@kwstewart94
Absolutely... this shit has been going on for decades. Enough. Just ask any of us boomers who remember what it was like in the 80's before all this started.
New college grads with computer science degrees should be prioritized over H1B's (most of whom have mediocre skills). Many of my daughter's friends who graduated last spring with computer science degrees are still searching for jobs -- most can't even get an interview. My blood boils when I see what's happening to our new college grads.
Here's what it was like when I graduated in 1981.... My degree is in computer science, had excellent grades from a small SUNY school in upstate NY. Did a semester internship at Kodak (ONLY place I ever encountered mysogny in my 35+ yrs in tech). Didn't learn anything at Kodak -- pure waste of time but helped my resume.
And my degree was done 100% on punch cards. Bet most of you have never even seen a punch card reader, let alone used one. Imagine having to write code that you only get 10-20 tries to get both the syntax and the logic right. Computer time was expensive and it took time to run those punch cards through so you were limited in the number of runs to get it right.
Companies came to our campus, interviewed and then flew us out for on-site interviews. I had offers in CA, PA, DC, NY and MA by the time I graduated. Went to work in CA for HP and then was recruited a year later by my boss's boss to a start-up. Five years there with an amazing team (company didn't make it but I learned an immense amount). From there I worked the rest of my career as an independent consultant (when you could still do that and didn't have to always go through a bigger vendor). Once I had those relationships I was able to avoid working through a broker. Luckily I had those in place and had a pretty specialized niche before the H1B wave started. I worked with hundreds of H1Bs over the years -- most were mediocre at best -- I don't remember any who were truly exceptional talent. None that even came close to the American teams I worked with in the 80's.
Fast forward to the late 90's. H1B visas in full swing and now my software engineer husband who I met at that start-up can't find a job. Brilliant, hard worker, would have worked for far under what he was worth. He just loved to code. Couldn't even get an interview. Especially if it's a company using H1B's. His chances of getting an interview drop to virtully zero if the hiring manager was Indian. Incredibly demoralizing.
We finally moved to NC in 2005 so that he could find work. Landed a great job at Wells doing what he loved until he retired in 2016, and then he kept coding for free helping non profits and small family businesses until he passed away in 2018.
Many very talented programmers just gave up during the 2000's when competition with the H1Bs made it too hard to find work.
So, for this boomer, it's very personal. I've been watching what the H1B program has done to Americans for decades (and if you know me IRL, you've heard me bitch about this obnoxiously for that long too).
Stop the H1B program. Stop telling us that they have some magical specialized skills. They don't. They never have. And they generally discriminate against hiring Americans once they are in hiring positions.
Prioritize the talented Americans who are looking for work in tech. Prioritize the new college grads -- most of them are excited by the field and want to work hard.
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https://x.com/kwstewart94/status/1872312088254619920
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