titomc

This is for boosting profitability for Etisalat. The sole telecom provider in UAE. This mainly targets migrants workers in UAE. They get paid 90 or 100 dirhams/month. Etisalat charges a lot to make international calls. The migrant workers have to spent atleast 20% of their salary to call their dear ones,so the migrants make use of VOIP services. This move is to ban the low salaried workers from using VOIP. I have seen plain cloths officers randomly checking migrants mobile phones in public to see if they have installed any VOIP software.

check the coffee machine, general cleanliness of the office especially breakroom if they are clean and well stocked,look for notices on printers or washroom's that "xxxxx is not working & repairs has been notified". See if they have a gym,check the condition of office chairs,are they ergonomic ?. Ask about appraisal process and career path. If they dont answer well and the interviewer is not clear on that,it means an unhealthy org structure. Finally check on glassdoor and a wild card search on google with the email domain of the org,something interesting might come up.

Kerala [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala] , a small southern state in India known for its high literacy rate in India [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Kerala] has a highly efficient emergency service on #108.[http://www.arogyakeralam.gov.in/index.php/special-initiaves/...]

I often hear news of this service being extremely efficient and the reports of bystanders not helping accident victims are rare from that state. This has to do something with the literacy rate as well as an efficient emergency service. Most of the cases of "no one helps you in India" cannot be generalized is my opinion.

Here is the big picture.

Path 1 - worker outside US.

  1. Worker outside US gets in touch with body shops in US. 
  2. The body shops forces the worker to fake their work  experience, take money and apply H1B. 
  3. If it gets thru lottery,the worker lands in US. 
  4. The body shop provides cheap accommodation for the worker.
  5. The body shop runs fake payrolls. 
  6. The workers finds a contract job by faking skills and doing proxy interviews, lip syncs on video interview calls. 
  7. Gets the contract job. 
  8. Gets fired when the employer realises that the worker is fake.
  9. Goto step 5.
 10. In parallel , the body shop will start GC process and the fake worker becomes Green Card holder and finally a citizen.

Path 2 - Foreign students comes for MS in US

  1. Many students comes to US to do master's degree after their bachelors. 
   (especially people from a particular state from India,I do not want to mention the state)
  2. Finishes masters ( 2 years ). Gets an OPT work permit for 2 years.
  3. The body shops recruit these students with nil experience.
  4. Fake up their work experience to say 5 - 6 years.
  5. Runs fake payroll when they are job hunting.
  6. Send these students to work as a contractor and applies H1B for them. Since they have an MS degree , the odds are high for them to get selected in the lottery.
  7. These fake workers outsource their office job to India at night and get it done from an experienced worker for a small amount.
  8. At some point , the employer understands the worker is fake,fires the contractor.
  9. Goto step 5.
  10. In parallel,the body shop will apply for GC in EB2 category and the fake workers becomes a Green card holder within 7 years and eventually a citizen.

I had to give in writing to my employer that If I get a promotion which changes my job role more than 50%, my entire process will be reset. So in EB2 the wait time is 7 years. I would have to wait 14 years if a get a promotion or a good raise even. If I change my employer & if I am lucky I can keep my position in the queue. Going by these draconian rules I will never settle at 60 !.I don't believe in luck,but hardwork. US H1B is based on pure luck and not in skills. Canada immigration system is point based and evaluates your skills not your luck. So goodbye US and hello Canada is my course of action.

The one auto manufacturer that I was working for had hardware safety overrides for any software controlled remote operations.

For example: Remote door unlock command issued by the mobile phone app will not work if the car is moving.

It might be for finding out your country ?

I would love to see a next & previous arrow for navigation after i complete each section.

aaand drumpf wants us out. :: let the downvotes begin.

LinkedIn helped me make a career move. I am using it for my next move. Recruiters should be looking into stackoverflow careers as it showcases the real you.

Notify TRAI ?

Mark "tried to solve a non existent problem" and fell over.

India is not a country where everyone rides on bullocarts or tuk tuks. Its a fast developing nation. Its not what you see in Hollywood movies or western medias. India do not need help on the internet side of things.

@Trevor, Curious to know how did you get hold of the content for the Bible App. Did you purchase it or compiled it on your own ?

No 115K is not insane. H1B workers ought to get higher wages because of the below -

1. Spouses of H1B workers (H4) cannot work. Most spouses of H1B are well qualified advanced degree holders. Currently they idle their productive ages sitting at home. The H1B worker has to look after his/her home with a single source of income.

How will you feel as a citizen if someone restricts your spouse from having a job, though he/she is well qualified with advanced degrees ? How will the spouses feel when they are restricted by this 'out of the world' rule that spouse of an H1B cannot work ? How is this different from the Saudis that women can't drive cars ?

2. H1B workers cannot have a secondary source of income. So he/she has to do with a single income source unlike others who can work multiple jobs.

3. H1B workers pay social security and medicare for nothing. H1B is a 6 year visa. Why should H1B workers pay social security & medicare tax when they are allowed to work only for 6 years ? They do not have any use of these taxes. They will not be present in US at the age of 65 to reap the benefits of these taxes that they pay. So a higher salary will compensate this unnecessary loss for an H1B worker.

4. H1B workers cannot make a job change very easily, nor can they switch jobs if they are fired. They should immediately leave the country (imagine vacating the apartment,selling car,taking kids out of their school) else face deportation.

So 115K is not insane, it's a minimum. H1B workers ought to get paid more because they are losing a lot by these draconian restrictions imposed upon them by the H1B system.

You are right. In the case of LCAs, the employer do not have to prove that they did not find a qualified citizen worker.

Each job posting has a job code. So if its for a non tech, the job code will be different as well as the corresponding salary/year on the LCA. Sorry for generalizing H1B to IT.

" no available citizen worker can be found. "

H1B stipulates this. Here is how the companies work around this. The ADs that they put for this position should have the salary too. The salary will be the bare minimum specified by the Department of Labor for that work location. eg: Arizona I think its not more than 62K per year. There will not be any American worker who will be willing to work for that. So the AD will yield zero American applicants for that position and thus they hire an H1B worker.

If your company has H1B workers, go to to your company's public notice boards usually in the break rooms. You can find notices like "Labor condition application for a foreign worker". Take a look at the second page or the third one and see the salary for that position. Usually it will be a bare minimum or minimum + ~10K.

H1B worker here. I understand the sentiments of being replaced by an H1B worker. I just want to emphasize that the worker is not be blamed for this. The fault is with the H1B system & the consultancies which exploit the H1B system.

1. The H1B visa is supposed to be a "skilled visa". But currently this visa is purely based on luck and not on skills & that's how many bad apples game the system. The DOL approves LCA based on minimum wages. The consultancies just pay the minimum wages and bring in the H1B employee. This minimum wage should be increased to match the salary of a skilled American worker. So that this exploitation will stop.

eg: (the salaries are approximate)

In Arizona , the minimum annual salary for LCA is 62K, the average salary paid to an American worker is 115K. Consultancy firms like TCS,Infosys and many other local "one room" consultancies pays 62K and bring in H1B employees because 62K is the minimum stipulated by Department of Labor. Increasing this minimum 62K to a realistic salary like 115K will stop this abuse.

2. There is no easy job portability for H1B workers. Switching jobs on H1B is a precarious act and if something goes wrong, you will have to be out of the country immediately, no grace period. So to be on the safer side, many H1B employees stay silent and accept lowball offers. They also have kids who are going to school and a spouse who cannot work because they are on H4. So H1B workers job portability is not really easy.

Make H1B jobs portable without any strings attached. So that if an H1B employee is paid less and abused by the employer. He/She can switch jobs easily. So this will prevent H1B abuse by the employers and they will think twice before low balling an H1B worker.

3. H1B is a dual intent visa. Once the employer starts GreenCard process for the worker. The H1B worker is literally on shackles. The rules are so strict that the worker cannot change jobs easily. Cannot accept promotions or title change for years. The worker silently accepts this because he/she has a family & kids to support just like any other American worker.

