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Researchers Say the Tech Worker Shortage Doesn't Really Exist 454

Posted by Soulskill from the just-like-a-healthcare-system-that-everyone-enjoys dept.
Beeftopia sends this excerpt from an article at BusinessWeek: "There’s no evidence of any way, shape, or form that there’s a shortage in the conventional sense," says Hal Salzman, a professor of planning and public policy at Rutgers University. "They may not be able to find them at the price they want. But I’m not sure that qualifies as a shortage, any more than my not being able to find a half-priced TV." ... The real issue, say Salzman and others, is the industry’s desire for lower-wage, more-exploitable guest workers, not a lack of available American staff. "It seems pretty clear that the industry just wants lower-cost labor," Dean Baker, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, wrote in an e-mail. A 2011 review (PDF) by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the H-1B visa program, which is what industry groups are lobbying to expand, had "fragmented and restricted" oversight that weakened its ostensible labor standards. "Many in the tech industry are using it for cheaper, indentured labor," says Rochester Institute of Technology public policy associate professor Ron Hira, an EPI research associate and co-author of the book Outsourcing America.
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Researchers Say the Tech Worker Shortage Doesn't Really Exist More

Researchers Say the Tech Worker Shortage Doesn't Really Exist

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  • STEM is for suckers.. at least now. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    You'd have to be out of your mind to pursue a career in the above in the USA right now.

    Or; more correctly; you'd have to be out of your mind to work as an employee in one of the above. I migrated to business and finance from a electrical engineering job. My salary is new three times (3X) what I made as an engineer, which topped out at around $100k. I'll be retired, or independently set up, before I'm 45 - then I can go back to tech on my terms.

    Kids aren't stupid. Ye reap what ye sow. Cough it up.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jythie ( 914043 )
      It is sad how many people I see leaving engineering to enter finance... but yeah, the pay and respect tend to be better there.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by plopez ( 54068 )

      Nice quote:
      "You know what they do with engineers when they turn 40? They take them out and shoot them."

      From the movie "Primer" see http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P... [wikiquote.org]

  • Duh (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Registered Coward v2 ( 447531 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @09:21AM (#48457021)
    All of the tech industries behavior point to a desire to keep wages lower than what they would pay in an open market. Whether it's expanding H1B's or agreeing not to poach the goal is the same not driving up the cost of talent. Thus we have a "shortage" of tech workers so we must import more rathe than we have an abundant supply at higher wages so lets hire them. I am not surprise at the GAO report. What needs to be done is make H1B visas portable so after say 6 month to a year the holder was free to switch jobs. That would end abuses quickly and all of a sudden the "shortage" would disappear when it becomes more costly to get and keep an H1B then hire a local.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by khasim ( 1285 )

      That would end abuses quickly and all of a sudden the "shortage" would disappear when it becomes more costly to get and keep an H1B then hire a local.

      I think that they'd just demand MORE visas be made available.

      And they'd still be claiming a "shortage" because they cannot find the talent they need at the price they want to pay.

      • Re:Duh (Score:4, Insightful)

        by NotDrWho ( 3543773 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @09:57AM (#48457249)

        And they'd still be claiming a "shortage" because they cannot find the talent they need at the price they want to pay.

        Yeah, amazingly enough, it turns out there is a surprising shortage of American STEM professionals willing to work as indentured servants for $25,000/yr.

    • Behaviors of all industries point to a desire to keep wages lower than what they would pay in an open market.

      There. Fixed that for you.

      That'll be $9.99.

    • Re:Duh (Score:5, Informative)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @09:48AM (#48457201)

      All of the tech industries behavior point to a desire to keep wages lower than what they would pay in an open market.

      Uh ... no. An "open market" would mean NO limits on visas. Anyone would be free to come here and compete with you.

      • Re:Duh (Score:4)

        by khallow ( 566160 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @10:04AM (#48457293)
        It would also mean that no party has systemic advantages over another, like the indentured servant aspect of H1-Bs.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jythie ( 914043 )
        On the other hand, if there was no limit on visas and such people did not need sponsorship, the advantage of hiring them would also evaporate since they could then compete for wages too.

