https://qz.com/978677/will-companies-like-infosys-and-cognizant-be-able-to-find-enough-american-workers/
As the American dream sours for foreign workers, tech companies have their eyes peeled for local talent.
Immigrant workers have long flocked to US tech companies, with nearly two-thirds of the H-1B visas in 2014 allocated to those in computer-related occupations. While IBM, Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft are among the top contenders for the 85,000 new visas each year, the biggest beneficiaries of H-1Bs have traditionally been the Indian IT bigwigs like Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) or American multinationals like Cognizant that outsource the majority of their jobs to India.
Even before president Donald Trump signed an executive order to kickstart the much-discussed H-1B revamp on April 18, Indian IT firms were cutting back on visas requests by opening offshore and nearshore centers, automating parts of their business, and working remotely. Bengaluru-based Infosys said it would add 10,000 jobs in the US over the next two to four years. Cognizant, with most of its operations in Chennai, is said to be handing its Indian employees pink slips while it ups its US headcount. Last year, it hired 4,000 US citizens and residents. Azim Premji-led software giant Wipro expects to have half of its workforce comprise of US locals by June. Rival TCS reportedly has hiring programs in place at engineering campuses and the top-10 US business schools.
While these companies may want to trade their Indian employees for those on American soil, a straight swap isnt easy. Theyre competing with Google and Facebook as well as startups like Uber and Airbnb. Moreover, American tech workers are fewer in number, are generally not as highly skilled, and cost more than their Indian counterparts. In 2015, there were nearly 10 times more US computing jobs open than there were students equipped with computer science degrees.
Who's excited for the amazing unbelievable world of client services contract work?
One of my long shot pipe dreams is to one day see Americans (other than me) do this type of work and live this lifestyle.