H1B Visas

[Thomas Hauber]

Does anyone know of a group or association of programmers, which is
taking a stance on this issue?

I for one don't want to be in the same boat as some programmers, who are
finding it tough to get a job simply because they are too senior.

[Richard Knechtel]

I think this is going to start being a tough situtaion soon. If you read
the article "Immigration and Programmers: The Law of the Land" in the
August 1998 issue of Midrange Computing you will really see what I mean.
The author Thomas Stockwell suggests that companies will be looking for
younger people, recently graduated college graduates and such. They can
pay them less than the senior programmers and when it comes to hiring
new programmers the chance that someone with 10 years expeirence getting
the job will be less and less.
Also this comment made a lot more sense than you would believe:

"The average wage increase for programmers has been mild (7 percent in
1997). Were employers truly desperate, they would be willing to pay
premium wages".

Many companies are pushing to get more H1-B visa's, so they can get
cheaper labor. I guess companies want more profits to put in their
pockets and pay their employees less.

--
Richard Knechtel
email(richard dot knechtel at centrobe dot com)
Centrobe
(Systems Engineer/System Administrator)
(Aspiring AS/400 GURU)
(Aspiring Linux GURU)
(Aspiring Visual Basic Programmer)

[Hal Leahy]

>Does anyone know of a group or association of programmers, which is
>taking a stance on this issue?

I believe the IEEE- Computer Society has come out against the
expansion of the H1B visa program.

[David Abramowitz]

ICCA has also come out against extending the H1B-Visa program.

--
David Abramowitz

[Hal Leahy]

Correction. The IEEE USA has come out against the expansion of the
H1-B visa. See http://www.ieee.org/usab/FORUM/ALERTS/98alert2.html for
the official position. The IEEE USA is the USA national organization
of the international IEEE. It's views do not necessarily reflect the
views of the IEEE or the IEEE Computer Society.

For a view of a IEEE CS member who opposes the view of the IEEE-USA
see http://computer.org/computer/co1998/html/r6120.htm

For the pro, con and I don't know reaction to that see:
http://computer.org/computer/BCSum.htm

For an interesting article on the H1-B visa program see:
http://www.usvisanews.com/memo86.html

[JP de Jager]

As a recruiter may I give you some input on this matter? Many of my clients
are looking for 'mid-range' RPG programmers (in terms of experience, 2 to 4
years experience), which are hard to find. Either people do not have enough
experience (less than 2 years), or people have more than enough experience,
but are too expensive (80s and up).

My office works in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and West Texas. In all
these areas we have AS/400 RPG job opportunities, most of which require 2 to
4 years of experience. Salaries range from mid 40s to high 60s, depending
on experience and other requirements. Some requirements that 'push'
salaries upward include experience with either JD Edwards, Query/400, or
HBOC, etc. Many of our clients are not willing to sponsor these H1 visas,
but cannot find the talent that would be a good match in terms of both
experience and salary requirements.

An example of a higher end position we are currently working to fill
requires a minimum of 4 years RPG experience, as well as at least two years
of HBOC or IBAX. The salary range for this position is between $60K and
$80K, DOE.

If you are interested in hearing about AS/400, RPG opportunities in Arizona,
Colorado, New Mexico, or West Texas, please contact me either by e-mail or
call toll free 1-877-292-9800.
--
Jean-Paul de Jager
Marketing Project Coordinator
MRI of the Sandias
http://www.mrisandias.com
Phone: 1-877-292-9800
Toll Free: 1-505-292-9800
Fax: 1-505-292-9810
E-Mail: j...@mrisandias.com

[Scott Jackson]

Thomas,

Pardon my naivety but as a technical recruiter (JD Edwards and AS/400) I would
be curious to know how this affects programmers such as yourself. In
meantime, if I learn of an entity I will pass it along.

Scott Jackson
Technology Consultants
http://www.jdejobs.com

Thomas Hauber wrote:

> Does anyone know of a group or association of programmers, which is
> taking a stance on this issue?
>

> I for one don't want to be in the same boat as some programmers, who are
> finding it tough to get a job simply because they are too senior.
>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thomas Hauber <t...@iname.com>
>
> Thomas Hauber
> <t...@iname.com>
> Netscape Conference Address
> Netscape Conference DLS Server
> Additional Information:
> Last Name Hauber
> First Name Thomas
> Version 2.1