Doug writes:

> ``If you're willing to pay market rate, you can find people,'' said Pete
>  Georgiadis, founder and CEO of eBlast Ventures, a company that funds and
>  builds technology firms. ``The issue is if you're budget-constrained, you
>  can't get the people you want.''
>
>  "The fact that the industry cries of ``shortage'' were nothing more than a
>  political ploy was illustrated by the fact that heavy layoffs in the
>  industry began around January 2001, just two months after the industry
>  lobbyists were insisting to Congress that there was a ``desperate''
>  shortage (and nearly a year after the NASDAQ stock index started falling).
>  In the economic slowdown of 2001, employers became even pickier than
>  before. Whereas before a job ad might require only Java, the same ad now
>  was phrased something like ``Requires Java and XML, in real estate
>  applications, residential real estate preferred.''"

The current economy in the Bay Area certainly isn't doing the H-1B kids any
good either. We know a number of very bright, very talented Indian kids who
live here in Las Cruces but work in the Bay Area and fly home on the
weekends.

They're as nuts as anyone else we know. Last year, they were all unrepentant
yuppies, flying all over the world on assignments, getting paid $100 to
$200/hour, and buying BMW's. This year, they've all sold their BMW's and are
seriously thinking about returning to India.

Because almost all of them are independent contractors, as you can imagine,
they're the first to be let go -- or have their wages wildly reduced. A good
economy raises all boats. A bad one lets the air of everyone's float. But it
doesn't do it equally. These kids are on the front edge of a bad wave.

Wirt Atmar

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