I have been a frequent reader of this sub, and I always found it fascinating to read stories and discussions on H1-B program or H1-B programmers here. Having been on the other side of this story, I found some of it to be truthful, some wrong, some dishonest, and most of it to be stereotypical. In most cases, the participation has always been one sided, so I thought I should share my point of view. This is not an effort to convince anyone of anything - this is about what I experienced as an H1-B migrant. Yes, I will try to make some points on what I believe to be misconceptions, but I am not writing this in defense of anything.
This may become a long post - apologies in advance if it's not your style.
A little bit on my H1-B journey: I am from India. I hold Bachelor of Engineering (undergrad) degree - but not in Computer Science. Right after my undergrad, I was picked up by one of those 'famous' Indian giant companies to be a software engineer. I was trained for 3 months in some very basic subjects of C, Unix, Databases etc. Then we did some mock projects mocking a real system and eventually started working on a real but small project where real learnings happened. I was fortunate to work with some really bright computer engineers/programmers and learned a lot that helps me even today. Eventually, I made it to the USA on H1-B program. Since then, I have been in this country for more than 10 years, have become US citizen, have a great family and a nice job. I love technology in general and programming in particular. I travel around the country whenever I get a chance. It's been good so far.
Here is my take on things I have read here or somewhere else on the contentious subject of H1-B:
On The Giant Evil Indian Outsourcing Company:
Companies such as Infosys, Wipro, TCS are not just supplying bodies to the Evil American Corporation. They take up small/big projects (may be maintenance or support project, or may be a bigger product/feature/website development project). They have some people on-site, but many more people offshore working on programming/development/coding/testing. At the same time, in a lot of cases, they could provide people to work on a client site merely as another software engineer for the client. But that’s not what makes them money, and they don’t really prefer doing it.
Most of their clients are medium to large to enterprise companies. There are some technology companies too, but big retail chains, big new york banks etc are more typical clients. They recruit freshers in big numbers. Train them for a short time in basics of programming and then are allocated to work on real projects. For a while, they perform less important/less critical tasks. But the real education do happen on these projects. They eventually become good enough to start being productive. (Those without any competence are either let go, or - if they somehow manage to wing it for a year or two - will become managers. Yes.)
These places are not easy to work at. A lot of competition. Typical rat race. To move up the ladder, you have to be a very good programmer (and a very good talker) or have a very good godfather manager to take care of you. In most cases, people don’t want to be a better programmer or learn new technologies or want to continue on technical stream. They want to become manager (project manager, product manager, bullshit manager, real manager - whatever). I think this happens because most of the employees are not naturally good at programming. They just happen to be in IT because that’s what pays.
Having said that, a really good techie can make a very successful career, if he/she is equally good at selling himself/herself. At the same time, a good programmer who isn’t good at selling himself can go through the process hell where nobody gives shit about his talents and loses creativity, passion and love for technology. Really good ones will know this early on and move out to a real technology company.
These companies have processes in place. A lot of it actually. There are a billion documents to prepare, a million of audits to go through, and a thousand standards to be certified with. While having some processes in place is a good thing, these places are nightmares for those who want to just program. They process the shit out of everybody and everything.
These companies do have some good programmers working for them. I have worked with some truly talented people. They understand tenets, nuances and principles of programming/software engineering and use it brilliantly. They are as good as a good programmer you may find in the US or anywhere. But they are not the norm. Most of the programmers are average. They follow the orders, churn out code as per requirements. They just want to get their paychecks, move up the ladder as fast as they can so they don’t have to code anymore.
On Salaries and Doing Things Illegally:
These companies, contrary to popular belief, do not really try anything illegal. In the past, they might have bent the rules like sending somebody onsite to do real work on business visa (a strict no-no), but those were exceptions then and almost never happen nowadays.
They do not pay that badly. Yes, they are not going to be paying top money, but their salaries are dictated by the laws where they can’t really exploit their employees. E.g. Around 10 years back, say a guy with 4-6 years of experience in software development might have been paid 70-80k salary working in, say, north-east region.
They do not take away anyone’s passport. Never. (This actually happens a lot with those small companies who basically promise H1-B to a lot of unfortunate graduates in India for a hefty commission, and almost everything they do is illegal, but this is definitely not true for big established companies like Infosys, TCS, CTS etc.)
They can’t and don’t prevent people from leaving and switching their employers. They try to retain such people, but not illegally - like taking their passports away or threatening them.
