Michigan Begs for $100,000 Engineers After Auto Rebound

[ndavies]

We know one area of the local economy that's booming.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-0...o-rebound.html

[Detroitnerd]

No doubt many of them on H-1B visas ...

[ndavies]

No doubt many of them on H-1B visas ...

If they're qualified to do the job and local candidates aren't, Whose fault is that?

Also if the local compaines are looking to fill through H1-B visas, They are goign to be serouisly out of luck.

H1-B visas are in severe short supply

http://www.businessweek.com/articles...s-go-to-plan-b

[Detroitnerd]

If they're qualified to do the job and local candidates aren't, Whose fault is that?

Also if the local compaines are looking to fill through H1-B visas, They are goign to be serouisly out of luck.

H1-B visas are in severe short supply

http://www.businessweek.com/articles...s-go-to-plan-b

A common criticism of the H1-B visa program is that U.S. corporations do hire foreigners before qualified Americans.

Or else why would they hit the H1-B cap when U.S. engineers are taking jobs installing garage openers?

[Jimaz]

Also from today's Free Press:Computer firms try to grow talent to handle mainframe worker shortage

They are the dinosaurs of the computer industry. But anyone who thinks mainframe computers are going the way of typewriters and videocassette recorders is in for a surprise.

"Big Iron," as the machines are called, is not headed for extinction any time soon. But nearly 50 years after these once-giant computers were first introduced, companies like Detroit-based Compuware and IBM are preparing for a shortage of mainframe workers.

"This will be a growing problem very quickly," said Bob Paul, CEO of Compuware, a business software firm that gets 40% of its revenue from its mainframe division.

Compuware estimates that as many as 40% of the world's mainframe programmers will be retiring in the near future....

But most colleges and universities stopped teaching mainframe programming years ago. Many computer science students don't even know what mainframes are....

The skills shortage has prompted Compuware to team up with several Michigan universities to provide free mainframe software development training courses....

Too bad this dinosaur is committed elsewhere. CDC Cyber 176 atcha! 60-bit words at 40 MHz! Woo hoo!

[iheartthed]

No doubt many of them on H-1B visas ...

Should they be so lucky. Many companies are using EB-2s instead which are harder to convert into green cards.

[poobert]

Yet governors continue to slash education under the cut-taxes/reduce spending mantra and secondary education is more unaffordable than ever.

I could say something about being a minority working in a predominantly Indian-firm but when you don't have anything nice to say...

[DetroitPlanner]

No doubt many of them on H-1B visas ...

People with H-1B visas spend money in the local economy too.

[Detroitnerd]

People with H-1B visas spend money in the local economy too.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not some ugly nativist. My views on immigration are fairly relaxed. But I do think that corporations may well be taking advantage of those with visas instead of employing qualified citizens...

[Wesley Mouch]

A common criticism of the H1-B visa program is that U.S. corporations do hire foreigners before qualified Americans.

Or else why would they hit the H1-B cap when U.S. engineers are taking jobs installing garage openers?

Nerdo -- How about some proof of this.

If companies are hiring H1-Bers, they really think they need their skills. And by me, that's just great.

I want 100% of the qualified people to come to Detroit and help us make it world-class.

Let's put the world on notice that we are open to talent in Detroit.

Federal Government -- 'get out of my way'.

[detlump]

A lot of kids don't want to get into engineering - too hard, too much math. Older workers who got laid off or let go decided they've had enough with the merry-go-round, left the area and won't come back. Autos is cyclical, it will be interesting to see how many of these new hires are around in 5 years or 10.

[Hermod]

A lot of kids don't want to get into engineering - too hard, too much math. Older workers who got laid off or let go decided they've had enough with the merry-go-round, left the area and won't come back. Autos is cyclical, it will be interesting to see how many of these new hires are around in 5 years or 10.

Agree with you that a lot of kids want to go into "soft" programs rather than STEM where you have to do a bit of work. More than autos are cyclical. In the 1970s, there was a massive dump of engineers from the aerospace industries. A lot of them relocated or went into other endeavors and when the industries began to hire found that they had a lot of trouble finding people.

[Detroitnerd]

Nerdo -- How about some proof of this.

Fair enough. Here's a pretty good essay on the subject.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2006/06/...s-engineering/