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Re:Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa progr... by chrisseaton on Tuesday October 06, 2020 @07:50PM (#24703824)
> Raise compensation and let the markets adjust to attract talent.

But this can take decades.

If Google wants to start a large new compiler project, them opening a job position with a high salary isn't going to convince anyone to go away and do a PhD in compilers, and if it does they wouldn't be available for five years.

If Google want to build a compiler now and they aren't able to hire anyone locally with the skills, what do you want them to do? Abandon the project? That's not great for the US economy is it?

Re:Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa progr... by ajsnigrutin on Tuesday October 06, 2020 @09:13PM (#24704303)
In a 300mio people country, Google can't gather a team of compiler experts?

And this can still be fixed by requiring above-market prices for H1B workers (eg. requiring 1.5x average pay for the position needed, so if an average compiler developer in california is paid 100k, you can only get a foreign developer if you pay them 150k - this would force companies to get local talent by raising their pay to 110k, 120k, 130k..., and when they really cannot get anyone, even at 150k, they are able to get someone on a visa).

Re:Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa progr... by travisoneill1 on Tuesday October 06, 2020 @08:47PM (#24704173)
You need a PHD to be able to build a compiler?
Re:Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa progr... by chrisseaton on Tuesday October 06, 2020 @08:50PM (#24704187)
In my experience most people working on compilers have PhDs in compilers, yeah.

But if you don't agree, take any example you like that requires at least a few years to come up to speed.

People aren't going to become an expert tomorrow on whatever subject you're hiring for, no matter how much you pay.

If you offered me a million dollars to play the trombone for you I'd love to accept that, but I can't do it until I go away and learn the trombone which would take me years. Offering me ten million dollars wouldn't make me learn it any faster, either.

We say that markets are 'inelastic' - they don't adapt to demand magically.

Re:Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa progr... by ajsnigrutin on Tuesday October 06, 2020 @09:17PM (#24704327)
But there are other trombone players in the country, google will just have to pay them more than the competition to get them and/or the competition will have to raise their pay to make them stay. In the long run, some orchestras might be a trombone player short, but with high(er) average wages, you'll get more people who take trombone-playing as a career path.

There are very very few positions, that you can't fill if you offer above-average pay and working conditions, and most H1B visa carriers now, are not unicorns, but usually just someone willing to work for less money than locals (example: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/last-task-after-layoff... )

Re:Trump administration announces overhaul of H1B visa progr... by travisoneill1 on Tuesday October 06, 2020 @09:38PM (#24704437)
I don't think there really is an example that takes years to get up to speed, because if you can't find someone who has the exact experience, you can find someone in a related field. It took me less than a year from writing my first line of code to working as a software engineer. I bet it would take even less now to be a useful compiler engineer.