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Comment by some_guy_nobel | Hacker News Reader

I know a few people who graduated with a CS degree in the last 2 years who have given up completely, at least in the short-term, on finding tech jobs. A few tried pivoting to tech sales but found difficulties there as well. I also know a few who landed tech jobs. Those with more success were definitely more interested in the subject, and continued coding during the (+6 month) job search, while those who ended up giving up seemed pretty sour on coding from the get go, lamenting their choice of degree.

I suspect an H1B decision reduction is a step in the correct direction here, but

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>I suspect an H1B decision reduction is a step in the correct direction here, but

Already being changing. Singapore is now exempt. As more palms are greased, I am sure more exemptions will follow.

True, it's almost certainly for show and will amount to nothing, as with most things in this/every administration.

I think you are mistaken in this, unless there is news I am not aware of. Chile and Singapore citizens have a H1B1 work visa available to them with similar conditions as the H1B, except for a restriction on intent to immigrate, and a different quota pool; this was instituted by respective bilateral FTAs. The recent news about them is just that the H1B1 is not subject to the recent developments concerning the H1B.

You made me do s search. I do not know about Chile, but this:

https://www.visaverge.com/visa/singapore-citizens-exempt-fro...

Where I use to work, there were a few people, not many, working there from Singapore. Most were from India and China.

Yes, this news is the US administration clarifying that H1B1's aren't affected by the increased fee for H1B's. Chile and Singapore have small populations, and even with the minute few Singaporeans working in the US (under the H1B1 and otherwise), they are likely overrepresented as a fraction of their total citizenry, owing to their intensive education and hence relative global mobility.

The H1B1 has been around for over 20 years now. It's just... something that exists. These are concessions that a large country like the US can easily give in bilateral agreements to small countries because demographic issues owing to immigration are not likely owing to how small these countries are to begin with. It's not something possible for countries like India, China, Indonesia, etc.

What percentage of current software engineers are H1b? Would it even move the needle?

You don't need a large percentage to have a big impact on the margin.

> I suspect an H1B decision reduction is a step in the correct direction here, but

I think this is a terrible idea that only helps those like your friends: people that got into tech because of job prospects but never cared about the field.

It's going to hurt American IT companies and in the end all IT workers if the field becomes less competitive and more mediocrity will survive.

> I think this is a terrible idea that only helps those like your friends

Well, it will also help the tens of thousands let go from top tech companies over the last two years, many of which do care about the field. I can assure you the fact that someone has an H1B says almost nothing about how much they 'care about the field'.

You're decreasing competition, you're making America's tech weaker.

I think a better way to get the mediocre out of the field is to make some other, perhaps slightly easier, field a more attainable and well paid career path.

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