[ale] OT: Sun Treasoning

[F. Grant Robertson]

Having had the immense pleasure to work with some really dedicated, skilled
and very talented H1B workers, and having seen what can happen to them if
the companies sponsoring them can't hold up their end of the deal, I've got
to dissent.  If I get laid off, I can work contract, I can pick up odd jobs,
I can do a little consulting.  For them, it's not so easy. Many H1B visa
recipients are in the process of achieving full citizenship and, losing a
job for them is losing a lot more..  They are not eligible for unemployment,
they cannot do "side work" or short contracts because the red tape is just
too prohibitive and, finding another job is much more difficult for them,
due to the financial obligations involved in sponsoring them.

If a company is laying of "real" workers here, and having contract
programming done overseas, that's one thing. Laying off H1B programmers
living in the US is entirely another. And quite frankly, yes Chris, your
views are extreme. This shocking trend towards nationalism just because the
economy is in a little crunch is a very dangerous thing.. if you'd like to
see examples of what it leads to, just read the current French press for a
few weeks, or, history of Germany leading up to WWII. Either one is a
shining example of what happens when the majority of the population gets
caught up in "us against them" style classism.

Once again I will say, that the vast, overwhelming majority of H1B workers I
have dealt with have been a sheer joy.  What we see here is the cream of the
crop, they wouldn't get here if they weren't driven, educated and talented.
You want to outshine them? Work harder.. If I had an employee that's a
citizen, working 50 hour weeks, and one who's an H1B that I had not only
made a commitment to but, that is regularly working himself to the bone 60,
70, 80 hours a week or more the choice for me would be obvious. Meritocracy,
not where you were born, should determine the fate of tech workers, plain
and simple.

In fact, while I'm on my soap box, forget nationalism..  What about all the
brain-dead loser sysadmins with paper CNE/MCSE/A+ certs running around out
there?  Have you ever stopped to consider what's caused the job glut is not
the minimal influx of non citizen workers but the sheer volume of grossly
unqualified people who decided in the last few years that they could make a
buck in "high tech"?  I don't get angry at the non citizens, I get angry at
the "universities" like AIU, Devry, Chubb, etc that will tell you all sorts
of stories about what a fabulous future you'll have, and how there is this
vast shortage of IT workers and then will continue to charge you anywhere
from 5 to 25k dollars for their special brand of sunshine to be blown up
your ass culminating in a degree.  Generalizations are always bad, and I am
quite sure there are a few people coming out of these places qualified and
capable but, on the whole I think that's in spite of the quality of
education they are receiving and not because of it.

"The harder I work, the luckier I get" - Lee Iacocca

-g

"Why is it everything clever I come up with the Simpsons already did?" -
Butters

-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Fowler [mailto:cfowler at outpostsentinel.com]
To: ale at ale.org
Sent: Thursday, June 27, 2002 7:00 PM
To: ale at ale.org
Subject: [ale] OT: Sun Treasoning


Am I being a radical?  After what happened on 9/11 am I the only one who
feels that Sun committed treason against our fellow Americans by firing
a good portion of their American workforce and keeping those foreigners
with work visa's?  Of course my views could be extreme.




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