    • The tech CEO's also maintain the fiction that H1B workers are treated fairly and paid "market standard" salaries. Well, first of all, the "market standard" is artificially lowered by all the H1B's themselves (and the Americans that they don't have to hire at a higher salary instead). And, as for "fair treatment," just try to introduce a bill to change the H1B program to set the visas to a set time limit instead of an individual job (meaning employers will no longer be able to threaten workers with deportati

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by thaylin ( 555395 )

        Well to be honest I understand PART of why they would be outrage over it. If I pay 5k for you to come and work and you are here for 1 day I am out 5k. Now I agree with your overall primise, as long as the employer they went to had to pay a share of that money back, prorated.

        • Well to be honest I understand PART of why they would be outrage over it. If I pay 5k for you to come and work and you are here for 1 day I am out 5k. Now I agree with your overall primise, as long as the employer they went to had to pay a share of that money back, prorated.

          That's the whole point. If I truly pay you a market wage you have little incentive to leave; however if I pay below market wage all I become is a labor pool for other companies. As a result, I would first try to fill jobs with local labor and if there is a shortage than use a visa program to fill them. Since there is a lower supply than demand i will pay a premium for that labor if I really need it; a true free market solution.

  • from the Institute of the Blindingly Obvious (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Peter Simpson ( 112887 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @09:25AM (#48457047)
    "Many in the tech industry are using it for cheaper, indentured labor..."

    Gee, you think?
    Seriously, as a working engineer, the fact that this hasn't been emphasised this has annoyed me for years. There is no shortage of bright, hard working engineering talent in the US, and the our schools are (and have been for years) capable of turning out as many well-educated engineering graduates as the industry requires. It's just that they want to make enough money to live a good life (and pay back the cost of their education). Graduates from the Farkistan Institue of Technology are *so* much cheaper. And they don't ask for raises or threaten to change jobs...because they would get sent home.

    Do you seriously believe that a foreign H1B with an MS, working for $35k is equivalent to a US graduate?

    • My company hired a kid right out of a local college. He is smart, eager to learn, and really enjoys getting into complex problems and trying to figure it all out. Unfortunately, a few months after he was hired, my company's new CEO laid off about 20% of the company. Our new kid was unfortunately cut.

      That about four or five months ago. I've kept in touch with this person because he's super nice and I want to be available as a professional reference in case he needs one. He's still out of work. He wants to wo

  • Number of interviews... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @09:25AM (#48457051)

    How many number of interviews do companies go through to hire someone?

    Last I heard, Facebook goes through ~100 people to fill 1 spot. My company goes through about 20 or so before finding a candidate worthy of a face-to-face interview... Most flunk on basic questions like "describe any sorting mechanism" (someone hands you 1000 sheets of paper, each with a page number out of order, walk me through the process you will use to sort them).

    The problem isn't that there's a shortage of "tech workers", there isn't.

    It's that most "tech" workers suck. If you want to hire someone who actually knows their stuff, you gotta pick them right out of school, and make sure they're actually "techy" kind (those that actually do their own homeworks because they find them interesting). Now, *those* tech workers are like 1% of "all tech workers", and yes, there's a shortage of those---but not something the h1b can fix.

    • Out of curiosity, how are you supposed to answer that 1000 sheet question?
      Software algorithm, or secretarial skill? Because in the real world people cannot function well at all using the same algorithms as a computer would.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by khallow ( 566160 )

        Because in the real world people cannot function well at all using the same algorithms as a computer would.

        Sorting is not such a problem. And adapting your software algorithms to the needs of your computing system (here you) is a pretty important skill.

        • I completely disagree. Try performing a quick sort, or any high level maths sort in the real world it would take you years to sort that 1000 item list. Similarly to really low level bubble type sorts, or anything that uses recursion.
          "And adapting your software algorithms to the needs of your computing system (here you)"
          Exactly, but I would argue, in this case using a computer that is so fundamentally different will require a complete rewrite and a completely different approach. I do not believe that the

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by jbolden ( 176878 )

            I sort decks of cards all the time using a hash / insertion sort. First I split up the suits (i.e. a 4 way partition based on clubs-diamonds-hearts-spades) then I do an insertion sort on the 13 cards. Done.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Xest ( 935314 )

            Normally with interview questions like this you're not going to be expected to do it. Just explain how you'd do it, maybe show the first iteration or two if you're suggesting some kind of iterative solution.

            I agree they're usually stupid though. I'm not a fan of this sort of questioning or in fact a fan of questions at all that ask you to solve some specific problem right there and then. It's easy for great candidates to have a moment of forgetfulness under the pressure of an interview.

