The H-1B visa program is a scam

h1b visas by companyThis is the second of three columns relating to the recent story of Disney replacing 250 IT workers with foreign workers holding H-1B visas. Over the years I have written many columns about outsourcing (here) and the H-1B visa program in particular (here). Not wanting to just cover again that old material, this column looks at an important misconception that underlies the whole H-1B problem, then gives the unique view of a longtime reader of this column who has H-1B program experience.

First the misconception as laid out in a blog post shared with me by a reader. This blogger maintains that we […]

By |June 15th, 2015|2015, competition, Education, Government, Outsourcing|173 Comments
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Disney’s IT troubles go beyond H-IBs

DisneyLetterDisney has been in the news recently for firing its Orlando-based IT staff, replacing them with H-1B workers primarily from India, and making severance payments to those displaced workers dependent on the outgoing workers training their foreign replacements. I regret not jumping on this story earlier because I heard about it back in March, but an IT friend in Orlando (not from Disney) said it was old news so I didn’t follow-up. Well now I am following with what will eventually be three columns not just about this particular event but what it says about the U.S. computer industry, which is not good.

First we need some context for this […]

By |June 12th, 2015|2015, Companies, Government, Outsourcing|53 Comments
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IT class warfare — It’s not just IBM

Back in April I wrote a six-part series of columns on troubles at IBM that was read by more than three million people. Months later I’m still getting ripples of response to those columns, which I followed with a couple updates. There is a very high level of pain in these responses that tells me I should do a better job of explaining the dynamics of the underlying issues not only for IBM but for IT in general in the USA. It comes down to class warfare.

Warfare, to be clear, isn’t genocide. There are IT people who would have me believe that they are complete victims, powerless against the death squads of corporate America. […]

By |July 6th, 2012|2012, Business, Companies, Computing, Government, Media, Outsourcing, Technology|31 Comments
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How to fix IBM in a week

Last in a too long series of columns on what’s wrong with IBM.

Enough horror stories, already! How do we just fix IBM?

Well it can’t be done from the inside so it has to be done from the outside. And the only outside power scary enough to get through the self-satisfied skulls of IBM top management is IBM customers. A huge threat to revenue is the only way to move IBM in the proper direction. But a big enough such threat will not only get a swift and positive reaction from Big Blue, it will makes things ultimately much better for customers, too.

So here is exactly what to do, down to the letter.  Print this out, if […]

By |April 20th, 2012|2012|183 Comments
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Watch out IBM!

Back in 2007, when I was still writing for PBS, I posted a couple of columns about IBM that caused great consternation for the company. I predicted an acceleration in offshoring and outsourcing that upset IBM employees and customers alike. Thousands of IBM careers were about to be disrupted. The company denied my story and even, I’m told, made a few changes to its plan in response to what I had written. It showed the power of the blogosphere, how one person with a little insight and good sources can affect an industry. And it’s about to happen again.

This coming Wednesday I’ll post another IBM column based on a look I got recently […]

By |April 14th, 2012|2012|79 Comments
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