[padiyar83]

This will fuel the "remote anywhere" trend that's already underway. If a H1b engineer in US suppresses wage growth, wait until the same engineer can do the work for 1/3rd the cost from his own country, especially when everyone in the team is remote.

[hkai]

Here's an extensive discussion on HN about this - why it seems like a gold mine when you can hire engineers for $600/month, but it rarely works out:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23402788

[xienze]

> wait until the same engineer can do the work for 1/3rd the cost from his own country, especially when everyone in the team is remote.

It’s not quite as easy as it seems, believe me software companies have been trying to pull this off for decades. I’ve been around situations where a US team was offshored and returned again because the results were so dreadful.

What people forget is that the folks who actually make it here are the absolute cream of the crop. There are not a billion Indians just like the super talented one you’ve worked with at your office. And that’s not even getting into timezone and communication problems.

[spaced-out]

>It’s not quite as easy as it seems, believe me software companies have been trying to pull this off for decades. I’ve been around situations where a US team was offshored and returned again because the results were so dreadful

>What people forget is that the folks who actually make it here are the absolute cream of the crop.

You know a good way to reverse this trend, though? Force all those people to take all the skills they've learned back to their home countries.

I work at a Big-N and there are many teams that are majority non-citiens. If they're forced to leave the US, do you think the company will try to replace them with Americans, or just move the team?

[SpicyLemonZest]

What you're saying is certainly true, which is why people who already have a visa were exempted from the order. (Some may choose to leave because of the uncertainty, of course, but that would be true for any immigration reform.)

[dclowd9901]

You say this like it’s that easy. We have remotes working in Singapore and Australia, and it is a far cry from “easy” to work with these people either due to timing constraints, language barriers or other aspects that disrupt fluid communication.

[BeetleB]

> language barriers

Americans couldn't comprehend the perfect English spoken in these countries?

(Sorry - couldn't resist!)

Edit: In case people don't get it, it used to be a common joke that Americans had poorer English than well educated foreigners. Definitely for written, but even occasionally spoken English. I've worked with at least 3 people who were either from Singapore or from Malaysia but educated in Singapore. All had great English, and with 2 of them you'd never know you weren't speaking to a native English speaker - you'd think you were speaking to a British person.

[hkai]

Ay mate I couldn't catch ya?

[hedora]

Timezones are the biggest issue from what I’ve seen. People can learn English, and get used to video calls / written communication.

I wonder why more companies don’t outsource to Canada and South America (or the Midwest, for that matter.)

[kache_]

They do. I've been seeing a lot of remote companies hire aggressively within Canada.

[padiyar83]

I agree that is a concern with a US centric team. Imagine a globally distributed team - 3 engineers are in Asia pacific region, 2 in Europe and 2 in US. Everyone in the team is equally affected by timing constraints and language barriers, so it becomes more palatable. And in such a world even the notion of coming to US and working on an H1B visa does not exist.