I'm sad to see that the extreme paranoia around immigration and fear of terrorists has caused our industry to become less competitive. Wouldn't it be better for foreign engineers to work in the U.S. rather than be outsourced.
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So is the economy hot or not for tech workers?
Microsoft and Cisco are said to have many job openings ... Microsoft has 4,005 openings!, this report says.
Are tech workers feeling the pinch with the slow economy? Or is it good to be a skilled worker when industries like construction tank?
I am so sick and tired of
I am so sick and tired of reading these reports that state the lack of technically talent. They are nothing but a smoke screen for these companies to go out and recruit/outsource to 3rd world countries. Politicians then use the smoke screen to justify their nonsensical VISA policies... I have never been believer in goverment manadates but 'am rapidly changing my mind... If companies and politician continue to play this games, I belive that we should DEMAND some sort of centralized employment clearing house in which ALL US citiziens and ALL US based companies come together... E-Harmony for the labor force
Not sick but tired..
Old story, the companies don't want skilled but cheap, it's business! I don't know if it is good business idea, looking some results it doesn't seem so. Anyway, there are a lot of very skilled people looking work but - too expensive?, too experienced?, etc. Skilled people know what their skills are and how to enhance them all the time, more education, training and (horrible) responsibility - in other words not always the best yes persons, they challenge their environment. Maybe if the corporations would define what they mean with missing skills there would not be so much controversy who they want to hire?
Whatever happened to on the job training
Not to sound old, but years ago there was a policy in place at most companies that would give you 3-6 months of on the job training. This never seemed to come in play in the technical arena. There are plenty of technical people with good technical skills and would be great assets if given a chance to hit the ground walking instead of running. Just my 2 cents.
Job trainig - what's that?
I am old (in relative years) and can say that in work training is almost nill today. There used to be time when even IT personnel had to go through business training, I did see it in insurance, banking, shipyards and other manufacturing, and even in software companies. Not even talking about IT training, one month a year mandatory education and training. It is mostly gone, only a very small fraction of businesses send people to seminars and conferences, or learning "new" as ITIL, SOA, etc except maybe some two day sales courses by vendors. Also mentoring in work places has almost disappeared, just keep coding! Agile, SCRUM, XP, etc can not replace the real knowledge sharing where you take time to talk over the problems and solutions. They are good development methods but if they rely on common understanding it can't be easily reached if even a part of team/group is too busy just trying to get things working, no matter what. I know they are based on sharing but try to share anything when deadlines are coming and people still want to go home sometimes?
but pay is peanuts
no real shortage, just not enough crazy people wanting to work long hours for the amount of peanuts at hand
The green they really care about...
These tech companies all fall over themselves putting solar panels on roofs and planting trees to show how "green" they are. Nobody raises the question of the impact immigration driven population growth has on the US environment and quality of life when they push for more immigration to keep tech wages low....
labor shortage
We've been fed this load of crap for years. The truth is, all high tech companies want is third world workers whom they can pay a lot less than Americans.
It is only natural that foreign students make up most of the graduates in technical areas. The American students know they won't get hired, or if they do, they'll be laid off by the time they reach middle age. They've seen the layoffs and age discrimination against American IT workers that began in 2001, and have better sense than to put themselves in that situation.
If there really is a shortage of skilled technical people, it is the corporate world who have made this the case.
bs squared == your article
u.s. companies, the army, et. al. do not look at u.s. skilled workers, especially with experience and proven ability, which has to be paid for. in over 5 yrs, my masters in comp sci, published articles in peer reviewed journals, data compression patent, have all gotten offers for temporary contracts as a so called consultant for $9-/hr to format machines or enter data; $27-/svc call -- a guaranteed 4-8 svc calls per week; $16-/hr as a data entry manager for a 3 month contract. as for the u.s. army & airlines that need u.s. citizens & c programmers with knowledge of encryption/decryption -- no response at all to applying to a job post. ... if you or i, open up, my local paper, there avg 2-4 computer help ads in the sunday paper. used to be, 5+ yrs ago, 2-6 FULL PAGES of ads. don't insult our intelligence. there are no jobs out there, except for high school graduates that know how to use computers and are willing to work for minimum wage. the shortage is the fault of the employers who won't hire americans, at american prices.
Semi correct
While your wage and employment contract data is pretty eye opening, one thing that people mis-state is High school graduates are hired anywhere of significance. Lets get one thing staight....you cannot, I repeat you cannot get a job in corporate America without having at least a bachelors degree. Yes, you can work on an assembly line, if uncle joe or aunt jill get you through the door. You will not get an office job no matter how experienced you are in this country any longer. The most embarrassing part about employment in this country are sales positions. Used to be , if you were willing to work hard and push product you could make it in sales.....wrongo! Now the sales groups want a BS or BA to push their products????. Funny, I don't think an executive ask's wether his Mercedes or BMW salesman has a college degree or not. Hmmmmmm?