in that there aren't enough qualified workers in the U.S. to fulfil the demand for the type of software engineers they are looking for.
Just look at the CS programs at the top engineering universities - they are filled with immigrants. Although, most probably have green cards or what not, the majority are 1st or 2nd generation immigrants. These are the type of people that many of the software shops like Microsoft complain about the lack of (Google complained about the lack of talent too, when commenting on their inability to double their staff).
By opening non-immigrant labor pools, it increases the amount of labor at this caliber available to U.S. companies. Face it folks, American secondary education just doesn't emphasize math and science enough to produce enough engineers for the demand. No, i'm not talking about IT people with some ABC certificate or can program in X language, but engineers that have been trained to solve problems formally. People who have solid quantitative skills. These are the type of people (from my experience) that many of the software companies are looking for. This is evident through the type of questions companies like Google and Microsoft are asking at interviews.
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Just look at the CS programs at the top engineering universities - they are filled with immigrants. Although, most probably have green cards or what not, the majority are 1st or 2nd generation immigrants. These are the type of people that many of the software shops like Microsoft complain about the lack of (Google complained about the lack of talent too, when commenting on their inability to double their staff).
By opening non-immigrant labor pools, it increases the amount of labor at this caliber available to U.S. companies. Face it folks, American secondary education just doesn't emphasize math and science enough to produce enough engineers for the demand. No, i'm not talking about IT people with some ABC certificate or can program in X language, but engineers that have been trained to solve problems formally. People who have solid quantitative skills. These are the type of people (from my experience) that many of the software companies are looking for. This is evident through the type of questions companies like Google and Microsoft are asking at interviews.