All I want to convey is: The H1B employee is not be blamed for this. The very rules of the H1B system are being gamed by the consultancy companies from India. Stopping H1B system is not the solution because all the large companies in US has huge dependency on H1B employees.

So to stop this abuse, 1. Increase the minimum wages to a more realistic one. 2. Stop lottery system and grant visas based on top salary. 3. Make the H1B job easily portable.

H1B was for skilled workers. Note that I used "was". Some of the ways to help H1B system.

1. Stop TCS,Infosys,Wipro & Cognizant bringing in unskilled workers for low salary. They bombard the system every year and eligible skilled workers should depend on their luck rather than their skills to get H1B.

Solution : Increase the minimum level wages requirements 2x times.

2. There are lot of Indian bodyshops in US,which will apply visa & initiate greencard,so that they can hold a lock on the workers for a very long time.

Solution: Make the H1B visa transfer flexible. Job portability should be made easy.So that body shops or employers cannot abuse H1B workers.

3. Conduct a very high level technical interview for the candidates which the consultant companies present. Many consulting companies bring unskilled workers with fake resume. So triple checking the background & skills will put a stop to H1B abuse and skilled candidates will get visas.

I like the place, except this new policy.

Do you speak malayalam , can you read/write malayalam ?

Being Anti-industrial/Anti-capitalist is a bad thing ? That is news for me.

I expected this comment. Happy to see it. Though this comment isn't worth anything per say, this shows how the rest of India is ignorant or cannot accept the facts that this state is a shining example of how other Indian states should be. All I can relate this comment is to the below fable.

"Driven by hunger, a fox tried to reach some grapes hanging high on the vine but was unable to, although he leaped with all his strength. As he went away, the fox remarked 'Oh, you aren't even ripe yet! I don't need any sour grapes.'

People who speak disparagingly of things that they cannot attain would do well to apply this story to themselves."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Grapes#The_fab...

Have you lived in both places ? I have. Hence.

I do not know about India as a whole making strides in economic growth. It has to do something with the overall education level. I am taking the example of Kerala , a small coastal state in the southern part of India. This small state in India has made great strides in economy as well as high living standards. I think this has to do with the high literacy rate in the state due to various socioeconomic & political reasons. This model of development is called Kerala model.

An excerpt from the Wikipedia article , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala_model

" Kerala, a state in India, is a bizarre anomaly among developing nations, a place that offers real hope for the future of the Third World. Though not much larger than Maryland, Kerala has a population as big as California's and a per capita annual income of less than $300. But its infant mortality rate is very low, its literacy rate among the highest on Earth, and its birthrate below America's and falling faster. Kerala's residents live nearly as long as Americans or Europeans. Though mostly a land of paddy-covered plains, statistically Kerala stands out as the Mount Everest of social development; there's truly no place like it. "

Some of the recent news in which Kerala stands out from all other states in India.

1. The Cochin International Airport in Kerala is the world's first fully solar powered airport.

http://time.com/4002630/solar-power-india-airport-flight-gre...

2. Did I mention that Kerala too has 1Gbps connectivity, currently given for startup incubators in IT parks, soon the entire state will have it.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/Kerala-All-Set-...

3."As Kerala gets ready to be declared India’s first ‘Digital State’ on August 15, a host of vital data shows that the state is well ahead of other states in e-matters."

http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/Data-Shows-Ker...

Wikipedia article about Kerala State https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala

PS: I am from Kerala state & I enjoy almost the same living standards in Kerala as that of US where I am currently working.

No wonder Facebook paid that amount, the plot thickens.

https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/366h46/starting_to...

Our team was working on a vehicle telmatics platform ( connected cars ). We had a requirement in which the remote engine start time should be within 15 seconds from the time the customer clicked the start button on his phone. For this the QNX running in the vehicle had a fastboot mode , which came up within that timeframe , brought up the interfaces & established network connection to our server and started the car. Once the car is started , the system will go down and come back up in normal boot.

Now I know !

