In my last diary I had described the effects of this recession on me and my family. I had discussed the wrecked state of the Job market in Denver and the fact that after months of looking I just could find nothing at all there. Not wanting to endure a foreclosure and prolonged period of unemployment, we as a family decided to look for greener pastures.
So after a tearful farewell, I left my family and headed out on a solo road trip to Washington, DC in the hopes that I would at last find the employment that would be my family’s salvation. Well after two and a half hard days of driving and two sleepless nights in a tiny Geo, I finally arrived in Washington Sunday night, and this week I have started a new job as a senior DBA working for a sub-contractor to the Federal government. It’s not the best job opportunity I’ve ever had, pays well below the prevailing wage, but they offered me the job right over the telephone just before I left Denver. For someone facing financial ruin, it was too inviting to pass up. So I accepted it, knowing full well that they will paying me a good $10K a year less than the figures I had already discussed with other prospective employers in the area.
I know I could have done better, but at the time I was frightened and worried, wondering whether I would be able to support my family at all. As it turns out, I'm not entirely out of the woods yet. I have to undergo a security clearance procedure, but I have no convictions on my record so I'm not overly concerned about it.
Before I continue I want to thank all those who offered moral support and a very special thank you to "Vicki" (you know who you are) who offered to hook me up with people in Denver who might be able to lend a hand to help my family in my absence. As it stands now, I think we will be OK, it will be rough for a little while, but we will make it. We did have a little cash in savings, and my wife was able to sell one of my most prized possessions (with my permission of course) which will make our next mortgage payment. It was a drum set which I have not used in years, but nevertheless could never before bring myself to part with. I don't expect most people out there to understand the bond between musician and his primary instrument, but I know any musicians out there will know exactly what I mean and exactly how it feels.
Meanwhile, I continue to get rejections on the resumes I sent out to Denver employers. Conversely, I am getting calls nearly every day from within the Washington area from recruiters trying to fill jobs here. Clearly, I have made the right decision.
Now, those who have kept up with my diaries here may recall that a few weeks ago I wrote about the fact that I had been displaced by an H1B worker, or more accurately, when faced with a downsizing decision, the company I was working for chose to retain an H1b worker of inferior skills and experience to mine and terminated my contract instead. This no doubt due to the fact that as an H1b worker, he is working for well below the prevailing wage whereas I as an American citizen had been working at the prevailing wage.
Ironically, the contractor I am now working for hires primarily H1b workers. I seem to be the only American on staff. Well, as they say, only Nixon could go to China, so I find myself completely surrounded by H1B workers. It should prove to be an interesting experience. So far I do very much enjoy their company, they are good and kind, decent people, as I have noted many times in the past about other H1b workers I've known. Just for the record, I want to say that I for one have no problem with foreign IT workers here when there is a legitimate economic need for them. But as I have also said in the recent past, this is NOT one of those times.
Furthermore I find it very disturbing that our own federal government is participating in the outsourcing of American jobs to foreign workers through use of a loophole. They are not directly using H1b workers in quantity, rather, they are using contractors and subcontractors who hire almost exclusively H1b workers. I am one of only three American citizens on this rather large project of dozens of developers across several contractors and sub-contractors. Virtually all others are H1b workers from India.
Some have criticized me in the past for having acknowledged the national origins of these workers. I find such criticism specious at best. One need only observe the difference between the prevailing wages of our two nations to understand the magnitude of disparity between them and the size of the problem that domestic workers must endure in order to compete with them. Additionally, India is by far the largest recipient of remittances in the world meaning that not only are we importing these workers from overseas to work for lower wages, but much of what they do earn does not even stay in this economy. Instead of stimulating our own economy, which is currently in recession, we are stimulating the economy of one of the few countries in the world who's economy is still enjoying a healthy growth rate which while down slightly from it's 2008 peak of 9%, is still at a very healthy 7%.
As I was introduced around the office on my first day, the project managers were visibly relieved to see that unlike most of the 20 and 30 somethings that are most of the IT H1b workers, I clearly had “been around the block” a few times, and both of them had commented to that effect. They were clearly suffering from what I call "H1b fatigue".
One of the issues with IT H1bs is that many, if not most are fresh out of college or still fairly new in their careers. One of the dangers of over reliance on H1bs is a fundamental lack of real world experience, as well as a lack of familiarity with any but the very latest development techniques.
This is definitely a broad generalization, and while I’ve known a few IT H1b people who were well seasoned, most of those were people who started on an H1b but went on to become green card holders eventually and in any case they seem to be very much the minority. I have yet to meet the first H1b worker who has even ten years of professional experience, much less a twenty year veteran.
This can severely jeopordize any project that is highly dependent on legacy systems as many federal government systems are, including the one to which I have been assigned.
So, although I'm certainly both relieved and grateful at having been offered employment even by a company that normally only hires H1b workers, I am also living proof that this program is in fact driving wages down. It's time not only to re-examine this program, but to hold our own government's feet to the fire. I worked my ass off to elect Barack Obama, I've heard him say that our focus should be on "fair" trade not just free trade. I want to believe in him, but it's hard to grant him much credibility with this kind of thing going on right under his nose. Then again, on the other hand, I was hired by someone who normally only hires H1bs, so maybe that's not by accident. At the moment I have no way of knowing, I only know that I am the only domestic employee on staff.
Nevertheless, at it's core this is really a trade issue. If we look at it in context, is there really any difference between buying a broom made in Mexico and a piece of software made in India? Of course not. To have fair trade, we should insist that foreign workers are offered the same benefits and protections that Americans receive, and that foreign employers must meet the same environmental standards and restrictions as our own industries, and further that their host countries are willing to open their markets to our products as we open ours to theirs. Then we are on a level playing field. That is fair trade.
But what is happening here is much more insidious, we are actually importing workers from overseas to perform the same tasks done by American workers but at much lower wages. Does it even matter that the work is being done here? It's still being done by foreign labor and the fruits of that labor are being remitted back home instead being spent here in our own economy. It's still trade, just masked behind euphemisms like H1b, instead of being called what it really is, using foreign labor to do our work right here on our own soil.
Currently there is no longer a tech shortage in this country. I'm living proof of that. I'm having to uproot my family and move them 2/3rds of the way across the country in order to survive. Right here on Dkos, I've seen numerous similar stories from other IT professionals all over this country as well has heard the personal stories of many more back in Denver.
Therefore, H1b in my view, for the foreseeable future is an anachronism that should be curtailed until and unless there is a genuine and legitimate need for it again.