On Going Onsite (or Nirvana!):
Once you win H1-B lottery, the company will try ASAP to place you on-site in the states. That’s because there is a limited number of people with this visa, and there is a huge demand for them to be on-site - as project coordinators, as client-site development/maintenance/support team member, or in some cases purely to add another person to client development team. Also this is a wet dream of any Indian programmer working for these companies. The Purpose of Life. The Ultimate Goal. Nirvana. Whatever you call it.
They will board a flight, find other coworkers already settled at the destination city, arrange for a short term accommodation with them or with their help. In most cases, these companies have large number of people already onsite. So for a newcomer, it’s easy to settle in. In cases where the client is in the town of Bumblefuck and there is nobody there they know, people will still figure things out and be the torchbearer for next set of incoming people. Indians are crafty enough to figure things out.
For most people, they have two end goals for their Trip to the USA - either settle here for good, or make enough money to buy a very expensive apartment in Bangalore. So they wish for a long term project. Some people are sent only for short terms, but they too return back eventually for long term.
Few of them struggle and find difficult to adjust to new country, new culture and new people - but most of them are flexible enough to be able to continue living for long time. These companies are reluctant to file for green-cards because it's expensive to do so, but they do it for a minority of H1-B employees. If you have a good clout or a friendly manager, are good at talking, or are critical to a project, companies most likely will do it for you, but it’s not easy.
Those who are still not married or are traveling without family share accommodations - this maximizes their savings, and they don’t mind sharing a 2 bedroom apartment with three other people. India is a country of a lot of people, and we are used to be around lot of people. Granted, some of these apartments are small and crowded, but most of these people have absolutely no problem with it.
A lof of H1-B migrants do not mix well with local people, or culture. They will form their own groups within and without the office space. If there are large number of other people from their mother company at client site, they will stick to each other, go for lunches together in big groups. If and when they become comfortable at client site, they will also start behaving with more freedom and less professionally - which means talking and laughing loudly in their groups, speaking in their mother-tongues etc. They will stick to eating Indian food most/all the time. Most of them are not adventurous enough to try new cuisine. Well, other than Dominoe's. They stick to watching Indian movies. Of course they will also watch Hollywood blockbusters, but they don’t explore anything other than mainstream movies. They have absolutely no idea about local music pubs, arts or museums. They like big breaks for tea/coffee and spend time on silly talks. That’s because a lot of them have no family and have no life outside work. They spend hours at office. Even after they go home, they will have calls with offshore teams that can last until midnight. Did I mention most of them have no life outside work? They don’t. Some people are good at programming and technology, and they will stand out among other average people. If they are adventurous enough, they will get a decent job (since H1-B allows people to switch jobs). But most of them never consider that option because they have average programming skills.
My own experience as H1-B programmer:
My first project was for a big bank, where I started on the project at off-shore, in India, and was eventually sent onsite when I had my H1-B.
It was a charged environment where there was already a lot of anger against people like me among the programmers and other employees at the client company. I didn’t know any of that, until I started noticing odd behaviors of people. (Note: People on H1 visa at the client site are almost always treated as second class citizens - partially because they don’t try to mix well with local employees, partially because of a huge cultural divide, but mainly because they are a threat to local employment. Even when there isn't any loss of jobs with local employees, they are always suspicious. I don’t find this surprising, but it’s not a good experience for any of the two parties.)
I moved onto a different client, different team, had a much pleasant experience, was welcome to the client team, but always worked on shitty projects. I did my best in whatever work I did, impressed my colleagues and client managers and kept at it - until I got a green-card (not through my employer, but with a different route of family sponsorship).
I quit as soon as I could, found a much better job with more challenging and satisfying work, and haven’t looked back since.
I consider myself a very good programmer, have loved doing what I do and would wnat to continue doing it for as long as I can. My job pays well, I have traveled a lot, have made many friends from all parts of life, and have settled in well.
I find this country and people to be very friendly, very accommodating and fun. There are a thousand things to do outside work, and I engage in a lot of them.
I can go on, but I think this should give some idea of life of H1-B programmers and the Evil Indian Companies who send them here.
I can answer questions if people are interested. I will stick to what I know as objectively as possible, but in the end, they are just my opinions and my experience.
TLDR: Big Indian Outsourcing Tech Companies are not as evil as they are made out to be. A typical H1-B programmer from India is most likely average at his/her work. Some are really good at their work. I was one of these programmers. I have done pretty well overall - have settled down here for good and love being a programmer working with cool people.
Submitted September 13, 2016 at 11:44PM by k-l-p-d http://ift.tt/2cVmNcs via TikTokTikk
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