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Software engineer describes his experience with H1B.
X/Twitter ^ | 12/30/2024 | John Konrad

Posted on 12/30/2024 8:32:27 PM PST by SeekAndFind

My friend @JoshuaSteinman is dropping bombshells about H-1B visas, and I’ve got a story to add.

tl;dr – It’s a cultural problem.

I spent years in India, working directly for one of the country’s wealthiest individuals. He recruited me for my computer skills to lead some of the most ambitious, technically challenging projects ever attempted.

We broke world records and unlocked trillions in wealth. My boss? He now lives in a skyscraper in Mumbai.

Toward the end of the project, he told me his best engineers were leaving for Silicon Valley, lured by unbelievable salaries. So, on his recommendation, I packed up my family and moved to California.

Here’s where it gets weird: I was (at least for short periods of rime) chief of that massive project, with ultimate responsibility. But guys several rungs below me - men way less qualified for any job - were getting H-1B visas and landing incredible salaries in tech.

I got turned down for every tech job I applied for.

Looking back, here’s why:

1.I told the truth. The foreign visa applicants? Many claimed to work in different departments or roles to fit the narrative. I admitted I worked on oil & gas projects. That’s considered “dirty” and “irrelevant” in tech. http://2.My school wasn’t on “the list.” I graduated from @MaritimeCollege —what @stevenujifusa calls “the Harvard of Maritime.” Highest attrition rate in the country. 185 credits. Classes like spherical geometry. But it’s a state school in The Bronx.

Tech doesn’t care. They rely on lists of “approved” “Ivy Plus” schools, as @bhorowitz admits in The Hard Thing About Hard Things.

But there’s more to it. It’s a cultural problem.

American applicants are at a disadvantage because we’re too easy to vet.

•Work for an Indian oil company? Don’t mention it on your resume.

•Work for a Chinese communist spy agency? Just leave it out.

•Wrong degree? Ask the school to reword your transcript or reframe it as a minor.

As an American, it’s incredibly difficult to lie. HR WILL call my references and confirms every detail of my background.

But for foreign applicants? That’s a lot harder to verify, so they get a pass.

And beneath it all? “Tech culture.”

Read any book about the industry, and you’ll find a near-religious obsession with maintaining “culture.” It’s a startup mantra: hard work, positivity, willingness to take risks.

But the dirty secret? “Tech culture” also harbors disdain for: •“Dirty” industries like oil & gas. •Christian values or Republican politics. •Anything less than an Ivy League education.

This isn’t just about H-1Bs. It’s about arrogance baked into an industry that weeds out Americans for not fitting their mold.

I’m not surprised that zero of Josh’s friends from the Trump administration got hired in tech, even at the highest levels.

If you’re a foreign conservative? They’ll hire you because it doesn’t code against “tech culture.” (E.g. I have several ultra conservative very religious Hindu friends who don’t have this problem) But if you’re an American who doesn’t fit their narrative? They’ll weed you out.

It’s time to talk about the serious cultural problem in tech—and how it’s harming American workers.

Tech has serious biases. They either need to toss them out and hire the best candidates or figure out how to properly vet foreigners who don’t fit their BS culture.

P.S. I did find a way around this BS. Start a company yourself m. I did and raised over $6M for one company.

How did I do it? I dropped any mention of my religion, politics, oil drilling experience and state school education from my capital raising meetings. Worked like a charm.

As an American it’s literally easier to get million dollar checks than a middle level job at Facebook or Apple.

Watch this:

H-1B’s and political discrimination by Big Tech



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Society
KEYWORDS: antisunylibsbelow; h1b; h1bforindia; h1bisnotforamerica; h1bobsession; h1bvisas; hiring; rinos4h1b; rinos4india; softwareengineer; technology
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1 posted on 12/30/2024 8:32:27 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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I’ve worked with comp-sci H-1Bs, nothing spectacular and certainly not the worst. There is, however, a cultural/language disparity where I noticed an unearned sense of eminence. US labor is not without its issues, but the context of the tasks & situations was much easier to discuss, dispute, & resolve. I never felt the H-1B overhead was worth it.


2 posted on 12/30/2024 8:42:40 PM PST by Gene Eric
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To: SeekAndFind

The biggest problem is that cheap foreigners displace American workers and they depress the wages.

Why should anybody take the hard STEM courses, when you end up working long hours for low wages?

It created Catch-22 vicious death spiral. American do not want to study these degrees, so foreigners are imported, so then even less Americans want to study these subjects.


3 posted on 12/30/2024 8:43:01 PM PST by AZJeep
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To: SeekAndFind

Could India be paying Big Tech to take their engineers and programmers to America?

I haven’t heard this, but it makes sense in the long-term to invest billions to do this with the expectation to earn trillions down the road.


4 posted on 12/30/2024 8:44:01 PM PST by Jonty30 (Genghis Khan did not have the most descendants. His father had more. )
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BTW, the US labor I referred to is racially diverse but nonetheless of the same American culture. So should one be accused of being an anti-H-1B racist, tell them to “F themselves in the face”... lol


5 posted on 12/30/2024 8:47:01 PM PST by Gene Eric
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To: SeekAndFind

According to the 2011 Census of India, approximately 10.6% of the population reported speaking English as a first, second, or third language, totaling around 129 million individuals.

After speaking English with dozens of people in Eastern Europe where we traveled several months, I was surprised about how few people spoke English in Kerala, India, where we lived for several weeks. I think many people get that cultural fact backswords.

