Comments on: USA Losing Scientists and Engineers Educated in the USA

By: The Politics of Anti-Science » Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog

The Politics of Anti-Science » Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:35:24 +0000

[...] – they are withdrawing from the anti-science culture created by some in Washington: they are moving their research to countries that support rather than attack science. That is a very bad thing for the USA. There are a number of very bad economic policies a [...]

By: Tim Carrs

Tim Carrs — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:30:55 +0000

I have a degree in an engineering technology and an advanced degree in mathematics. I CAN’T FIND WORK. I have watch tens of thousands of experienced engineers and scientists lose their jobs, never to work as engineers again. Not to mention programmers. It happen in Pennsylvania
(steel industry). Happened in Detroit (auto industry). I was there when
it happened on Long Island, NY. The electronic and aerospeace industry. It recently happened in Silicon Valley,Ca. I am sure it has and is still happening all over the US. In NYC I saw Computer and Electrical Engineers, recent grads with good grades, being trained as car mechanics. NO JOKE. There were no employment opportunities. Why would any US student go into engineering, science or mathematics if they CAN NOT FIND WORK? The US does not make anything any more. Further, the US imports these people from outside the country. Russians, Indians, Chinese, etc. Not to mention most of these employment categories are overseas. Why would any want to work 4-8 years to obtain degrees in these
areas if you can not find work???????

By: David

David — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:19:56 +0000

I am an older engineer. It is difficult to maintain employment. I was laid off at the end of May. I have been interviewing. My last interview was typical. About half the people working at the company were Indians on an H1B visa. Nothing that they were doing was particularly high tech. It was work that I had done in the past. What they were interviewing me for was pretty much to be the Indian’s babysitters as the potential employer admitted they were green and did not understand english all that well (they could read he said, but were incapable of writing a good functional spec or user docs). So, I asked him why they were using them? He said, “how do you beat $20/hr and no benefits?”

My son is a CPA. He told me that it was obvious that engineering was not a good profession. He said the smart kids at Georgia Tech were opting out of engineering. My daughters are MBAs and teachers. Again, they could have been an engineer. But, as my older daughter said, “look Dad, you have had to change jobs five times over the last twenty years to be employed. I want consistent employment to raise a family.”

What it really comes down to is this: engineering just isn’t that good of a profession. So, the best and brightest are doing other things.

By: Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog » Keeping Out Technology Workers is not a Good Economic Strategy

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:21:19 +0000

[...] biggest impact of the USA turning away great scientists and engineers will be that they go to work outside the USA and increase the speed at which the USA loses its [...]

By: gregbo

gregbo — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 07:12:52 +0000

We have over 8% unemployment in the US. California unemployment is over 9%. Other states are reporting over 10%. The visa programs instituted to bring people from outside the US to do tech work were intended to fill short-term staffing needs. Those needs are no longer necessary because there are plenty of qualified under- or unemployed candidates looking for work.

It pains me to hear that people like Eric Schmidt still assert that there is a lack of qualified candidates. Perhaps he should revamp the Google Hiring program so that candidates do not die in limbo.

WRT people studying investment banking, rather than engineering, science, etc., why not? Especially if there is more career security. There is a relationship between investment banking and technology development – after all, where does the vast majority of startup money come from? Furthermore, why shouldn’t our best and brightest study investment banking, if they can do a better job than the crooks that ran/run companies like AIG?

By: Will

Will — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:24:50 +0000

I’ve been watching this happen for the last year here in Washington DC. 3 of my friends from overseas (Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam) have completed their master’s degrees and, because of the difficulty in finding an employer willing to go through the hassle of work visas, 1 has already returned home, 1 will this summer, and 1 will end up staying only if he can get on with an international organization like the World Bank. Granted, these are business and international affairs degrees, not science/engineering, but the problem’s the same: bring in the smartest people from their home countries, educate them, then send them home. In the Cold War that was considered a good thing because you increased the number of people around the world who were fans of capitalism and democracy and the USA. Today, though, we don’t need that as much as we need those talented people to stay. Our immigration system needs some serious overhauling.