In Looking at the layoff Web site for IBM, HPE, Microsoft, Amazon, etc, there are numerous negative post for each. Who is the worst IT vendor company here in terms of treating their employees like cr-p? Of course I heard Oracle takes the icing on the cake in this category. One can argue layoffs are the norm today in technology. Of course our politicians try to paint a rosey picture. I worked for two large IT vendor companies in my career including IBM and always felt there was no job security. All I could do was to try my hardest to do the best possible job I could do as well as keep learning the newest technology. I also worked for two very large enterprise customers of IBM and other IT vendors both with of which had their share of layoffs. Even smaller companies worked for either shut their doors or got acquired. I am retired now and avoided being layed off in my 40+ years in IT, and I do miss many technical people I worked alongside of. What I do not miss is always looking over my shoulder being worried if I will have a job.
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Brand new inventions of any significance can be counted on one's fingers, and only come once in a great while. The IT industry is known for #1, but makes its living off of #2. The offerings you see in the marketplace today stand on the shoulders of things invented decades ago. This is true for everything we enjoy as part of modern society.
Give IBM its due...the company has created more than its fair share of new inventions over the years. Every famous tech company in the world, including Apple, Facebook, Dell, HP, Oracle, ATT, Verizon, Nokia, etc. pays IBM ongoing patent and licensing revenue for using their stuff. As for #2, IBM has in fact consistently refused to get into that game...it gets out of the business as soon as anything commoditizes. Whatever IBM's faults are, making and selling old stuff cheaply is NOT one of them.
"If you think about it, nothing has really changed in terms of technology since 2012."
you can make money one of 2 ways:
- create something new like a computer
- produce something old very very very cheaply
it looks like we have/are going down the 2nd path
the 2nd path is easier since it requires no creativity but still makes a lot of money
check out the southern plantation owners, they made nothing new but production costs were cheap
I was a young person once who worked my tail off early in my career within the IT field. I would find it difficult to recommend this career path today to my children,
Check out what is going on at ATT, Verizon and GE corporate jobs - The situation there is 10 times worse than IBM!
Also as far as IT vendors go - Dell has got to be the worst , even worse than Oracle!
The issue is not H1B workers, but rather how much work companies are willing to send offshore. Welcome to the world of cheap bandwidth. You don’t have to bring H1B workers on shore anymore, but rather just find them in their country of residence and bring them bandwidth. The average off shore worker cost a company approx 25-33% of an on shore worker (and yes that also includes H1B’s). As such it’s much cheaper to just off shore the work.
If you think about it, nothing has really changed in terms of technology since 2012. Seems like progress has halted. Quantum computing seems like a waste of time and we really haven't developed AI to the point where it's being integrated correctly. It's like we're going backwards somehow. Future not looking so good. 😞
Whether or not H1bs are successful depends on the company -- mileage may vary. However, the temptation will always be there for cheap, young labor, foreign or otherwise...like it or not, it's part of American history and American culture. The OP's question did not even reference H1b's, it was about layoffs and how employees are treated. You name the large American tech company, and you'll see the same habits...shabby treatment of employees "with mileage", eventually ending in some kind of dismissal. It's ingrained in our society.
Who is the worst? They all su-k.
Who is responsible? Look in the mirror.
I apologize if you are not directly responsible of course, but the tech industry more than any other is ripe for the picking of young minds and young bodies. Every manager in every tech company wants the same thing...a young mind, freshly trained (indoctrinated) on all the latest trendy stuff. A young body...someone who will work for the man for many hours a day without complaint...in fact, someone who will cry for more work like a sled dog when things get slow.
Experience? Experience is helpful at times, but often the management just wants fresh meat to put in all those long hours. You name the task...system administration, coding, clerical work, troubleshooting, running cable, installing equipment, travelling endlessly to who knows where? Get the young person to do it.
Older people are not always, but MOSTLY expected to go into management. There is a lot of ageism in the business, no matter what company you work for. Immigration and temp work visas add other nations and cultures to the mix...nations and cultures that will do anything and work anywhere to further the economic development that they couldn't get at home. What tech company wouldn't love that?