As a CS undergrad in my junior year, I’ve become completely terrified about my future. I didn’t know it was this bad. But now I realize that I face everyone who is willing to work 70 hours a week for 1/2 or 1/3 of the salary an American would make, due to h1b visas given to people in place like India and China who would do anything to come to America . To make matter worse is the outsourcing of the jobs overseas so they don’t even have to be done here. These seem like standard protocol now to cut costs. Companies will advertise jobs, and even do interviews but only as a formality, knowing that they will hire a foreigner anyway for far less money. They have ways to make sure a foreigner will be the only person who can get the job. A quick google search of tech jobs h1b visas will give you more than enough info and all the discussions at the bottom of the articles strongly agree as well. I was really enjoying what I’m learning and have a 3.71 GPA, but have a hard time even landing an internship so who knows what’s gonna happen when I graduate. I can’t believe I bought into the tech jobs are in demand propaganda. Should I just save myself the time and disappointment now and just quit?
I can only speak from personal experience. The companies I’ve worked for have not been fans of sponsoring H1B visas. They are expensive and the paperwork is a pain in the neck. They do it because there aren’t enough US citizens with the skills. Yes, the company I work for does use offshore resources - but we require onshore resources to determine requirements, guide, and review the work of both the onshore and offshore resources.
You’ve googled to find articles that support the doomsday scenario you’ve been hearing. There are plenty of other articles that talk about the serious shortage of students (especially female and minority) studying CS. Many jobs require onshore resources, and many jobs require people who can communicate readily with clients, which some but not all foreign resources can do.
Don’t know where you’re located, that could play a big part in the difficulty of landing an internship.
Well, you are in a tech field that doesn’t really require a specific location for a product to be produced.
Quite frankly, for programming (which includes software developing) you can do it anywhere around the world as long as the code itself is good.
There’s no real reason why companies need the codes to be finished in the US since well… code is code. It’s not like the same code in a different country will fail to work.
And you have to take in the fact that there are many countries outside USA (including even first world countries) that have lower minimum wage than back here. Naturally, the top of the cream students in other countries will just be as good (if not possibly even better) as the ones in USA>
I personally think this is perfectly natural and that you should have expected a possibility like this in the near future.
I mean based on PISA 2012, we were ranked 27 in mathematics. Doesn’t that kind of imply the average 15 year old in 26 other countries are better than ours? And some of those 26 countries has noticeably lower minimum wage so… (makes perfect sense to me)
That said, I’m so confident that there will be some following posts trying to disregard this “problem”. However, I personally think the “problem” is too serious to overlook and that it is something that many potential majors in CS at collegeconfidential should be aware of before going to the field.
We keep saying “well the foreigners are inferior”. Really? I mean seriously? Are you pretty much implying every single american CS major is by default a Bill Gates? And quite frankly, even if every single American CS major (that includes us) is Bill Gates level, do most companies need that level of programming? As far as I can tell, most programming are rather pretty basic on jobs so I don’t see why we even need all those Bill Gates when foreigners with “inferior” capabilities are able to accomplish the same task for much less.
(btw, before we go into foreigners all being inferior, I would like to say that some of the best programmers in the industry are H1B visa. Literally. So… we got some of the brightest programmers… willing to work overtime … for like lower wage…)
Below is reddit from like half a year ago… seems like many programmers in industries hold similar views as you
https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/3g219o/us_developers_are_you_worried_about_the_h1b_visa/
Anyways, CS is still probably some of the best undergraduate majors for employment. There is no questions on that. However, like you have noticed, programming does have its not-so-great side. I mean the truth of the matter is, it’s a field that is extremely vulnerable to outsourcing and whether the “outsourcing” is true or not (and even if it is true, is currently not as bad as you state or believe) is something that you just have to accept before going to the major.
We don’t know what will happen 10 years from now in the field of programming. Actually, we aren’t even sure what will happen in the next 3 years in the outlook of programming, etc.
Don’t fret as much.
and this:
There are just as many article that like he says supports the other side as well.
