate agenda that is seeking to remove he H1B cap is using exactly the "drive innovation through immigration" argument because it looks good on the surface even though it's clear that it's actually harmful if someone digs deeper into the facts. The best can help to drive innovation, but just bringing in the masses of people as the H1B system is doing now isn't driving anything but wages down. The mindlance/Qualcomm job ads are perfect examples of that. Those ads attract entry-level engineers, people who may come from disadvantaged backgrounds. These people (American or Foreigner) aren't driving innovation anywhere and there is no reason to favor a foreigner for these positions. Yet what we have seen is that those jobs were specifically targeted only to H1Bs and not Americans. Going from say 5 engineers for every job to 10 engineers for every job, is actually hurting innovation because it's discouraging the best Americans from entering the field. The system that would work best is to apply free market principles and allow the salaries to go up to attract the best. Corporate America isn't having any of that however because they want wages down (and down by a lot) and not up. And to be sure, wages will be coming down as Wall Street (and in particular the CEOs of all major tech companies) have specifically made this to be one of their key drives.— March 19, 2011 1:33 p.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
As to why American's don't "compete" for the research grant money, there are many causes. First, it's because in some cases Americans aren't even aware of the opening or given an opportunity to apply (kind of like the Mindlance Qualcomm job posting in India). The biggest reason though is that the pay is cheap. People can make more money by leaving school to go to work for a company with only a BS degree, rather than going on to get an advanced degree (and presumably working on a meager research grant). The return on investment in getting a MS or PhD, has traditionally been viewed as insufficient to keep people from jumping to a company after receiving their BS. The fact that there are so many people looking for less jobs nowadays is driving people to have to obtain an advanced degree though. This just means that people avoid the STEM field altogether, because they see that the total return on investment is low and declining. By the way, in your posts there does seem to be an anti-American theme that implies that the absence of Americans in STEM fields, university programs and working on research grants is due to some inherent inability of Americans to succeed in these fields. You have to look at the full picture and root cause that is causing strong disincentives to Americans to work in these fields. As I mentioned earlier, Americans packed these fields in the past but are now avoiding them for the reasons that I've stated. In fact the company that you are working for employed mostly Americans when the majority of the true innovation of CDMA was done in the early years of the company. Incidentally, my child is enrolled in honor courses that are dominated by the children of Qualcomm enginers (almost all of whom are foreigners). He is gettting straight A's and holding his own just fine, but I'm steering him away from the engineering profession for the reasons that we've been discussing. I have another relative who is a PhD in EE and is a director at a major semiconductor company, his kids are spread out in age and he steered all of his younger kids into an engineering career, but his youngest he is steering away for the same reasons. I also have a niece who graduated from Harvard who is in med-school now and a nephew with a law degree from Stanford. These are all examples where individuals have the ability and education to do well in engineering but are avoiding the profession. But getting back to your conjecture that the lack of presence by Americans in STEM is due to some lack in ability. We could use this same faulty logic elsewhere, for example a person could say something just as nonsensical such as, "lack of immigrants on the boards of American companies, just shows that they aren't smart enough to compete for the big money with 80-year old white males".— March 19, 2011 12:35 p.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
QcomGeek, the issue of foreigners going to American Universities is a long one that would take another thread to fully cover. So I'll just list some of the key facts. Universities (and non-profits) have no limit on the amount of H1B Visas that they can bring in. The cap that applies to private companies like Qualcomm, does not apply to them. So Universities (collectively) have, surprise, become the biggest exploiter of cheap foreign labor according to H1B statistics. Professors and researchers have known this for years and when they receive grant money, they make sure that most of it goes to themselves and as little as possible goes to their hired help. They even recruit from overseas directly, similar to how Qualcomm uses Mindlance in India. It happens so often now that it's become almost standard hiring practice for grant money. Foreigners do pay high tuition, but if you look at the total dollars invested in public schools such as the UC System, the vast majority comes from tax payers. Foreigners pay more to public schools and would like to think that they are subsidizing the system, but the true subsidizer is the Tax payers. As outsourcing and insourcing have hammered every income class in America (except for the very wealthy who are profiting), our tax base is also in decline which means infrastructure, especially schools, are hurt the most. So schools become cash strapped and start to target foreign students, even though American tax payers are still footing the vast majority of the bill. Not a good situation. Incidentally, I just read an article today about Delhousie (Canadian University) specifically recruiting only Saudi students for medical school. They needed the money quickly and felt it would take too long to recruit other foreigners such as Americans, so they advertised only to the Saudi market and (surprise) filled these enrollment slots with only Saudis. The presence of only Saudi students obviously doesn't mean that they are better or worse than other students, it's basically about the money and it's an example of what is happening in US schools. But getting back to the H1B situation, Professors and Universities can be just as stingy as anyone else and exploit the system by hiring H1Bs. But because it's essentially a zero-sum game, this just means more people eventually chasing fewer jobs, so it contributes to the problem and it’s just one of many reasons why the total number of H1B Visas should be drastically reduced or eliminated.— March 19, 2011 12:11 p.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
