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0 pointssilisili1y ago0 comments

I agree with this in theory, but in practice...

I've worked directly with probably 50 or so H1B folks in my career. I can only think of a few I'd call exceptional. Just like Americans, most were a mixed bag from good to terrible.

So the idea and argument of best of the best is sound, but it's definitely not being used solely that way.

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fellowmartian1y ago

Most people are missing the fact that there’s a whole immigration economy on the other end, it’s not a passive storefront (that was banned in the 19th century). People want to immigrate, but the people who are best at immigrating aren’t necessarily best at their job.

aprilthird20211y ago

How have you only worked with 50 or so H1B in your career? It's either not been long, or you didn't work at any large tech companies (the ones who use this visa the most)

silisiliOP1y ago

I don't jump much, I've worked for 3 companies in 20 years.

They were smallish companies, 1000ish employees. Only one had H1B, and there were more than 50, but never worked with most enough to pass judgment one way or another.

throwaway484761y ago

The idea of 'best of the best' relies on the assumption that it is measurable which history has shown that it is not.

closeparen1y ago

I mean, this is basic VC logic: because the returns are power law distributed, and it's very hard to know in advance which ones are going to hit, you should probably invest at least a little bit in anyone who seems basically plausible. Imagine having denied a visa to Sergey Brin!

IncreasePosts1y ago

My understanding is Sergey was just along for the ride and Larry was the one with the unique insights (pagerank) and led Google through the early years as CEO.

throwaway484761y ago

Money is measurable, engineer quality is not. Sure with a smaller startup you could average amongst the engineers but it's an imprecise value. The million threads on leetcode and interview are proof positive engineer valuation is hard.

It's all well and good to gamble when someone else, the public, is picking up the tab.

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0 pointssilisili1y ago0 comments

I agree with this in theory, but in practice...

I've worked directly with probably 50 or so H1B folks in my career. I can only think of a few I'd call exceptional. Just like Americans, most were a mixed bag from good to terrible.

So the idea and argument of best of the best is sound, but it's definitely not being used solely that way.

0 comments

fellowmartian1y ago

aprilthird20211y ago

How have you only worked with 50 or so H1B in your career? It's either not been long, or you didn't work at any large tech companies (the ones who use this visa the most)

silisiliOP1y ago

I don't jump much, I've worked for 3 companies in 20 years.

They were smallish companies, 1000ish employees. Only one had H1B, and there were more than 50, but never worked with most enough to pass judgment one way or another.

throwaway484761y ago

The idea of 'best of the best' relies on the assumption that it is measurable which history has shown that it is not.

closeparen1y ago

IncreasePosts1y ago

My understanding is Sergey was just along for the ride and Larry was the one with the unique insights (pagerank) and led Google through the early years as CEO.

throwaway484761y ago

It's all well and good to gamble when someone else, the public, is picking up the tab.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse