Subroto makes some excellent points in his letter. I recently worked for a major hardware/software corporation that imported many (hundreds, at least) programmers from India on work visas and then paid them significantly less than their U.S. citizen counterparts. And the Indians are happy with this. More than a few go back to India to get an advanced degree, get married, etc., and the corporation hires them back when they're ready to return. Most of us citizen workers never seemed to mind; the Indians are largely talented, hard workers, and worked well with everyone else (except the Pakistanis, which is another story). The big issue as I see it is whether or not the Federal Government is going to reopen the doors again to the practices described in these e-mails. The Government did so before to please the big corporations and the shareholders. But this was when economic times were much better for the computer biz (and everyone else), and there seemed to always be a big shortage of people with the needed skills. The environment has changed considerably now. I don't see the computer business improving by much any time soon. So, I'm skeptical of ITAA's claim that there is a shortage of 600,000 IT workers. Lots of experienced professionals and very bright new college grads in computer science can't find jobs, even after very lengthy periods of searching. My nickel's worth of opinion is that the H1-B visa limits should be retained at the least, and preferably should be made even more restrictive to maximize the employment potential for the talented people in the U.S. already, be they citizens or non-citizens. Mike Soukup On Tuesday 16 July 2002 15:20, you wrote: > There are 2 sides to the issue. > > Using offshore talent lowers costs and hopefully making the bottom line > sweeter. But these days with accounting practices who can tell. > > The other side of the coin is that companies really seem to enjoy screwing > workers in the US and really pissing them off. > > As a stock holder I want my stock prices to be high no matter what. As a > stockholder it makes sense to outsource. Most Americans want that and so > do most CFO's, CEO's and Wall Street. Indians, Rumanians, Bangladeshis, > Nepalese and Chinese don't mind working for pennies on the dollar. It > seems like a sweet deal for them. > > On the other hand Americans want a very high salary and all the perks that > go with it. You can't have both. Somewhere someone has to lose. > > Having said that let me state that I am a US citizen and I am out of a job. > I have been looking for 8 months and 100 resumes later nothing. I feel > bad, I feel screwed by Nortel Networks (my previous employer) but what are > my alternatives? > > By the way anway looking for a good strategic analyst skilled in business > continuity and disaster recovery? Let me know. > > Subroto Mukerji > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Meritt James <meritt_jamesat_private> > To: <securityjobsat_private> > Sent: Tuesday, July 16, 2002 10:39 AM > Subject: Status Of The IT Talent Pool > > > According to a new report by the Information Technology Association of > > America, due to the lack of qualified candidates, U.S. companies will > > not be able to fill 600,000 IT positions over the next 12 months. Of > > course, IT job seekers who consider themselves qualified, not to mention > > available, are wondering where all these open jobs are. "I don't believe > > there is any dearth of qualified candidates," said one out-of-work > > programmer who has submitted more than 200 resumes since April. "I don't > > think this economy is going to change any time soon." While ITAA says > > that there are 600,000 unfilled jobs, it does not say how many of these > > jobs are actively being advertised. Analysts believe many of these jobs > > are vacant due to economics rather than a lack of talent - especially > > since so much talent seems to be out of work. In its report ITAA says > > U.S. hiring managers will be looking to fill more than one million jobs > > during the next year. Candidates who are well versed in C++, Oracle, > > SQL, Java and Windows NT technologies will see the most demand for their > > services. Since these technologies have been around for some time, some > > analysts believe that finding qualified candidates shouldn't be a > > problem. Of course, ITAA's report has been released in time for Congress > > to consider tinkering with the H-1B visa limit, which is set to go back > > to 65,000 in 2003. While it does lobby on several tech issues, ITAA > > would like to see the visa limit abolished, giving tech companies free > > reign over satisfying their talent needs any way they can. > > Read more online: Knowledge At Wharton,7/15/02 > > > > -- > > James W. Meritt CISSP, CISA > > Booz | Allen | Hamilton > > phone: (410) 684-6566
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