U.S. programmers, as a whole, won't get behind one stance on immigration.
I know many programmers from India, for instance, and they are talented people that I really like. I've seen the real contribution that these people make to America's bottom line.
I've also seen many corporate "body shops" where frankly, there's a class war going on, and management wants to "tame" the complexity of software developers by making us low-priced and low-status cogs. The low status may be more fundamental than the low price, because a professionalized stratum of programmers is a threat against managers who build castles in the air and send us off on charges of the light brigade and to build Marginot Lines.
Many U.S. programmers see H1-B as a weapon that will be used against them.
Personally I see something in both points of view on this issue but I'd find it hard to take either side as a platform position or to support an organization that takes a stance on H1-B one way or the other.
I definitely think we're missing a real professional organization for software developers. The ACM fails at this because it represents the interests of academic computer scientists, not practitioners.
I'd very much like to pay dues to something like the ACM, oriented towards practitioners, but unfortunately this doesn't exist.
This is a good point. The most common profession among legislators in the US so far has been law. They have most definitely not shown any interest in making it easier for foreign lawyers to practice in the US (I'd say they've shown remarkably cartel-like inclinations, really)... but they are relatively enthusiastic about getting more STEM workers here.
Comments
U.S. programmers, as a whole, won't get behind one stance on immigration.
I know many programmers from India, for instance, and they are talented people that I really like. I've seen the real contribution that these people make to America's bottom line.
I've also seen many corporate "body shops" where frankly, there's a class war going on, and management wants to "tame" the complexity of software developers by making us low-priced and low-status cogs. The low status may be more fundamental than the low price, because a professionalized stratum of programmers is a threat against managers who build castles in the air and send us off on charges of the light brigade and to build Marginot Lines.
Many U.S. programmers see H1-B as a weapon that will be used against them.
Personally I see something in both points of view on this issue but I'd find it hard to take either side as a platform position or to support an organization that takes a stance on H1-B one way or the other.
I definitely think we're missing a real professional organization for software developers. The ACM fails at this because it represents the interests of academic computer scientists, not practitioners.
I'd very much like to pay dues to something like the ACM, oriented towards practitioners, but unfortunately this doesn't exist.
This is a good point. The most common profession among legislators in the US so far has been law. They have most definitely not shown any interest in making it easier for foreign lawyers to practice in the US (I'd say they've shown remarkably cartel-like inclinations, really)... but they are relatively enthusiastic about getting more STEM workers here.