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Comment by sceptic05 | Hacker News Reader

These discussions are unbelievable.

If there truly were a shortage of developers, then their wages would be rising, yet they aren't, as the report in the article notes.

If I complained about a "shortage" of Ferraris while only offering to buy them new at the price of a Honda Civic, no one would take me seriously. But when Fortune 500 companies make the same complaints about labor, that they can't find great programmers while only offering $85-115k, the government responds with corporate welfare in the form of the H-1B visa. If there's really a programmer "shortage" at the wages offered, then employers should have to do like the rest of us and either pay more for what they want or do without and quit whining.

Disgusting that even here on HN people make excuses for this.

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My litmus test for a true shortage is when employers are beating the bushes and hiring semi-retired people like me who are over 50. Until this happens, there is no shortage of STEM workers, and we shouldn't allow the H-1B cap to be raised until it does.

Exactly, there is no shortage of STEM workers, but there is a shortage of cheap STEM workers.

I'm sure many companies want cheap labor, but other companies cannot find enough of the type of STEM worker they desire.

If I complained about a "shortage" of Ferraris while only offering to buy them new at the price of a Honda Civic, no one would take me seriously.

-- The issue in a nutshell

if you put this way. there is no shortage of anything.

Think about why most of factories moved to other countries?

Do you want that happen to IT?

offshoring has to do with excess supply, not shortages. eg, after telecom became cheap int't calls allowed telconferencing to bring english speaking people online who were overseas (eg, india). So, it's not that there is not shortage, there is simply new excess capacity (oversupply). The tech sector is the same way. There is no shortage... people actually just want to tap into pools of cheap labour to decrease market power of existing staff...and are marketing this as being needed by a shortage. Its complete BS as far as common english usage is concerned. There are plenty of engineers available, but there is only a shortage of engineers willing to work below market. By tapping into h1b and other new labour pools, again it shows that outsourcing is simply tapping into latent excess capacity. Totally different than a "shortage" being the original issue. But there will always be a shortage of people willing to work below market rates...that is a tautological logic working there, no/?

>If there truly were a shortage of developers, then their wages would be rising, yet they aren't, as the report in the article notes.

Where I work we're paying people no more than we paid in 2000. In constant dollars that's a big pay cut.

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