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235,000 Software Engineers Can't Be Wrong, Right?
jgeelan writes "The Boston Globe has carried a report on how 235,000 engineers and computer scientistsl are calling on Congress to study the impact of the country's H1-B visa program, the recession, and the outsourcing of jobs overseas on the unemployment rate of engineers and other information technology professionals.
It's an issue that's bubbling on discussion sites all over America too, though in one case developers (Java developers in this instance) seem completely unable to agree on whether H1-B is really a contributing factor or not."
Well, I would agree with you if we were talking about McDonald's workers or cab drivers. But you have to recognize that technology in general, and software in particular, are increasingly vital to our national security and wellbeing.
The (very real, I should point out) threat of terrorism aside, I question whether someone of any race can really understand America if he has not grown up here and has no family here.
You know how you aren't really careful about spilling beer at your friend's house, but somehow you're really careful at home? It's the same with foreigners in a strange country: they just don't have the sense of belonging to really make them valuable additions to society.
Again, it's nothing to do with race, and they are welcome to work in our service and manufacturing industries (I am not one of these anti-migrant crazies), but in the highly sensitive information industry, I think we should stick to those people who have a stake in America's future.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
How did the parent get modded insightful? This should be modded ignorant. This has nothing to do with racism.
:q!
Sorry, but that would be nationalism, not racism.
It's a good thing that no atrocities or crimes against humanity have ever been committed in the name of nationalism!
*** Where are we going? And what's with this handbasket?
Mask it any way you want, but racism sucks.
Agreed.
Not only that, but there are real, potent issues that IEEE and others should be fighting that are a hell of a lot more important than the job market (which will get worse, or better, regardless, depending on the economic cycle as a whole. H1B plays only a minor role in all this in any event), namely:
In short, stopping the attempt to "put the genie back in the bottle" by outlawing general computing in public hands, gutting the internet completely, and outlawing any efforts to resist or cry out against the same. This is almost precisely the same as what happened when the printing press was first invented, resulting in the initial creation of copyright law for the express purpose of censorship by the British Crown, which effectively banned private ownership of printing presses by anyone other than a cartel of "approved" publishers.
The IEEE is pathetic, and unworthy of even being considered representative of the tech community, much less donating funds to. They are out of touch and almost criminally negligent of the true issues that face technologists today.
Far better to join and support the lobbying group forming up under the unoffical name of "GeekPAC" (to be named something more professional RSN) and start fighting for what little freedom we have left, before even those shreds of it are gone.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy