[gigawhat]

I used to rail against the H1-B program until I realized that the body-shop consultancies aren't hurting demand for my services. . . they're increasing it.

It seems like at least 75% of the body-shop projects end up being so poorly executed that people like me inevitably get called in to revamp and clean up the mess.

By all means, corporate America, keep giving out big projects to the lowest bidder, who will throw their international cheap labor at it. Then call me up to pick up the pieces in a year or two at my usual high rate, working from home 100%.

[ececconi]

Then the project ends up being delivered late, over budget, then the middle-managers that signed off on it get replaced or reprimanded by the execs. Vicious cycle.

If you see the way these body-shop projects are pitched, it's one of the few things that make me lose hope in humanity. They bring in an exec who pitches the project, undercuts the competition by about 50%, then they staff some PMs who have no idea what they're walking into.

[sswaner]

And if you sit through one of those pitch meetings, take note of who they bring along to demonstrate capability. Other than your account rep, you will never see any of those people during the actual project. You will be sent a bunch of "freshers" who are barely competent. The Center of Excellence (COE) staff are essentially technical pre-sales staff.