            I prefer to ask quest

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jbolden ( 176878 )

        Actually something like quicksort / insertion sort which is what a computer would do works well for people as well.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jedidiah ( 1196 )

        I think a question like this should be more about the applicants ability to "do something" as opposed to just being overwhelmed by the situation. The answer need not be perfect, it just needs to work.

        It's really just a low bar to see how helpless a person is.

        Can you take care of business?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by David C Billen ( 3753981 )
      They all get through school by huddling around one or two "naturals" who show how to get their school projects working. Then they show up in the real world with a piece of paper that says they're qualified. Some companies know how to make use of them but it takes herds of them and lots of infrastructure and project management. It's very expensive.

    • you realize that testing someone's ability to think about sorting algorithms using a spatial test will result is a lot of programmers performing poorly. Spatial reasoning is being used in conjunction with algorithmic thinking. This is something that is not practiced in school so if you asked the same people to write a quick sort in psudo-code on one of those pieces of paper, I bet you would get higher performance from the candidates.

    • Re:Number of interviews... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Jawnn ( 445279 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @02:41PM (#48460221)

      It's that most "tech" workers suck. If you want to hire someone who actually knows their stuff, you gotta pick them right out of school...

      'Cuz old people could never have "da skillz", right? Un-fiucking-believable...

  • The Same Game (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Jim Sadler ( 3430529 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @09:28AM (#48457063)
    This is exactly the same issue that migrant laborers are stuck with. The claim is made that Americans will not do field labor. The food industry uses that excuse and pushes to not crack down on undocumented workers. But if we shut down undoucmented workers field labor would receive far higher wages and then those jobs might be much more attractive for American workers. And it extends into other areas as well. The guy that labors in construction has his wages controlled by the availability of labor. So if the farm workers were paid more people who labor or work as store clerks may also receive higher wages or decide to work in the fields. And this conspiracy actually has official support. For example convicts on work programs are often assigned to work as field labor at very low pay rates with the lions share of their pay going back to the prison. Or the prison may have its own farm with the food being consumed by the convicts which also holds down the demand for field labor. And to the right wing nuts this situation is a great example of why supply and demand is not meaningful in economics. It demonstrates that supply as well as demand can be controlled by forces other than exchange for goods and services.

    • There was that accidental experiment a couple years ago in GA. A hard crackdown on migrant labor and a invitation for local unemployeds to work the fields - a few dozen showed up and none lasted more than a couple of days.

      Wall Street doesn't get that killing the middle class in the US will ruin them - that's next year's problem and all they care about is this quarter at the longest-term.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jbolden ( 176878 )

        There might have to be changes in terms. I guarantee you if they were paying $2k a day they would find plenty of labor. The question now is what's the right price between $20 / day and $2000 / day.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by ranton ( 36917 )

            Nope, I live there. Turns out that most people are entitled sons of bitches and didn't want to do hard manual labor outside all day for minimum wage. People would rather take unemployment benefits.

            That is exactly the point the guy was trying to make. They won't do it for minimum wage, which is all they would get because companies are used to having an almost infinite supply of migrant labor. But once pay starts to hit $20-$25 per hour, people would flock to the job. I have a high school friend who works as a garbage man making $70k per year with an amazing pension. He would never do the job for $10/hr, but there was a high enough salary that got him to choose the career.

    • Exactly the same happens in the UK. UK workers have their own accommodation and generally know the law. So farmers and businesses slate the UK population as lazy scum. When it is a case of exploitation, arbitrage and ability to exploit workers. So farmers hire Eastern Europeans to pick fruit and harvest food. They pay them the minimum wage but subject them to truck acts. Where sure we'll pay you £6.50 an hour (UK min wage) but we're going to have to charge £5/h for the caravan you have to stay

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Xest ( 935314 )

      "But if we shut down undoucmented workers field labor would receive far higher wages and then those jobs might be much more attractive for American workers."

      Yeah and then food prices would go up meaning everyone else would expect a pay rise or demand more pay themselves to pay for the increased food costs, or people would just import food from overseas, leading to layoffs in that industry. You end up back at square one.

      People expect increasing standards of living, and that means either their salary has to g

  • Everyone already knows this, whether they want to admit it or not.

    The real question is will the US gov ever actually do anything to benefit US workers, or are they already too far under the thumbs of the hi tech companies?

