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posted by cmn32480 on Saturday April 11 2015, @09:38PM   Printer-friendly
from the my-senator-stays-bought dept.

From an article in Computerworld:

Ten U.S. senators, representing the political spectrum, are seeking a federal investigation into displacement of IT workers by H-1B-using contractors.

They are asking the U.S. Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the Labor Department to investigate the use of the H-1B program "to replace large numbers of American workers" at Southern California Edison (SCE) and other employers.

Rather than all of us just griping on Soylent and 'that other site' about H-1B tech workers flooding in while there are plenty of Americans looking for work, these IT workers had a union, and got the attention of 10 senators to look into this issue. Southern California Edison laid off a bunch of American IT workers to replace them with H-1B Indians, and their union (since they are a utility, they happened to have had one), came to the rescue with a huge media campaign and now investigations by US Senators.

 
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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by CRCulver on Saturday April 11 2015, @10:03PM

    by CRCulver (4390) on Saturday April 11 2015, @10:03PM (#169101) Homepage

    What language do all of your interviewers speak, and what language is the interview in? Hindi, and only Hindi. Well, it turns out that you don't speak Hindi, although you're interviewing in America for a job with an American company.

    Instead of responding to the OP's snark in a reasonable way, you've made yourself look like a completely uninformed buffoon. Can you cite a US company ever holding interviews with US applicants in Hindi as opposed to English? Most US firms that do offshoring communicate with foreign workers in English. Furthermore, Hindi serves as a lingua franca in only some regions in India, while so much of the tech boom in India has been in places like Bangalore for whose population Hindi is quite a foreign language, and one they often have little love for, so the use of supposedly "neutral" English has been welcome indeed.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Saturday April 11 2015, @10:14PM

    by kaszz (4211) on Saturday April 11 2015, @10:14PM (#169107) Journal

    So the natural American citizen study with good grades at a college and interviews in English and has to accept a salary that only covers costs in India, not USA. The skills required is of a computer language which is flawed but is rote learned by your colleges without any analyze. You get subtly excluded when Kannada is the language of choice.

    • (Score: 2) by CRCulver on Saturday April 11 2015, @10:28PM

      by CRCulver (4390) on Saturday April 11 2015, @10:28PM (#169116) Homepage
      This is a much better response to the OP.
    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 11 2015, @11:13PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 11 2015, @11:13PM (#169129)

      Getting good grades doesn't make you more deserving of a job. My workplace hires anyone able to do the job, degree or not.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 11 2015, @11:31PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 11 2015, @11:31PM (#169139)

        It may not be obvious, but what your company is actually doing is hiring people with degrees to clean up the disasters created by those people they hired who don't have degrees.

        • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 11 2015, @11:59PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 11 2015, @11:59PM (#169154)

          No, that's not what my company is doing, you elitist fool. Incompetents get fired quickly or not hired at all, and both those with degrees and those without are often turned away, because most people (degree or not) just aren't that good. A piece of paper will not magically make someone better.

          You think knowledge only exists in a vacuum, but in the age of information, this is less true than ever. If going to college/university was your means of obtaining an education, then so be it. Some people use other means to educate themselves, and they shouldn't be looked down on for that. There are plenty of brilliant people without degrees if you look around.

          • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2015, @04:18AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2015, @04:18AM (#169240)

            > A piece of paper will not magically make someone better.

            Don't have a degree do you?

            You gave it away when you dismissed a degree as "a piece of paper" rather than 4 years of showing up, doing the work, meeting deadlines and being evaluated on your accomplishments and not quitting. Especially the not quitting -- nowadays 44% of college students drop out.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2015, @01:28PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2015, @01:28PM (#169313)

              Don't have a degree do you?

              And, of course, this invalidates my arguments.

              You gave it away when you dismissed a degree as "a piece of paper"

              The degree itself *is* a piece of paper. People who care about getting said piece of paper so they can get good jobs and money don't belong in college or university, because their priority is not to get a real education, and they merely want college/university to act as a fancy trade school for them. They are just corporate drones. Education should be sought for its own sake.

              rather than 4 years of showing up, doing the work, meeting deadlines and being evaluated on your accomplishments and not quitting.

