There is a lot of ranting in this thread which is very unlike HC without any example of where he was biased/opinionated or where he was wrong.
I am genuinely interested in knowing if he was ever wrong on any of his 'main stories'. I personally think his team is doing pretty good work in putting together very interesting real issues that do not have a lot of visibility otherwise. I will be happy to be corrected.
Competitive coding contests are in a way similar to chess or olympiads and it is a sport in itself.
For all the years I have spent and observed on topcoder, Google Code Jam and others I haven't seen a lot of women coders reaching the top, not even from Russia. So what these girls are achieving is a big deal and should inspire many. It is a little disappointing to see comments like they didn't crush because they didn't get the first prize. Consistent winning of multiple contests is definitely something and they are doing it pretty well.
I think most of the negative comments are here, because of the sexist tone of the author of this article. What these girls have archived is something we should celebrate, not as a victory for the sexes, but as a sign that more and more young people are learning to code.
When you pay the exact amount of money and benefits and sometimes even more as joining bonus and stocks awards for a H1B employee, how can this be an abuse of the system?
The argument "we can't fill all these open positions, please let us bring in foreign workers" then firing 10,000 people contradicts why they want the government to deregulate the system.
The company has to refocus and change the way it was working, and requires restructuring because of recent losses. This cannot be associated with its stand on a law.
If Google has a glowing quarter results and says it needs more H1B workers are you willing to accept its stand?
My point was the idea that H1B workforce in companies like Intel, or Google is cheap is just a myth.
No, it just means none of the 10k people were qualified enough. They were not fit for the open positions. Otherwise there is no sense in hiring an H1B with the same salary plus all the H1B related fees and expenses.
If you're looking for compliant employees, why go through the trouble of hiring an h1b employee, bringing them from a different country and paying all the fees associated with processing visas and probably a green card process, and paying them the same or higher (usually, the outsourcing body shops are generally the places that play below market for h1b) ... if you can just find and American to do the same thing?
Hell when you get rid of an h1b worker there are even costs associated with revoking their visa and possibly paying for their flight back!
> If you're looking for compliant employees, why go through the trouble of hiring an h1b employee, bringing them from a different country and paying all the fees associated with processing visas and probably a green card process, and paying them the same or higher (usually, the outsourcing body shops are generally the places that play below market for h1b) ... if you can just find and American to do the same thing?
The argument is that you can't, because American workers know their rights - rights that every employee should have and stand on, but sadly those from other countries don't always know about.
The issue is a bit more complex than that (and I doubt middle management has a firm enough grasp on how to let go 10,000 people within a shot-time frame with proper diligence). There is a vested interest in deregulating the immigration system because it will drive down skilled labor costs, not filling "open" positions allows them to perpetuate their agenda at no cost to them (outside of a job listing). Anyone who has to work under the threat of deportation is going to work harder on average than someone who isn't. It's good for productivity, but bad for all the skilled labor in this country, INCLUDING the people who want to immigrate here for a better life, because they'll be subjected to it eventually too.
The same thing seems to happen everywhere. In Germany the industry proclaims they're in need of around 50.000 software engineers, but if look for a job, you won't find that demand. Last year VW alone advertised they intend to hire 35.000 software engineers. I don't buy the numbers at all.
