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A Tool For Analyzing H-1B Visa Applications Reveals Tech Salary Secrets

Posted by timothy on from the sifting-and-stacking dept.

Tekla Perry writes: The golden age of engineers is not over,' says a French software engineer who developed a tool for mining U.S. Department of Labor visa application data, but, he says, salaries appear to be leveling off. Indeed, salary inflation for software engineers and other technical professionals at Google and Facebook has slowed dramatically, according to his database, and Airbnb and Dropbox pay is down a little, though Netflix pay is through the roof. The data also shows that some large companies appear to be playing games with titles to deflate salaries, and Microsoft is finally offering technology professionals comparable salaries to Apple and Google. There's a lot more to be discovered in this interactive database, and researchers are getting ready to mine it.

8 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. Lots of highly paid folks by mystikkman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Looks like there are a lot of highly skilled and highly paid people in the companies I looked... the opposite of the Slashdot narrative of indentured servants working on minimum wage.

    1. Re:Lots of highly paid folks by guru42101 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The other thing a lot of people overlook is people here working on Visitor B-1 visas, different than an H1B. Basically they're not employed directly by a US company, they're paid by some firm in India or wherever. The visa lasts usually 6 months and they must leave the country and reapply. At my employer we have an army of them contracted from Bristlecone, Wipro, IBM, and probably some others. Most of them are paid significantly less than a US employee, even after their rental car and hotel are covered. One I work with regularly let it slip how much they make in Rupees and it ended up being around 11 USD/h after conversion. From when I relo'd here I know the company has a bank of rooms at the nearby hotel at a significantly discounted rate (probably 30-40/n) and they carpool everywhere. A similar low experience US employee would probably get 25-30/h in this area.

    2. Re:Lots of highly paid folks by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 1, Insightful

      this highlights how well software engineers are compensated even compared to other types of engineers.

      Is "Engineer" a protected term in the USA?

      Here is Canada there is no such thing as a "software engineer."

      Chemical Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, sure... But not "Software Engineer."

  2. The title game by clifwlkr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You can clearly see the way the companies are manipulating the system. Don't hire them as 'engineers', but as 'technology leads' then make up a low salary for them. No, the salary is not minimum wage as posted above, but it is half of what you would have to pay a standard software engineer, and you have their loyalty as it is a hassle to switch jobs. Yes, some companies appear to be above board, but is Google really only paying their software developers 123,000 in Silicon Valley? That seems low for that place. And yes, these salaries look big until you consider where they are. They are pulling salaries from the biggest companies in the most expensive places. Anyone looked into the data yet and see what the consulting sweat shops are paying/claiming? Again, tax the heck out of H1Bs and if there really aren't any engineers available in the US these companies will be happy to pay the penalty. Or better yet, untie H1Bs from a company, make it a 2 year visa, and let them go wherever they want. My guess is the companies will not be so hot on using H1B labor at that point.

    1. Re: The title game by GrantRobertson · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I like your last idea. It comes off as less punitive and more about "freedom."

    2. Re:The title game by fluffernutter · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Nobody owes you a job.. but it is the large companies claiming they can't find anyone and thus hiring H1Bs. If their claim is truly justified, then technical people are in short supply and the salary would be increasing. The fact that salary is leveling off means that they must be able to find enough people and thus should not be hiring H1Bs. This is the way the market works, there is no other way. If the market is working fairly for everyone then one of the two alternatives must be the case.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    3. Re:The title game by MooseTick · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "123k is a low salary"

      According to (http://www.whatsmypercent.com/), 123k puts you down in the 97% range. If it weren't for H1B peeps, maybe you'd be making 150k. While 27k is a lot, someone who makes more than 97% of the nation can't complain too much.

      --
      Ninjas don't carry tic tacs
  3. Re:business models by Greystripe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If that were true then companies would not use H1B's in the first place. Since they are using H1B's then it means that the companies care where the programmer is located.