Many people are ignoring the fact that not all STEM graduates are the same. Within one school, you have A, B, C, and D students. It's not unreasonable for companies to prefer hiring A level foreign students over D level American students. Beyond that, not all schools are equal either. I'm sure almost 100% of graduates from top 20 universities will find jobs. Graduates from the 200th ranked school, whatever that is, won't have as good of luck. It seems perfectly reasonable that a STEM degree doesn't guarantee a job. Students need to ensure they study hard in high school, get into good universities, and continue to study hard. It's inevitable that either foreign workers will come to the US, or jobs will move overseas. The only way to avoid that is to become better engineers than foreign students.
8 replies (most recent on top)
Funny how an Amiercan can't get hire at Q from UCSB with a EE but an H1 B can from Rodchester Insitude of Tech for QA test. Do you really need a Masters to be in QA test?
Good thread, stolen or not
By saying that there are "utter twits who graduated from Ivy League schools" you've confirmed the whole point I'm trying to make which is that not all graduates are equal. There are smart people from any school and dumb people from any school. Yes there may be some job each of us is capable of, but what's the probability that the availability of US jobs happen to match the skill and talent level of all the graduates each year? Getting one's dream job has always been and will always be a competition. People should never take for granted that getting a STEM degree guarantees them a job in the US.
142175: Oh, give it a rest! You have no clue how higher education works in this country! There are freaking mathematical/CS geniuses at QCOM who graduated from state schools and utter twits who graduated from Ivy League schools. When my husband was thinking about going back to school for his Ph.D., he asked me to check out a few schools and order some brochures while he was at work. Stanford was so thrilled that a female called about their graduate math program that by the end of the conversation they had offered me a freaking minority scholarship! I suppose I should mention that I did have a STEM degree in pharmaceutical chemistry, but at the time, I sold real estate. It's not just Stanford. Education--particularly at the high-status schools is a business that's more concerned with money and politics than some altruistic goal of producing the best and the brightest. And the smart students these days often go for the school that provides the best value for their education dollar. So no, the ITT grad may not be the perfect person for kernel development work or SoC--putting "shit on a chip" for the brain dead lurkers from HR-- but maybe they would rather be doing sys/admin where they are on call 24/7 and get to use SQL code strings during breaks to figure out how many of their coworkers are on AM. And they are certainly smart enough to work in a customer service position, walking frantic callers through Windows-based UIs. Bonus: The customers understand them, and when the customer tells them they're staring at BSOD, they are smart enough to figure out that the computer is plugged in!
The OP stole my comment from this Intel thread
https://www.thelayoff.com/intel/post/6383551786254336
That's unacceptable. My point is that arguments that not 100% of STEM graduates can find jobs, therefore H1B should be eliminated is flawed. Some engineering graduates are simply not hirable. How many H1B should the US allow and how to prevent improper use of it is what should be debated.
I've interviews ITT Tech grads at Q, most didn't know the difference between current and power. Lol.
I graduated from Stanford EE, coming to Q was the worst decision I've ever taken. I'm GTFO to Nest. Suck it, Qualcomm.
I just love it when H1-Bs think they know everything there is to know about the U.S. education system based on what they read about Harvard, Princeton and Stanford. Too much emphasis is placed on where people go to school, as opposed to what they studied--or in many cases, who their graduate advisor(s) were. There are no "D" level STEM students in most accredited U.S. universities. Most of the STEM majors take honors mathematics and science courses--which are more advanced, and include elements often reserved fro graduate level courses. The tests, aren't like the SATs, either. You aren't going to be given the sort of problems where you find the answer to a bunch of equations, or fill in the blanks, or bubble in a letter. You get statement problems--where you have to draw diagrams, figure out what equation(s) to use, how to set up the problem, then find the answer. The grading is also harsher. The top 10% get an "A," the next 20% get "B," and the next 40-50% (--depending on the school's policy, and the number of kids in the class--) get "C." Any grade below C is usually pick-another-major. Like education. Being Asian with a former straight-A average and stellar test scores will not save you. Perhaps there's still time for you to transfer to Stanford--where I'm told you can still drop your calculus class after you take the final exam if you feel like you blew it.