Posted on 01/18/2006 8:26:15 AM PST by A. Pole
Many companies say they're facing an increasingly severe shortage of engineers. It's so bad, some executives say, that Congress must act to boost funding for engineering education.
Yet unemployed engineers say there's actually a big surplus. "No one I know who has looked at the data with an open mind has been able to find any sign of a current shortage," says demographer Michael Teitelbaum of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
[...]
Within two weeks, Mr. Carver and a colleague at the Hudson Highland Group had collected more than 200 resumes. They immediately eliminated just over 100 people who didn't have the required bachelor of science degree, even though many had the kind of job experience the company wanted. A further 65 or so then fell out of the running. Some were deemed overqualified. Others lacked experience with the proper manufacturing software.
[...]
"Companies are looking for a five-pound butterfly. Not finding them doesn't mean there's a shortage of butterflies," says Richard Tax, president of the American Engineering Association, which campaigns to prevent losses of engineering jobs.
[...]
Under the H-1B temporary work visa program, U.S. employers are permitted to hire foreign nationals with knowledge and skills deemed to be in short supply.
[...]
Then came the deal-breaker. Wabtec would only consider candidates who had experience with Pro/Engineer Wildfire, a new 3-D computer-aided design software package, not an earlier package called 2000i.
"The basic difference between Wildfire and 2000i is not that significant," says Mr. Sylvester. "I say smart people can learn sister applications, but there is reluctance among hiring managers to see that.
[...]
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
The hiring managers are afraid of being sued. Avoiding lawsuits seems to be a big part of their job, these days. If they take someone who everyone on the interview committee thinks would work, but the paperwork isn't quite right, or if there is something that someone could use as a basis of a lawsuit, the candidate is not chosen.
You're right ... the engineers I know/work with make 2 or 3 times that ...
My favorite one was where I had C++ on my resume and they asked me if I knew C.
Dilbert cartoons are popular for a good reason.
"But could you just code it in 'B'?"
Since there are two distinct asertions in my post, I wonder to which of them you yourself in your own work have found different conclusion.
It's not BS, especially when they start out.
"This happens most frequently with "hiring managers" who are themselves computer illiterate. IOw -- dumbed-down, paper-shuffling corporate bureaucrats who don't know their own arse from a hole in the ground."
According to one Human Resources type I am not qualified to work on Allen Bradley programmable logic controllers since I have not had the official training courses on the programming software. That fact that I was one of the beta testers, and had participated in a number of bugfixes, does not mean a thing to these people. Now I am a business partner in a new industrial automation services company, and wouldn't put it past some of these same HR people to say that isn't a real job since I'm not stuck in a cubicle, reporting to some MBA manager (I do report to a lot of clients).
No, they dont! I have worked in a shop that was 95% H1B and the H1B's made considerabally less than the US Citizens working there. Things might be different if you had only five percent H1B's but H1B shops have a much lower salary..
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http://www.workpermit.com/news/2005_10_26/us/us_h1b_visa_holders_earn_less.htm
"Nonetheless, Miano's report shows that wages paid to H-1B workers in computer programming occupations had a mean salary of $52,312, while the OES mean was $67,700; a difference of $15,388. The report also lists the OES median salary as $65,003, or $12,691 higher than the H-1B median."
"Here are some other interesting national wage comparisons: The mean salary of an H-1B computer scientist is $78,169, versus $90,146 according to the OES. For an H-1B network analyst, the mean salary is $55,358, versus the OES mean salary of $64,799. And for the title "system administrator," there was a $17,478 difference in salary between the H-1B mean and the OES mean."
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I totally agree. Most software can be learned if they have the knowledge of a similar software package.
A lot of people would respond "yes". Telling people what they want to hear is the way to go nowadays.
My husband is a manager of the company that makes the tuning wheel for the iPod. He would disagree with you.
Oh, boy! Here we go again.
There is a shortage of engineers like there is a shortage of blacksmith's.
The free market is working exactly as it should. No demand, less pay. High demand, high pay.
Hell most can be learned if they have two clues to rub together..
"drywall guys here average 25 to 35 bucks an hour....................not many engineers make that"
That's about a national average for a B.S. engineer with less than five years experience. The only differnece is the drywall guy doesn't work 40 hours a week and get paid for 52 weeks a year even though he goes on vacation for two of them. Many, many engineers make double that.
Hurry up and get the government to spend more money to increase the supply, so we don't have to spend more money in salaries.
I have 27 years in the chip design industry as an ASIC design engineer / Manager (EE). I have worked with H1B's for many of those years at National Semiconductor, Motorola, Synopsys, Teradyne, Intel and lots of them at my new company. I've not know any H1B's that were paid less than there indiginous counter-parts. being a manager ... I AM privy to the pay scales
I agree. The problem is that corporate lobbyists are trying to tell our congressmen that the free market doesn't work and government intervention (more H1Bs) is needed.
I have NEVER gotten a job through HR, though I've gotten some by walking in and talking directly to the CEO/VP.
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