Where are the "underemployed tech staff"? I've yet to work for a company that wasn't struggling to find talent. Part of the problem is that it's hard for small companies to hire H1B holders because of the increased paperwork overhead (perceived or actual).
yes, but struggling at what price? I'm trying to recruit right now as well, and I'm having very serious trouble. But I'm limited in what I can offer salary-wise by my institution.
But here's the thing - suppose I'm offering enough to get people who have already chosen engineering as a path to work for me instead of someone else. That should be enough. But it isn't going to convince a college student to go into engineering instead of law.
Have you seen the compensation for first year associates at top firms? Engineers (even from top tier schools) don't hit that level until a decade in. (EDIT added later: this definitely does not mean I'd rather be a lawyer - I'm only using it as a reflection of the salary level on one competing field for the "best and brightest")
These struggles to find talent among US citizens may be a consequence of the large number of visas awarded. Which turns into a cause (can't recruit, so issue more visas). Which turns into a consequence...
If you use these programs to control wage growth in high tech, but leave other fields like law unchecked... you should expect us citizens to leave high tech and go into other fields instead, which is what we have.
If you don't have the money to hire someone with a ton of experience, try to look for someone smart instead and provide them with an opportunity to build experience.
I think there are far too many people going into law or medicine because of the high pay and that leads to lots of crappy lawyers and doctors. We had a similar thing during the dotcom era in IT and quite frankly I'm glad that most of those people have switched careers and CS enrollment dropped.
I'm also guessing more outsourcing is on the way in law and medicine (in that order).