              I show up, do the work, meet deadlines, and am evaluated on my accomplishments. And even though all of the above happens in colleges and universities, employers still have to look hard to find people who are at least decent, just like they would have to for people without degrees. Everyone should be tested, because if you rely on degrees only, you're going to get lots of trash.

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2015, @03:49PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2015, @03:49PM (#169343)

                > And, of course, this invalidates my arguments.

                No, the rest of my post invalidated your arguments. The above fact was intended to remind you that your bias is so strong that it shines through your writing. The fact that your bias is that strong casts doubt on the quality of your analysis.

                > The degree itself *is* a piece of paper.

                Yeah, putting emphasis on the word 'is' totally proves your point.

                > They are just corporate drones. Education should be sought for its own sake.

                Bullshit. Education is multiple things and when it is a means to and that's entirely normal. That you think otherwise is further proof of your distorted perceptions and ultimately half-assed understanding of the situation.

                > I show up, do the work, meet deadlines, and am evaluated on my accomplishments.

                Nobody said you didn't, nobody even intimated that. That you think I did speaks to your degree inferiority complex.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2015, @07:17PM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2015, @07:17PM (#169386)

                  No, the rest of my post invalidated your arguments.

                  It actually did no such thing. Some AC (maybe you) made an unsubstantiated assertion that my company hires people with degrees to clean up the messes left by those without degrees, which is simply false. My argument is simply that there are multiple methods of obtaining a good education and that it is more possible than ever to self-educate at this point, and that employers should hire people based on their own merits, because otherwise they will miss good candidates and accept many bad ones. The rest of your comment did nothing to address any of my points.

                  The above fact was intended to remind you that your bias is so strong that it shines through your writing.

                  Like the bias you have for degrees? I don't know who you're kidding, but there is no one on this planet without a strong bias, because as long as you have an opinion, there will be bias.

                  The fact that your bias is that strong casts doubt on the quality of your analysis.

                  Non sequitur. My arguments are there for all to see. "doubt" does not even come into it, as you can read my posts for yourself. Arguments stand on their own merit.

                  Yeah, putting emphasis on the word 'is' totally proves your point.

                  I really don't even see why you bothered responding to it, then.

                  Bullshit. Education is multiple things and when it is a means to and that's entirely normal.

                  It might be normal for people who want colleges and universities to be like trade schools, but in that case, maybe they should just go to trade schools rather than trying to destroy actual educational environments with their corporate mentalities.

                  Nobody said you didn't, nobody even intimated that. That you think I did speaks to your degree inferiority complex.

                  The point was that it isn't limited to just colleges or universities.

                  But since you're going to tell me what I think (that I have an inferiority complex, apparently), I'll do the same to you: You know that I am correct and you are only disagreeing with me to make your precious ego feel good. If you wish, I can play Internet psychologist and diagnose you with a random mental disorder.

                  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2015, @08:26PM

                    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2015, @08:26PM (#169397)

                    > Like the bias you have for degrees?

                    You dismiss them as "a piece of paper" that isn't even in the same neighborhood as saying they represent showing up and not quitting for 4 years.

                    > I don't know who you're kidding, but there is no one on this planet without a strong bias,

                    That is a fantastic example of self-delusion. The fact that everybody is biased about something is not proof that I am particularly biased about college degrees. As you say your arguments stand on their own merit and that's one of many of examples of how poor your merit is.

                    > I really don't even see why you bothered responding to it, then.

                    Because people with chips on their shoulder that are completely unware of the chips on their shoulder are my weakness. I can't resist fucking with people like you because your elitism passing as equanimity is irritating and in all likelihood has been applied to the people around in you in real life to harmful effect.

                    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2015, @11:10PM

                      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2015, @11:10PM (#169456)

                      You dismiss them as "a piece of paper" that isn't even in the same neighborhood as saying they represent showing up and not quitting for 4 years.

                      It isn't in the same neighborhood because you arbitrarily decided that it isn't. That's pretty subjective.

                      That is a fantastic example of self-delusion.

                      I'm going to have to turn that back on you.

                      The fact that everybody is biased about something is not proof that I am particularly biased about college degrees.

