Microsoft needs immigrants, Facebook doesn't

http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/3/how_much_immigrant_labor_does_your_company_use_

by daviday • 18 years ago

8 16 18 years ago

tptacek5• 18 years ago

Uh, hello? Almost any one of Microsoft's mainstream product lines is bigger than Facebook. Office vs. Facebook? Office. Windows vs. Facebook? Windows. Xbox vs. Facebook? Xbox. MSN Search vs. Facebook? Probably MSN Search.

Congratulations are due to Facebook for managing to scale their one product, pre-business-model, without H1-B's.

I'm not an advocate for H1-B visas (though we could have a spirited debate about their merits vs. offshoring), but this is a pretty silly article.

attack3• 18 years ago

You don't want foreigners coming to the country to work?

mynameishere• 18 years ago

Do you? I wonder if you have a feel for the correct number. One million a year? Two million? One hundred million?

pchristensen• 18 years ago

Being opposed to immigration is different from opposing H1B. I'm not a big fan of H1B but I would pave the road with gold for more talented developers and scientists to come work in America.

One change I would make to H1B would be to auction them to companies instead of granting them. That would shut up the cries of "We can't hire anyone". If you really can't find anyone in the US at any price, you'd happily bid on an H1B to find someone. If you're just a cheapskate and don't pay market wages, then why do you think you should be able to rip off foreign citizens?

tptacek5• 18 years ago

Sure I do. I just don't want special-interest employer exemptions from immigration law that deliberately creates an artifically cheap supply of temp workers.

The alternative to H1B is offshoring, which is clearly worse than immigration.

kirubakaran4• 18 years ago

H1Bs are not "immigrants". We are non-immigrant alien workers.

puneetht• 18 years ago

This article completely misses the point. I want to know how many of the non-H1B workers at Microsoft used to be H1B's. And how about finding out percentage of engineers at all these companies. And personally I am so sick of hearing all these BS stories of H1B's stealing American jobs with low wages. I used to be on H1B and I made (and still do) more that all my friends who are American citizens or green card holders. I have green card now, and that hasnt affected my pay in any way.

ardit33• 18 years ago

Ok, for those against H-1Bs, tell me how many good programmers you know that don't have a job, or can't find one? My company is hiring, and they have hard time filling slots. Even fresh undergrads are taking in multiple offers. I'd like to see a H-1B reform, where there are more safeguard put in place against fraud (body shop abuses), and more green cards available.

Some people dream that if H-1B supply is cut off, engineers will get paid as much as lawyers and doctors, it is not going to happen. Once wages get to a pain threshold, companies will outsource even more. Unlike a doctor or engineer, you don't have to be at the location to build software. The engineers in the USA will be left only for jobs that have to be done locally. A good lawyer or doctor earn knowledge thru accumulated experience, and a 10 to 15 years of experiene. In Engineering, the learning experience curve is max 5 years. There is great chance, whatever you are doing now, that in 5 years it will be obsolete, and you will be re-learning from the beginning.

Microsoft needs immigrants, Facebook doesn't

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