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Cutting H-1Bs Could Mean More Competition From China and India, Says GoDaddy CEO (cnbc.com)
Silicon Valley companies continue to express their concerns about the restrictions on H-1B visa program. The H-1B visa program -- which enables U.S. companies to hire foreign workers -- has become a political lightning rod but remains essential for American companies to hire the technical talent they need to compete on a global scale, said GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving. From his interview on CNBC: "We do not produce enough technically qualified candidates in this country," he said. "You can't take an 18-month training program and produce a machine-learning scientist." Irving was particularly concerned about overseas competition. The American university system is good at training foreign workers for tech jobs, and it is essential that the U.S. government allows them to stay in the country to fulfill U.S. jobs, he said. Otherwise, we train workers from countries like China and India and then send them back to those countries to set up tech ecosystems that compete with Silicon Valley.
Competition is generally regarded as a good thing. When these people stay in the USA, they generally depress wages and send all the money they earn back to their home countries anyway, which does the rest of the US economy no good at all. Really I'm not sure we should even have any sort of H1-B program at all.
Maybe the University could just train the American kids instead.... I know... I'm throwing up in my mouth as I type it.
Just hire locals you cheap-ass CEOs. You'll get more adept, better labor for it and it pays for itself in having a more agile company.
> "You can't take an 18-month training program and produce a machine-learning scientist."
That's fine - if you're looking for machine-learning scientists.
Unfortunately, the majority of the recipients of these H1B's are low paid scab labor, imported to cut labor costs.
Raising the cost of H1B's should take care of that loophole while still allowing GoDaddy to import their "machine-learning scientists".
If it's coming from GoDaddy, it can safely be ignored. Fucking shitty company.
The Trump administration is considering reprioritizing H-1B visas. Right now, such visas are given out based on a lottery around April 1, which is utterly irrational and chaotic; it causes outsourcing firms to flood the visa application process with numerous fake applications, instead of the visas going to US companies that actually need those workers. Under the new rules, H-1B visas would be given to the highest paid workers and with precedence to people graduating from US universities. No matter what you think about the absolute number of H-1B visas, that's a good change to the immigration program.
If, in addition, the US reduces the number of work visas, that would result in more foreign competition, unless made up for elsewhere. But Trump has generally advocated a merit-based immigration system, which may mean more skilled immigrants (as opposed to H-1B visa holders) and less unskilled labor and family-based immigration. Again, that seems like a win-win.
Of course, we'll have to see what he actually does. The Orange One is a bit unpredictable and tends to act rashly.
He should talk to all the developers from Disney who were replaced with H1B workers and forced to train them.
If you want the equivalent of a College B.S. in machine learning 18 months of intense training is more than you'd actually get during your 4 years at college. possibly even more than a masters. If you are looking for PhD level, then 18 months maybe isn't there entirely. But over the next year or two of work experience, in a job emphasizing research in AI with a good mentor, would definitely produce pHD level graduates. I know this because I've seen it done at my company, producing major leaders through this process.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
I work with dozens of H1B visa holders. I scoured the lands of the US for 1.5 years to fill a vacant position and I couldn't find anyone in the US to do it. I work in NIH funded research and needed a programmer at $45k/yr. I was fine with a new college grad, and I still couldn't find anyone. Eventually I get an email from someone in Turkey, and we hired her. She's amazing. However if this shit with the H1B's goes through, we can't pay her and she'll have to go back. I won't be able to fill the position. We'll have to let go 6 employees whom we can't replace. I went to every college in the area and said "If you have taken a programming class, I want you. I'll pay you. I'll train you in the languages we use" and no responses. Why??
This is an easy one: You aren't paying enough. You wouldn't do your job for less than what you could get doing it elsewhere either.
Just because something costs more than you want to pay doesn't entitle you to cheap labor. I want my entire house painted for $500. I went to every school and said "Hey if you can hold a paint brush I will give you $500" and for some reason nobody was interested. Therefor I am entitled to hire cheap slave labor.
Hey why pay anything at all? Just get actual slaves, think of the savings.
Hmm. Let me think for a second. Oh, here it is:
See that "Preview" button?
You were trying to find a college educated programmer to work in NYC for 45k/yr and had no luck? I think I found your problem.
You live in a dream world. Those gifted but poor kids still won't be able to get the classes they need. Charter schools won't set up in poor areas because the potential administrators know they won't succeed.
The poor parents can't afford to gifted send their children to another district because they don't have the time and money. All that will happen is those poor kids will attend schools that are even more starved of resources because of the effects of vouchers.
The problem that Betsy DeVos wants to "solve" is that public schools don't teach religion and creationism.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
As someone who worked on NIH in the past, this is not true. When you write grant application, you can specify salary ranges. They do set caps based on education/experience, but that only applies to researchers. $45k/year if I recall correctly is the lowest bracket, intended for summer internships and such. Someone with PhD and/or 10 years can get up to $120K or so.
Clearly, someone dropped the ball writing grant application.