I interviewed at a bay area tech firm and out of 30 candidates there were maybe 3-4 Americans including myself.

I know multiple Americans who are good software developers with good credentials who would be qualified for that job and similar but never got them.

And they didn’t get them because companies are paying H1B workers lower wages? It seems to me that you are advocating for hiring less qualified candidates here.

Most people in STEM outside of CS (including regular engineering) get a degree, never get a good first job (or any job at all in their field), and switch field entirely.

An oldie by now, but still relevant: https://spectrum.ieee.org/at-work/education/the-stem-crisis-...

> How many of your fellow citizens do you know who have the skills to get a good job and don't get one because of foreign competition?

It's kind of a chicken and egg problem. I certainly know people with skills to do what used to be good jobs, but aren't good jobs anymore due to foreign competition.

I don't see how this is a matter of compensation. Companies want to hire the best engineers. Your friends seem to not fit that bill. If there is no pool of good engineers, companies will look elsewhere. I don't see the scenario where less competition is helping anybody here. Your friends should work on their skills.

Seems none of the responses to your question was a true enough scotsman.

Hiring isn't a competition to find the smartest candidate, silly Google interviews notwithstanding. Companies want the "good enough" candidate they can get for the least pay. Otherwise all job ads would express a preference for principal engineers with doctorates, instead of the opposite which is far more common. So yes competition drives down pay, it doesn't drive up everyone's skills.

That means they were over pricing their skills. This is how a free market works.

It's not a free market. It's a regulated market with a gaping loophole.

Someone wiling to work for less is a loophole? You must be a fan of price fixing then.

+1 I was never asked about my immigration status before me accepting the offer. I had interviewer training afterwards and there was no mention of immigration status in interviewer guidelines as well. This was 20000+ employee company. It doesn’t seem logical from company’s perspective to hire a direct employee who’s gonna be with them for many years, just on basis of their immigration status.