Deadzone, you can’t say that last line with a straight face. I’m a software engineer too. I have gone through my H1-b bating phase ten years ago when our economy contracted and I too couldn’t find a job.
Other than that one period however I’ve never had trouble finding a job at decent pay. Maybe not stellar but decent.
Adding supply to any pool can and usually does lower the negotiating power of that pools participants all things being equal. In the IT market which has always been boom bust things are not always equal.
Companies will always go where they get the most bang for buck. If they can hire Indians for 1/3 what they pay me (and they do) then the work goes to the Indians. However those who are smart enough find a way to parlay their skills into a visa to come here and earn more.
If companies could get away with only hiring cheap foreigners neither you nor I would have jobs. If we cut off all of that supply many companies will judge that it’s worth it to just move the entire IT function overseas.
There definitely is abuse of the system, all systems get abused. In my experience both humble and limited this one isn’t all that abused and it doesn’t lower wages very much. In exchange I get the pleasure of making fun of my Indian Muslim colleague and threatening him with the idea that management will send him back to Bombay to run a team of Hindus; priceless!