    • The real question is will the US gov ever actually do anything to benefit US workers, or are they already too far under the thumbs of the hi tech companies?

      Is it limited to just hi tech companies?

      One gets the impression that pretty much anything which will increase corporate profits and maximize executive bonuses/shareholder value will get approved, no matter how badly it affects US workers.

      In other words, screw the workers and the domestic economy, give any concession to large corporations they ask for. I

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jbolden ( 176878 )

        Bribery doesn't explain it. The American people aren't in most places voting for pro-labor politicians when they have the chance. In 2008: Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich nor Bill Richardson won the primary. Republicans who are anti labor win many many elections against Democrats who are better. Neither party is perfect but the American people aren't voting their interests.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • It's been proven, time and time again that the H1B program and the so called "Tech Worker Gap" is a untrue and yet here is another "Research work." The H1B program is there so employers can not be affected by market forces. Couple that with non-competes, "right shoring" and non-poaching agreements that are killing the tech labor force in this country.

  • Globalization advances... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Archtech ( 159117 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @09:34AM (#48457109)

    This sort of phenomenon is a natural effect of globalization. A century ago, the world contained wealthy advanced nations, developing nations, and lots of "backward" nations which lacked modern industries and hence had a relatively low standard of living. However, this was somewhat compensated for by a low cost of living. Someone might only earn a dollar or two a day, but food was cheap and life was OK.

    Enter globalization: the inevitable outcome of free-market, free-trade economics plus cheap ubiquitous transport. Within a few decades, the world became one single marketplace and - as we in the wealthier nations have seen to our cost - jobs began "finding their own level", that is being exported to the cheapest countries.

    Not satisfied with that, bosses and shareholders wanted to bring in cheap labour to do those relatively few jobs that couldn't be done "at long range". Obvious examples are construction, health care, personal service of all kinds, and to some extent expensive specialities like law. (Not many lawyers in India have US bar qualifications, and even if they had they couldn't very well show up in a US court).

    After the first irrational exuberance for outsourcing skilled jobs (like IT) to cheaper countries, even the most thick-headed of PHBs are now coming to recognize that outsourcing of this kind doesn't usually work too well. No matter how good the workers are, the communication problems (and often cultural discrepancies) are just too great. Hence the increasing eagerness to import cheap (but well qualified and skilled) labour to do those jobs under direct (not to say oppressively close) supervision.

    Unfortunately, citizens of nations like the USA get it coming and going: the government taxes them heavily in order to provide services in a "first world" manner, while allowing business to export jobs to "third world" nations (or bring their workers to the USA to work there). This is a classic "wealth pump" which systematically sucks up wealth and transfers it to the rich.

    Ironically, globalization looks set to be pretty much complete and settled in, just in time for the cheap oil that made it possible to run out. Then we'll all have to face the expense and disruption of reverting to relative economic independence within our own countries.

  • That's what some of the service techs were getting paid to do on-site service for Dell, last time I checked. And that's in the DC metro area, where cost of living is way high!

    Gee... I wonder why people aren't lining up to take those job offers?!

  • When will we finally get to a ruling class no longer pining for the pre-civil war days?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rmstar ( 114746 )

      When will we finally get to a ruling class no longer pining for the pre-civil war days?

      From opinion polls and actual voting results It seems to follow that you will have to exchange a large portion of the populace, too.

    • Re:Slaves are always cheaper than the free (Score:4, Interesting)

      by smellsofbikes ( 890263 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @12:34PM (#48458753) Journal

      When will we finally get to a ruling class no longer pining for the pre-civil war days?

      A friend who teaches economics was posting about this the other day. Her contention is that for all of history until the 1800's, it was fairly easy to just leave and go find some subsistence environment, so if you wanted workers you had to enslave them and force them to work for you. Now that it's not generally possible for most people to find environments for subsistence lifestyles, there's no longer any need to enslave people. They have to find jobs to survive. At that crossover, work stopped being something the lowest class of society did under force, and became something that was considered a privilege.

  • From the crop of developers I've interviewed over the last few years, there are a bunch of under-skilled people who think very highly of themselves and want to be paid more than they are worth.

