Displaced IT workers are being silenced

ComputerWorld ^ | 12-04-2014 | Patrick Thibodeau

[Ghost of SVR4]

A major problem with the H-1B debate is the absence of displaced IT workers in news media accounts. Much of the reporting is one-sided -- and there's a reason for this. An IT worker who is fired because he or she has been replaced by a foreign, visa-holding employee of an offshore outsourcing firm will sign a severance agreement. This severance agreement will likely include a non-disparagement clause that will make the fired worker extremely cautious about what they say on Facebook, let alone to the media. On-the-record interviews with displaced workers are difficult to get. While a restrictive severance package may be one handcuff, some are simply fearful of jeopardizing future job prospects by talking to reporters. Now silenced, displaced IT workers become invisible and easy to ignore.

[Ghost of SVR4]

That’s not entirely true. Maybe region specific, however, lots of IT jobs out there. It will however become more and more scarce soon with wages going lower and lower.

[Dubh_Ghlase]

My position in the IT industry has proven this true. I have seen the quality of IT support from cheap "Managed services" companies that many times "crater" the very companies that have hired them. The company CIO's who "saved" big bucks by laying off their "high-salaried" American workers in liu of these off-shored, low-cost H1B workers have taking their big bonus's and bailed, knowing they have pushed their company over the edge and down the slippery slope for their own greed.

I love my work, but am nearing retirement and don't feel I want to work any longer than I have to in order to try to hold up the IT infrastructures that have been compromised by incompetents (foreign nationals) sitting in their apartments in other countries with a laptop, a headset, and an internet connection, monitoring a (or more) customers network(s). Note that I've also seen a lot of network issues caused by these people who muck around in things they don't understand and end up breaking the same customers they are being (cheaply) paid to maintain...

I wonder if Sony was using one of these companies...?

[556x45]

What you’re describing is a management problem.

[PieterCasparzen]

Let the overseas people do it and let's move on to more challenging types of work. Like building apps for the new mobile OS platform or something.

"Outsource Your App Development Effectively With These 5 Tips"

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/233786

There is no "or something". Everything that's not onsite, in-person can be outsourced in IT. That brings us down to equipment installer, direct outside sales.

[rarestia]

Their responsibility is to work with the team working abroad (at different hours, requiring you to be in the office before sunrise so that you can conference with them while they are still at their office), to be a fall guy when “the team” is behind schedule, and to communicate with the mid-level managers (and above) at meetings so they don’t have communication problems with persons with Indian accents.

Absolutely spot-on analysis! I'm a senior-level engineer with a focus on Microsoft technologies, but I've been increasingly called upon to perform networking, storage, and Linux roles, proving that the "Swiss Army knife" approach is the best way to stay employed in IT. I may be working on my Microsoft certifications, but I know my way around a Catalyst switch and a Bash script as well.

That said, I feel like many of these outsourced IT people are less skilled than their counterparts. Many contracting agencies have formed skillset libraries where resources can print out cheat sheets for common troubleshooting of technologies they might have to support. The reality is that most agencies are shelling out a lot more for extended support with Microsoft, Cisco, and Red Hat while the contracting agencies are raking in big bucks for these cheap laborers who don't actually know anything about the systems they support.

[RememberRonnie]

The good news is that despite the doomsday predictions, the standard of living continues to rise for all.

The problem is that this just isn't so -- middle-class wages in the US have been stagnant for decades.

[KoRn]

/rantOn

What just makes me sick is many people that lost their manufacturing jobs were told by the “Free” Trade advocates that they would need to retrain and learn new skills since their jobs were being sent offshore.

Many trained, got education/certifications/job skills/experience. They did what was asked of them to make it in this new normal, then suddenly the goal posts were moved yet again, because the “Free” Traders want to IMPORT people from other countries to replace them, rather than their jobs being sent offshore, as previously happened to them in manufacturing.

This always has been, and is still nothing more than a two party sell out to those who are writing the big checks. Not many of those bastards give a f#*k about us, and our interests ARE NOT *their* interests, as we no longer have a two-party system. We now have a two-tiered system. It’s US, and THEM; or rather, the ‘Elite Ruling Class’, and the ‘People’.

I used to have ZERO regard for criminals, but now I can’t say I blame someone that makes a good living for themselves on the ‘black market’. Such people are merely operating within the parameters they’re in, given this environment. It’s a form of Moral Hazard, and TPTB are going to reap what they have sown. Particularly when you see all of the financial criminals during the recent years getting bailouts, rather than handcuffs....

/rantOff

[Zathras]

It has now moved to HW design.

[HamiltonJay]

H1-B is to skilled workers what illegals are to unskilled... its really nothing more complicated than that.. the system is a scam and fraught with abuse.

[kalee]

Bttt

[AU72]

I can't say I blame someone that makes a good living for themselves on the ‘black market

Like trying to sell cigarettes in NYC without getting killed by the police.

[KoRn]

This is true. That poor guy was cutting into their tax revenues. Every person that gets away with selling smokes that way eats into their tax base!

.gov doesn’t like competition.....

Always remember, if you don’t do as they wish, they WILL come with enough guns and manpower to MAKE you stop, and you WILL; in one way or another. Whether you’re alive or not afterwards, is an open question. Though the actions of the police in this situation should get attention, the race baiting politicians and media have done a terrific job(as they usually do) of making this ALL about police brutality, rather than what it should be.... Oppressive NYC tax policies.

That’s a big part of how they get away with what they do. The leftist media are always willing to run cover for the leftist politicians, creating narratives that distract people from what should be the REAL issues. There are countless examples of this. I could write about it all afternoon.

[dfwgator]

He was also cutting into the revenues of the business owners who played by the rules.

[AU72]

if you don’t do as they wish, they WILL come with enough guns and manpower to MAKE you stop

Unless you get more manpower and guns than they do, as that rancher did in Nevada.

[SamAdams76]

The problem is that this just isn't so -- middle-class wages in the US have been stagnant for decades.

If you are focusing only on wages, you might be correct but that is quite different than standard of living.

The middle class (and lower classes as well) never had it so good as they have it today. Your "stagnant dollar" purchases far more goods and services today than it did several decades ago, not to mention goods and services that did not even exist decades ago.

If we could bring a middle class wage earner from the 1950s into our current era, he would not want to go back.

[meadsjn]

People don't like hearing that but it's ...
... absolute hogwash -- more anti-American, communist propaganda.

Low labor force participation rate continues to plague the economy

[SamAdams76]

Eliminate the welfare state and suddenly labor force participation will be high again.

[meadsjn]

That is partially correct; but more likely, crime will increase dramatically. The majority of the welfare types were never productive citizens, and are not likely to ever be.

Labor force participation
Low labor force participation rate continues to plague the economy

Any honest person could look at the above graph, and understand that the decline in the labor force participation rate from 1996-2014 is an accurate parallel of the increased flow of immigrant work visas from the 1996 and 1999 legislative changes and subsequent renewals.

Job wise, the USA is back in 1978 Jimmy Carter territory, and the communists of both parties are to blame. Yes, the RINOs are the Trotskyite wing of the US communists.

Manipulating the factors of production by warping the national laws to favor certain groups or individuals is not free market capitalism. The USA has no shortage of citizens with STEM degrees.

[KoRn]

"He was also cutting into the revenues of the business owners who played by the rules."

"The Rules"....... (lol)