I have mentioned US immigration system as broken in many other comments of mine in HN. Why don't you go count that too ?

This is my life story in US till now. My H1B visa was applied thru one of the biggest Indian consulting companies and I started working in Kansas. The project was awesome and I loved the work and our team was programming for the connected cars. We were paid peanuts by our employer around 62K which was the bare minimum mandated by LCA in Kansas location. But I didn't care about the peanuts they were giving me , I loved the project and my client. We were doing something cool which wasn't CRUD ;)

During that time , I got promoted and my salary increased by 200$/month. At the same time , another vendor took over our project. So the resource management people from my employer called me and told "Since you are earning more salary ( 62K + 200$/month ) , you are not eligible for any other job location as per the company policy and you have to go back to India. So book your tickets & get ready to fly back !

The amount of depression I had to face was immense. It was December in Kansas and it was very cold. I remember smoking 2 packs of cigarettes inside my apartment every day. I had a used car which was under loan from DCU. My apartment lease had 5-6 months left. I was in total jeopardy thinking what to do. Thank god I was not married & had kids going to school, because pulling kids out of school and flying them back to India , making them adjust to the environment back in India would have been a nightmare. Kids will have had a huge culture shock.

Still, being a bachelor, I felt very bad. But I put myself together and started applying for companies thru linkedin and indeed. Two companies responded and I went thru many levels of interview ( I already had flight tickets booked, my bags almost packed and gave power of attorney to my friend to sell the car and settle the loan ). With all those things happening in the background , I cleared the interview for both of the companies for full time employment. I had to fly to company locations for face to face. ( Both companies arranged the travel & stay )

Both companies were ready to transfer my H1B visa. I chose the big financial services company thinking about my job security as an H1B worker. Here comes the catch ! They were not ready to negotiate the salary. They are no small company ( It is the top financial services company)

The HR knew very well knew that I was on H1B and the stupid me told them that I desperately need to transfer my visa , since my Indian employer told me to go back to India. So they took advantage of the situation and were not willing to negotiate. I had to settle with 80K/year with the big financial services company and they transferred my visa in premium & I resigned from the Indian employer. It was either take it or leave situation and I had no other choice but to accept the offer.

To summarise , I am no low skilled worker and I cleared the interviews very well. I am well qualified and good at my programming skills. The American counterparts in my office earn more than me ( ~120K ) for the same skillset and work that I do. So how did I ended up like this ? Just because of this broken immigration system. I had to transfer my visa without negotiating my salary because of my situation and the rule that I will be out of status from the very next day my employer stops my payroll.

" I was the victim of this broken immigration system of US ". My situation is one of the examples of how employers abuse H1B workers.

I am getting married in Jan 2016, so I will stay with my current employer which took advantage of my situation. And hey my future wife can't work on H4 !. She recently resigned her job at Oracle in India and is preparing for the wedding. I feel bad for her because now she has to sit in the apartment and watch TV wasting her productive years in US. She is a Masters degree holder in finance & has excellent communication skills in both English & French.

So what do I plan to do now ?. Since im getting married in Jan 2016, I will wait till then. Once I get married , I will switch employer and negotiate a good salary because right now I am not in that situation while I was in Kansas.

Will I wait for my greencard to be processed ( 6-7 years ) NO. Why ? I am 30 now , so it will be 38,39 when I get my freedom and that too with the ever changing rules of USCIS. I don't want to try my luck.

Will I wait for my I-140 to be approved so that my wife can work ? NO. Why ? Again I dont trust this broken immigration system.

So what am I going to do about this ? , Canadian Express Entry gives importance to skilled workers rather than the lottery system and I will get PR within 6 months. My fiance is a degree holder and will get extra points for French. So we will qualify for the PR system.

I don't want to wait in this uncertainty till I grow old to get my freedom. I rather trust Canadian Express Entry and move to Canada.

I drive a Nissan because I trust it more than an American made car in terms of reliability. I have had several experiences from my friends who drive an American made car. The recent Chrylser exploit nailed it. This article smells like an aptly timed smear campaign coming from an American mediahouse.