                      Straw man. That isn't what I was saying.

                      Because people with chips on their shoulder that are completely unware of the chips on their shoulder are my weakness.

                      You're your own weakness, then? I know it's not surprising, but from my perspective, you have plenty of chips on your shoulder.

                      I can't resist fucking with people like you because your elitism passing as equanimity is irritating and in all likelihood has been applied to the people around in you in real life to harmful effect.

                      Elitism? I'm not the one saying that people with degrees need to clean up the messes left behind by people without degrees and making unsubstantiated comments about how someone else's company does things. Since we're all ACs, I can't say who did what, but there it is.

                      I merely maintain that a degree does not guarantee competence, and that college and university are just a few means of attaining an education. Self-education is another option. I know plenty of intelligent people who graduated from university, and plenty of intelligent people who didn't. When I call degrees "pieces of paper", I say that because I am disgusted at the attitudes some people have when it comes to education; that it is just something that will let them make more money. I find that extremely sad, but many people go into formal education for those reasons. The best ones go above and beyond what is asked of them because they are deeply interested in the subjects, whether they're in college/university or not.

                      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @03:48AM

                        by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @03:48AM (#169534)

                        > It isn't in the same neighborhood because you arbitrarily decided that it isn't. That's pretty subjective.

                        Are you gewg_troll? Your writing style combining mechanical coherence with semantic incoherence is awfully familiar.

                        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @06:45AM

                          by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @06:45AM (#169568)

                          You have a point. Technical correctness on the details but failing in overall structure while abusing syllogisms in both directions as it suits their needs. Add in some doubling-down-defense and outright hypocritical-hostility, stir briskly, half-bake for a dozen posts and done.

                          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @02:50PM

                            by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @02:50PM (#169734)

                            Technical correctness on the details but failing in overall structure while abusing syllogisms in both directions as it suits their needs.

                            I don't see how.

                            But making unsubstantiated comments about someone else's company and asserting that degree holders always need to clean up after the messes of people who don't have degrees is quite foolish. It's a failure with that person's critical thinking abilities.

                            doubling-down-defense

                            When I see something I disagree with, I reply to it. That's all. Whether that counts as a "defense" is irrelevant to the points I'm making.

                            outright hypocritical-hostility

                            I don't see how my supposed "hostility" is hypocritical. Where did I say I was against all forms of hostility, which is the only way I could be a hypocrite? And what qualifies as "hostility" must be quite subjective.

                            Besides, if hostility is hypocritical, then I guess all these AC comments (including mine apparently) are hypocritical as well. But I guess other people's hostility doesn't count because you disagree with me and therefore it can be ignored.

                        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @02:40PM

                          by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @02:40PM (#169727)

                          I don't think there's any semantic incoherence there.

        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by tibman on Sunday April 12 2015, @04:19AM

          by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Sunday April 12 2015, @04:19AM (#169241)

          I have been brought in to clean up two projects that couldn't get off the ground due to over-engineering. Having seven layers of abstraction because some professor said abstraction was the key to making flexible projects is a disaster. The degree doesn't make person A better than person B. The degree asserts that person A has a certain level of understanding and familiarity with their area of study. What does the lack of degree tell you about the level of understanding of person B? Nothing. Why don't you look at their code or have them do a live challenge during the interview.

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          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2015, @06:22AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2015, @06:22AM (#169259)

            Systemd? Pulse Audio?

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2015, @01:32PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 12 2015, @01:32PM (#169314)

            The degree asserts that person A has a certain level of understanding and familiarity with their area of study.

            It really doesn't, in more cases than you would think possible. I'm not sure how or why a lot of these people are allowed to get degrees, but it's as if they just mindlessly did the assignments, failed to understand anything, and somehow got a degree in the end. They have no real drive, because I guess they expected the college/university to spoonfeed them, and the results are predictable.

            Why don't you look at their code or have them do a live challenge during the interview.

            My company does this. And strangely enough, not only do most people who don't have a degree get eliminated, but most people who do have a degree also get eliminated.

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 11 2015, @11:35PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 11 2015, @11:35PM (#169140)

      If the grammar and spelling errors of this post are anything to go by, I wouldn't have much confidence in Americans either.