So ya, if you really love CS, just major in it. I mean I personally believe people are purposely overlooking this issue but ehh.
That said, many of my CS friends are doing quite well so … who knows
And from my very experience… I think you should be more optimistic. I don’t think the field is in that bad of a state… I mean… I’m doing great too… (?)
P.S. We keep accentuating, we are lacking “talented programmers”, not regular programmers. Thing is, isn’t this already implying that there are already many “regular programmer” and that companies only want the top of the cream now? And this statement… seriously… can be used in almost any fields. Also, by supply demand, if there are truly more “talented programmers”… ofc wage will fall 
Plus, if you are that worried, just be sure you have enough learning to be able to do stuff outside grunt programming. Really, those are real jobs that are extremely easy to fill with foreigners… (considering at least now, for more specialized fields, even H1b visa are getting paid just as well…)
Yes, there are articles to support both sides of the argument. And OP has already read the negative ones. My suggestion was that it makes sense to read the positive ones as well. I never said there aren’t plenty of negative articles, just that a balanced approach might make OP less fearful of the future.
There are jobs in IT, even in programming. But there are no guarantees in life on anything. Large companies especially often change their staffing models - they’ll bring all IT work in house one year, outsource it the next year. One year the outsourcing might be onshore, another year offshore. But for bright, motivated, and talented people who enjoy constantly learning new skills, there are jobs out there.
Choose the work because you love it. Pursue excellence for its own reward. Always stay hungry - never ever stop learning or challenging yourself. And be good, open, and decent when you deal with others.
The only things you really own are your name and your reputation (both personal and technical). Pay attention to these things and you shouldn’t need to worry about the rest.
I live in New York, NY. I’m still applying to summer internships, and waiting for call backs. But sent about 10 - 15 applications already and 3 have already rejected. I’m not sure what they would be looking for besides a high GPA, junior level courses, and some course projects I can show them. It’s not like I would have prior experience at this point. I read somewhere that they want to see that I’ve had at least some sort of job before, like anything to show that I’m employable and have taken responsibility. So I’ll be mentioning past retail store sales jobs.
I’m open to both software work and IT(database, network administration, even help desk etc). But I believe I’m right in that software jobs are more prevalent than IT ones. I imagine cloud computing will continue to remove the need for in-house IT.
@AccCreate: I know why H1bs and outsourcing are done. It’s just that I read an article on MSN or Yahoo every week on how technology skills including software development and all sorts of IT are currently, and going to be best for employment. You know those top 10 fields/careers/jobs of 2016 and the future. So it does surprise and worry me at this point.
Most H-1B visas are taken by low end outsourcing companies (e.g. Infosys, Tata, Wipro, IBM – see http://www.myvisajobs.com/Reports/2015-H1B-Visa-Sponsor.aspx ). This is a misuse compared to the system’s intent, and the reason why companies hiring top-end international talent (e.g. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple) complain about the shortage of the visas.
In any case, outsourcing to a low end outsourcing company hiring H-1B visa workers or hiring in another country is commonly done by businesses looking to go cheap on some aspect (though sometimes that backfires in that they get what they pay for – the low end outsourcing companies tend not to have IIT graduates or equivalent). It most commonly occurs in parts that are seen as purely cost centers (e.g. IT support departments), as opposed to parts seen as core intellectual property development for the business. I.e. jobs in core parts of the business are less likely to be outsourced to low end outsourcing companies than those in parts seen as purely cost centers, so consider that when seeking jobs.
It has also been noted productivity in computing can vary by an order of magnitude. Obviously, your career possibilities depend a lot on where you stand on the productivity scale.
The Magic Kingdom isn’t so magical for American tech workers…
Report: Disney illegally replaced tech workers with foreigners
http://m.palmbeachpost.com/news/business/employment/report-disney-illegally-replaced-tech-workers-fore/nqDDj/
In the long run I would think foreign software companies are more of a concern. It makes sense to develop your career in the specialties where physical presence is necessarily involved.