    My company has hired some very bright people and paid them very well. But then there are people like this MIT grad we hired several years ago, purely based on her resume and what BS came out of her mouth, only to discover she was perhaps one of the worst developers I've ever worked with. She was fired several months l

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Greyfox ( 87712 )
      It's not just the last few years. I've found that about 10% of developers are in this because they like programming. I've never met someone who liked programming who wasn't also good at what he did. Of the remaining 90%, most of them got into this because they heard it was a decent salary. They stop being programmers at the end of the day and go home to their families. They're a mixed bag. Over the course of my career, I've seen dozens of them who do a pretty good job programming what you tell 'em to, thoug
  • ... Have wanted cheaper labour.
    So what has changed, what is different in Tech than others?

    Is it that Laws have changed allowing this behaviour?
    Is it that American Tech workers are demanding more than they are worth, and the companies simply cannot afford to pay that?
    Is it that America has a shortage of skilled Tech workers who can do the jobs that the companies want done?
    Is it that to get higher female quotas, or just non-white at least, they need a bigger pool to draw from?

    • Is it that American Tech workers are demanding more than they are worth, and the companies simply cannot afford to pay that?

      I'm not sure "not willing to pay in order to maximize profits" is the same as "simply cannot afford to pay that".

      Especially when many of these hi tech companies make zillions of dollars of income which is then shunted through various countries where the banking laws allow them to pay less taxes.

      This isn't so much about can't pay, as simply won't -- because these companies want to have

      • But, like I said, "not willing to pay in order to maximize profits" is true in all industries since the beginning of time. So the explanation that this is happening because they are greedy makes 0 sense.

        • Neither does the argument they need these due to a "skills shortage" which isn't real.

          So, if there's no skill shortage, and this is purely about driving down labor costs ... this is 100% about greed.

          The problem is we aren't on equal footing here, so they can screw us over all they want to.

          Sorry, but a bunch of millionaire CEOs running multi-billion dollar corporations crying poor is just horseshit.

          This is just blatant abuse of the system to give them an unfair advantage in the labor market.

          If they can't pro

  • http://spectrum.ieee.org/at-wo... [ieee.org] Here, no such thing as a STEM shortage only the desire to suppress wages.

  • Capital and Investment (Score:3)

    by lionchild ( 581331 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @09:47AM (#48457183) Journal

    I tend to agree, the issue in the Tech Industry isn't as much the shortage of workers, as it's much more a shortage of the Industry to pay a wage for the worker they want. In lieu of that, the Industry isn't as willing to invest in it's Human Capital, expanding training and skill sets. They're afraid if they train you, you'll go find a better job. Well, if you don't train them, what if they stagnate and don't go find a better job?

    If you aren't challenging your Tech Workers, then they want to move on, to avoid being bored, to find a new challenge. But if you train them, invest in them, they become invested in their company, and if they're challenged, they're just too busy and too happy to think about if the grass is greener on the other side of the street.

    There's a reason that H1B workers strive to be great English speakers. English is the language of business, and it's still where people want to move towards to be successful. If we cultivate a culture of Tech Workers to move a long...then companies become a Journey, not a Destination. Would you rather work for a company who is the proverbial Wilderness, or the Promised Land?

    Invest in Human Capital. That's how a Company is built that becomes a Destination, and not just a Journey to something better.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jbolden ( 176878 )

      The way to solve the training problem is an employment contract. Both worker and company agree to a contract with salary increases and training. Workers accept less in the beginning and possibly have to pay an early termination penalty equal to some percentage of the cost of training. Employers have to pay a lot on the tail end and pay a penalty for early termination.

      Works well. It would be nice to bring this back to America for non executives.

  • Here's why I'm not convinced that the answer is simply higher salaries. To be sure, some workers who could be doing tech decide to do something else. Maybe they go into academia, finance, IP law, etc. Raising tech salaries across the board, by everyone who employs tech workers, would steal some of these guys back. But would it be enough? You would probably also motivate some young people to go into tech that currently go into other fields. But that's for the future; it doesn't help the present. The f

    • Re:eh (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Required Snark ( 1702878 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @10:31AM (#48457513)
      Bullshit.

      In more detail, let me modify one of your key sentences: "what's good for the corrupt oligarchs may not be the same as what's good for the country." Fixed that for you.

      Impoverishing US workers will not "juice the success of domestic tech companies which, in the long run, may actually be better for the U.S. as a whole". One that happens it will be hard as hell to bootstrap back to an overall high standard of living in the US. Just how stupid are you to even think that?

      And then there is the issue that tech workers are just the latest group to be thrown under the bus in the name of short term greed.

