fw109

Yes, I agree with you about the brain drain. But it's complicated, isn't it? At the moment, there isn't the right sort of environment to build a successful software company in my country of origin. The usual suspects are there: corruption, lack of infrastructure. and so on. Things are improving, but there's a long way to go.

But I wasn't quite arguing that I would be giving back to my country of origin. That is not to say that I don't want to. I was just arguing for myself, and people like me: foreigners in search of a better life, regardless of the geographical location.

You're right, I'm luckier than several billions of people in the world. But my point is simply this: the fact that I wasn't born in the US was not in my control. If I want to move here, some people want me here, and it is in my control to do so, I just feel that I have the right to do so.

As far as the last few lines in my comment go: I was expressing bitterness at the fact that we foreign workers are being dismissed as worthless talent-less job-stealers. In my comment I wanted to be dismissive of those who are dismissive of me. I am not really so in real life, as I know that the ones being so vile here are not like that in person, because everyone is more complicated than that.

I don't understand. Am I supposed to accept the arguments I keep hearing for why I shouldn't be here? I'm just defending my right to be here, using the same self-serving attitude espoused in the rest of the comments I found here. What should I say: I am going to contribute to the American economy by paying taxes and being a good citizen, I am going to create value for my company, etc.? Well yes, I do think these things, but all the commenters here do not care, they just think I'm stealing their jobs.

This is my perspective as a much-maligned foreign worker. I lost the lottery of birth, and was born to lower middle class parents in a third world country. But I worked hard in school, and got a scholarship at a respected private university in the US. I worked hard in college, and got a decent offer from a big tech company. When I start next year right after graduating, I will earn more in one year than my father earns in five. Even with cost of living differences, I calculated that I will have a far better standard of living than I was used to.

Perhaps my university gave me the scholarship to boost its diversity figures. Perhaps my company is paying less than it would have to in some imaginary world in which foreign workers with H1Bs were not allowed -- then again, if that were the case, I would never get that job (I'm smart, but not "extraordinary" enough to get an O-1 visa). But it doesn't matter. Whatever the reasons, I stand to win, living a much better life than back home. So for those of you with inflated senses of self-worth complaining about people like me, why don't you go cry to your mommy about how you should have taken a Wall Street job instead, so that you could have earned a lot more money while fucking over the world economy. Because fuck the rest of the world, right?