Incidentally, Don also mentioned in another post that current Wall Street policies will be ruinous for the uber-rich (not a direct quote). Unfortunately I wish this were true. I think what we will have is a situation that exists in other countries such as Mexico and India where the wealthiest strip-mine everyone else. A case in point: Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world (at last count). Got this way by creating a media monopoly in Mexico - basically think of all of the content companies like Time Warner, merging with broadcasters like CBS, merging with cable companies like Comcast, merging with teleco's like Verizon and merging with Sat companies like DirecTV. He made more money than Bill Gates off of the backs of his fellow Mexicans. All because of his unchecked ability to grow a massive monopoly in Mexico. The net result hasn't been ruinous for him, but it has been ruinous for those in his country. Incidentally all of these Uber-wealthy actually have more in-common with each other than they do their fellow countrymen. Nationalism is dead, which in some ways may not necessarily be a bad thing, but what has replaced it is far worse - The Global Robber Barron's. People such as Rupert Murdoch, the Koch brothers and based on this article, apparently the Jacob's family. This is the direction that we're headed. Say good-bye to the Lower, Middle and Upper Classes. Thanks for building the Infrastructure that we all enjoy today. We took it all for granted and because of our current apathy, have only ourselves to blame.— March 17, 2011 8:50 p.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
You know, I've given this single issue a lot of thought, because I think it's challenged everyone's Dogma, Republicans and Dem's alike. The realization that I came to is this: As the cliche goes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Big government is corrupt, Unions are corrupt, Wall Street is Corrupt. So what happened since the 80s? Previously, all three groups co-existed at the same time and all 3 created a healthy tension that kept the other groups from gaining to much of an edge that would allow them to grossly exploit the system. In the 80s, Ronald Reagan, correctly in my opinion, recognized the evils of Big Government and Unions. Without realizing the long term ramifications though, he proceeded to deregulate and gut the Federal Government, while simultaneously breaking the unions (or at least starting us on that path). Fast forward 20 years later to 2011 and Wall Street now has unchecked greed that is exploiting all but the top 2%. The GOP loves to tout Reagan as almost a demi-god, but I seriously doubt if he would have approved of what his policies have wrought. Incidentally, Reagan's former Director of the OMB, David Stockman, has been very effective at getting the word out about what has happened to the Middle Class and has ripped both parties for fiscal irresponsibility. Bottom line, my conclusion has become that all 3 forces: unions, strong regulation and Wall Street, as evil as they are, are needed in our society.— March 17, 2011 8:39 p.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
Yes I heard about the impacts to nursing programs as well. The only thing to do is spread the word and pressure your representatives. I e-mailed both of my Senators and my congressional rep. (Brian Bilbray). I was surprised to get a call from his office by one of his workers who focuses on immigration issues. I told her about my outrage at the gross displacement of workers, even in the middle of the nation's worse recession since the depression. Interestingly enough she brought up the problem in nursing. So his office is aware of it. Her advice was to stay outraged and become an activist. I assumed that Bilbray being GOP would be unsympathetic to this issue and instead I found his office to be both aware of the problem and sympathetic. It all could be lip service though. Interestingly enough I got the opposite response from one of my DEM senators (I think it was Dianne Feinstein, but I'll have to check). She said something to the effect that she supports the H1B system to drive innovation. With that comment she told me two things: 1) She's a corporate tool. 2) She's too stupid to pay lip service to the issue, so that people know that she's a corporate tool.— March 17, 2011 7:56 p.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
QcomGeek, I'm leaving on a business trip for the next two days so I won't be able to respond to this or your other post to me for a few days.— March 16, 2011 9:48 a.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
Incidentally, what happened in Wisconsin is just another manifestation of the same problem. Columbia Professor Jeffrey Sachs gave another great interview today about the Robber Baron's that is a much watch video: http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/the-new-robb…— March 16, 2011 9:42 a.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
This is exactly the heart of the issue. The H1B program is just one manifestation of the Robber Baron's pushing down everyone to benefit themselves. In the US, the wealthiest 10% own 93% of the assets and have become an unstoppable juggernaut politically. Removing the H1B cap is high on their agenda. Gerald Celente summarized it perfectly with this interview: http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/too-big-to-f… Everyone should watch this video...— March 16, 2011 9:32 a.m.
Are American Engineers in Short Supply?
Also just to add one thing to Indian-H1B, you mentioned that you would like to work at a startup. Be prepared for a shock. Salaries at startups have dropped significantly. One VP of engineering (Indian) at a successful startup told me recently that, "there are so many engineers available now that I see no need to hire anyone over $100k." Many C-level executives at start-ups are topping out at $200k. You could get hired as a C-level, but most of them come from a finance/MBA background. Your only hope of getting a fraction of what you're making now outside of Qualcomm would probably be to start your own company.— March 15, 2011 11:33 p.m.