Can anybody name one H-1B Indian worker in technology whose talent is so exceptional that they are irreplaceable by any American?

Serious question...


6 posted on 12/30/2024 9:07:23 PM PST by jroehl (And how we burned in the camps later - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - The Gulag Archipelago)
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To: SeekAndFind

The DEPLORABLES and CONTEMPTIBLE FOOLS who believe that the H1B program is contributing to the long term decay of America can F themselves in the face. Damn peasants!

/sarc but, sadly, for some this is being revealed as their true attitude. Sometimes the mask slips off.


7 posted on 12/30/2024 9:11:57 PM PST by House Atreides (I’m now ULTRA-MAGA-PRO-MAX)
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To: SeekAndFind

“I graduated from @MaritimeCollege —what @stevenujifusa calls “the Harvard of Maritime.” Highest attrition rate in the country. 185 credits. Classes like spherical geometry. But it’s a state school in The Bronx.”

SUNY Maritime has one of the lowest attrition rates ler their website.

Their “spherical geometry” class in focused on navigation. Not a resume enhancer for work outside of that area.


8 posted on 12/30/2024 9:13:19 PM PST by TexasGator ('1/'1/11111)
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To: AZJeep

“Why should anybody take the hard STEM courses, when you end up working long hours for low wages?”

$100K+ is low?


9 posted on 12/30/2024 9:19:59 PM PST by TexasGator ('1/'1/11111)
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To: SeekAndFind

In the non software field of aerospace design and manufacturing I came across many engineers from countries like India that were hired in at high level positions because of masters and PhD’s in engineering. Almost all the projects they ran failed. My guess is that you can just buy your advanced degree. On average they would have been likely to fail at changing the inner tube on the rear wheel of a ten speed. And they brought the caste system with them. One guy kept getting promoted and assigned to more complex systems, and failing. I asked one of the India guys, what’s up with him. Oh he’s a Jain,. WTF. I guess the British Raj still rules the sub continent.


10 posted on 12/30/2024 9:25:10 PM PST by Waverunner
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To: Gene Eric

We make it clear with companies we engage for support - ALL meetings with their staff must be with people that proficiently read, write and speak English.

I have ended probably 3-4 meetings over the years when we simply could not understand the staff member of the support organization. It’s unfortunate but time is money and the meeting was going poorly due to the underlying language challenges.


11 posted on 12/30/2024 9:33:07 PM PST by Fury
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To: jroehl

ALL of them, if you ask the Indians themselves.

The most arrogant people on the planet.

Other than one or two Froctors pushing the clot shots.


12 posted on 12/30/2024 9:48:19 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: SeekAndFind

it may sound racist but back in the day before i was retired, some of the worst interviews i’ve ever had as an applicant or as an interviewer were with se asian indians.

the biggest problem: the language barrier was impossible. often couldn’t make myself understood. technical questions were rife with misinterpretations or outright lies. persons took my answers and misinterpreted them on the otherside. or they couldn’t ask the question clearly enough in english.

i could have a great interview as an applicant with an english speaker for a company one day, and have a horrible one the next with an indian in the same company. culture and communication styles were a big problem. i’m sure many good people got turned down and many disasters were hired.

just a nightmare.


13 posted on 12/30/2024 9:51:28 PM PST by dadfly
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To: TexasGator

You’re trying to pretend spherical geometry is difficult?


14 posted on 12/30/2024 9:57:29 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: Jonty30

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1590266/posts

Read this, I wrote it 18 years ago or so.

About if India is paying for this.


15 posted on 12/30/2024 9:59:57 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: TexasGator
$100K+ is low?

For Silicon Valley it certainly is. You're sleeping in your car at that rate.

For a STEM professional in any major U.S. city it is. Police officers a year out of the academy in major U.S. cities make more than that.

16 posted on 12/30/2024 10:03:27 PM PST by T.B. Yoits
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To: SeekAndFind

The solution is to either (a) terminate the H1-B visa program, or (b) impose a fee on employers for each H1-B they sponsor so the cost of these employees is higher than a US employee would be. It’s an easy fix - remove the financial incentive for companies to try to game H1-B and it can be restored to its stated purpose. If it’s not economical to hire an H1-B, companies will only apply for H1-B for special cases involving a few stars in their field.


17 posted on 12/30/2024 10:06:41 PM PST by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: grey_whiskers

For the globalists, it’s all about having a never ending supply of replaceable people. That’s why Soros and Koch Brothers want open borders.

But for India, and it makes sense to me that they might do this, is pay the tech barons to hire Indians because the Indians will send money back to start up companies that will compete with American companies. For India, that’s an investment.

I don’t know a single tech baron be concerned about his legacy. It’s all take the money and run and they don’t care about the future.


18 posted on 12/30/2024 10:09:30 PM PST by Jonty30 (Genghis Khan did not have the most descendants. His father had more. )
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To: Fury

Agree that fluency in English is essential.

China, SK, & India have been my most frequented experiences aside from Western & Eastern Europe. For some reason, the Indian dialect of English is the most challenging.


19 posted on 12/30/2024 10:10:14 PM PST by Gene Eric
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To: SeekAndFind

Bookmark


20 posted on 12/30/2024 10:17:53 PM PST by thingumbob (INTUITION - is your brain trying to tell you what your mind hasn’t pieced together yet.)
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