In some ways it's actually worse in that programmers seem completely oblivious to what's happening to them.
They allow the media to call them "coders" and will actually argue with you when you point out how the term is being used to marginalize them. They actively support the boot camp movement and code.org initiatives. They give talks at conferences[1] and write blog posts saying there's no such thing as programmer talent and that programming is easy and anyone can do it (could you imagine a doctor or lawyer publicly asserting likewise about their professions?)
My advice to devs: make as much money as you possibly can now. Take VCs and tech companies for all they're worth and don't leave a penny on the table, because these people are fixing to crush you under their boot.
YES. If corporations couldn't get the government to import cheap labor, and especially cheap labor subject to deportation when terminated by their employers (and thus extremely easy to abuse), they would have no choice but to increase our wages.
Meanwhile, there are actual laws that prohibit you from importing prescription drugs from countries where they're sold for a fraction of the cost they are here, even when those drugs were originally manufactured in the US! What about the free market? Unbelievable.
If there truly were a shortage of developers, then their wages would be rising, yet they aren't, as the report in the article notes.
If I complained about a "shortage" of Ferraris while only offering to buy them new at the price of a Honda Civic, no one would take me seriously. But when Fortune 500 companies make the same complaints about labor, that they can't find great programmers while only offering $85-115k, the government responds with corporate welfare in the form of the H-1B visa. If there's really a programmer "shortage" at the wages offered, then employers should have to do like the rest of us and either pay more for what they want or do without and quit whining.
Disgusting that even here on HN people make excuses for this.
They allow the media to call them "coders" and will actually argue with you when you point out how the term is being used to marginalize them. They actively support the boot camp movement and code.org initiatives. They give talks at conferences[1] and write blog posts saying there's no such thing as programmer talent and that programming is easy and anyone can do it (could you imagine a doctor or lawyer publicly asserting likewise about their professions?)
My advice to devs: make as much money as you possibly can now. Take VCs and tech companies for all they're worth and don't leave a penny on the table, because these people are fixing to crush you under their boot.
1 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9486391