      Here's an example of how it's done. At one point construction and industrial jobs like meat packing were all unionized. Then the unions were broken and the jobs were filled by immigrant labor. That's why there are now large numbers of Spanish speaking non-documented workers in the Midwest, for example. It's not that native US workers are not good workers, it's that the employers don't want them because they want semi-slaves. They want workers who will put up with anything, including having their wages stolen or being maimed on the job and not being able to do anything about it.

      For tech workers the plan is slightly more complex. First, offshore as many jobs as possible. Second, import as many non-citizen workers as possible. Third, flood the market with a bunch of severely under-trained "coders", like Zuckerberg and his co-conspirators are attempting with code.org. Having a vast army of unemployed makes anyone with a job completely fearful and willing to settle for crumbs.

      So the US middle class is destroyed? Do you think that any of the rich care? Remember what Romney said during the election. He thinks that half of Americans are scum. As far as he and his ilk are concerned, if you don't do well it's all your fault. The reality is that he and his type profit from eliminating jobs in the US. They do well by making the rest of us do poorly, and they then have the gall to blame us for not being good enough.

      I guess you think that you're immune, or perhaps you want to be a serf. You sure don't seem like someone who want to work and prosper in their own country. What's wrong with you?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by jbolden ( 176878 )

      We ran this experiment in the 1990s. Tech salaries went up by about 50% and the field exploded in size. Yes it was enough.

    • History shows that cheap labor inhibits technological progress. The reasoning is that radical technological progress doesn't happen until it has to happen without any real alternative. If you have cheap programmers you never demand nor invest in developing robust CASE tools. No one will throw millions on new technology unless the technology's ROI is high. Cheap labor keeps the ROI for developing new technology too low to actually get it budgeted.

      Also a continued increase of the use of H1B visa progr

  • What they want is more flexible workers. Guest workers are very flexible. Given that they are already immigrants, whats the difference to them if they work in New-york the first half of the year and Seattle the second?

    I went through this is the late 90s/ early 2000s. I'd get a job as some company was building some new product, have solid work for a year... then there'd be the long, inevitable breakup as they found a way to lay us off another year later. So I'd go onto another project... same thing. Then my

  • Not only US Its about commoditisation of skills and lack of vision from a generation of middle managers who don't just want someone who can do the job, but someone who can do the job *tomorrow, without any lead-up*. Never mind it takes time to adapt to new processes anyway - the job spec says Mysql 5.2. Therefore nothing but Mysql 5.2 will do. The recruitment industry should bears its share of responsibility also.

    • There's actually nothong wrong with wanted that.
      Knowing MySql 5.2 exactly and being trained on it is a pretty good thing.

      Here's the thing. In every other industry knowing such specific skills costs a crapload of money.

      Generally companies provide training for such specific training to help develop people. I have a few friends in the trades. The training they receive on a per device/install type is pretty amazing. You don't get to work on anything until you get that training.

      As I say, if anything, tech worker

  • Sure (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Greyfox ( 87712 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @10:12AM (#48457365) Homepage Journal
    If you want skilled tech workers, fire most of your HR department except for the one person who fields the sexual harassment claims about Gary in accounting, refuse to do business with any recruiter and start doing your own recruitment off github and recommendations from your good developers. If you want to retain those people, show them some respect, pay them a decent wage and offer them meaningful work. It would also help if you understood the market you're targeting and the problems you're trying to solve. If you don't understand what your developers are capable of and what they're doing, the only means you have to evaluate them is the market response to your product.

    I think the "tech worker shortage" is really just a shortage of people who have no idea how to run a technical company.

  • Libertarians Rejoice! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by some old guy ( 674482 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @10:40AM (#48457567)

    Yes siree Bob! That ol' invisible hand is really working for us.

    We need government to get out of the way and let in all the low-cost immigrant labor we can get, without all those pesky regulations. Business needs to be free to innovate!

  • It is too bad that we did not learn from doctors, lawyers, nurses, etc. back when there was ridiculous demand for tech professionals in the 90's. We should have set up a professional governance board and lobbied for licensing requirements (licensing that the professional board controls) to do certain jobs (programming, server admin, networking, IT security, etc.). That would have stopped the race to the bottom in salaries and quality (lower pay gives you lower quality).

  • It's always been about the salaries and nothing else.

  • Comment removed (Score:3)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday November 25, 2014 @11:45AM (#48458189)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

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