H1Bs Filling the Void?
Kirt's Cogitations™ #135

RF Cafe University "Factoids," "Kirt's Cogitations," and "Tech Topics Smorgasbord" are all manifestations of my ranting on various subjects relevant (usually) to the overall RF Cafe theme. All may be accessed on these pages:

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H1Bs Filling the Void?

In 2000, the U.S. Congress doubled the number of H-1B visas to 195,000 and we imported 90,000 engineers that year. There are presently 34,000 unemployed U.S. engineers. Proponents of the program point to U.S. colleges only graduating 65,000 engineers in the same year, and that 50% of engineers leave the field within 10 years after graduation. Businesses, it is argued, would move overseas if they could not import engineers to fill slots. Opponents of the H-1B program blame the companies for using H1B subjects as a form cheap, controllable indentured servants (H-1Bs are issued to corporate sponsors - not the workers). They cite the notoriously poor public education system for not preparing students for the rigors of college. Maybe the hopeless life of an engineer as portrayed by Dilbert each day in the local comic strip is contributing to our kids avoiding engineering?

RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...