30 karma · joined January 9, 2017
White board interviews are supposed to be interactive. When I solve a problem, I always verbally say whatever is going on in my mind and share it with them. This does two things : 1. Helps me focus on the next steps instead of letting my mind race through different solutions, context switch often and lose track of my own thoghts. 2. Gives feedback to the interviewer so he knows I am on the right track and if not, give me clues (with or without him wanting to) that I can pick up on and proceed further.
In the end, my white board interviews always went like a conversation, a deep discussion about a problem that involves coming up with a solution and attacking it to see its pros and cons. I have come to appreciate the process itself because it tests several things like communicating to the team, problem solving, being open to other ideas etc.
Edit : I'd also like to note here that I didn't get these skills in my first interview. My first several interviews went horribly wrong like you mentioned. It is a skill that you need to invest time in. And you have to believe that the time you invest in this will pay off eventually. It did for me in several ways.
Sure, but that doesn't mean they won't happily exchange that info as part of a deal with the US, assuming your data is valuable enough.
I can share my own story. On one Saturday, I got a phone call from a co-worker that there are rumors of an impending massive layoff the following week. And then I got laid off on Monday. But I updated my resume on Saturday and already applied for several jobs on Sunday and started preparing for interviews. On Monday, I got laid off. And on Tuesday, I got a call scheduling for an interview. That entire week, I got two more calls for interviews. I scheduled them for the week after that as I needed at least one week to get up to speed with interview preparation. 20 days after my layoff, I had an offer. I still had interviews scheduled from bigger companies at that time, but I took the offer because I had some personal situations also to deal with at the time (My marriage was supposed to be in 3 weeks). I had a good raise in the new job, and with severance, it all ended up great with a good bonus and a raise.
My general advice is this. While I admit it is an incredibly stressful and emotional time, your emotions cannot take priority over actions.
It's not practical to do that. You can call them "Indian outsourcing firms", but on paper they are American companies too. Compiling such a black list of companies purely based on how many H-1B applications they've filed in the past is not a good idea. Because it'll just give unfair advantage to the other "outsourcing" companies like Tech Mahindra, who probably should have been on that list, but escaped the radar because of these other giants. So these companies will now top the list and they'll hire aggressively to replace TCS, Infosys and co.
So what is the solution? Hard to say. Raising the minimum wage is a good start, but the exact amount will have to vary state by state. Because, for example, $80000 per year is too small for the bay area, but a good salary in Texas, NC etc.
Another approach is provide an easier way to permanent residency for those who complete Masters or above in US. That will eliminate to some extent the mixing up the "Elon Musks and Sergey Brins" along with those abusing the system.
And for God's sake, allow H-4 dependents to work. It's hypocritical to expect high skilled people to work in your country, but they shouldn't be married to someone who wants to work. You are destroying livelihoods, careers and relationships by doing this.
This is a huge problem by itself. H-4 EAD after I-140 is not enough because that forces you to stay with your current employer until you get your I-140. If you are going to restrict H-1B to highly skilled immigrants, then H-4 EAD should be eligible for any H-1B holder's spouse regardless of I-140 status. Otherwise you are basically saying "we only welcome highly skilled immigrants that are single"
That's not fully true AFAIK. The green card (GC) is a 3-step process - PERM, I-140 and GC itself.
If you already have your I-140, unless your previous employer cancels your I-140 (which cost them a few thousand dollars), your new employer can just start over the third step of the process. This is not optimal, sure, but it is not square one either.