Some of these posts make it seem like software engineering is a low skilled job, I beg to differ, it's still a very high skilled job, < .5% of the world knows how to code.
Is it that skilled when it gets taught in 4 years in college while an Electrician has to apprenticeship for 7?
That said, whether software is high-skill or not is tangential to the point I'm making. Which is, H1-B is being used to depress wages and that reworking it shouldn't affect jobs that actually have few people that can do it because O-1 allows them to work that job.
I don't think this is a fair comparison, software development is very complex, but an electricians job isn't, it's very simple but it's high consequence.
Software development may seem simple for a lot of people here on HN, but trust me, I can do the electricians job easily, but an electrician won't be able to do my job. The regulatory environment which requires the "apprenticeship" is a totally different topic and doesn't inform anything on the skill required to do the job. Also, the electrician apprentice gets paid while learning on the job, the software developer in training doesn't.
To the poster (nunez?) who was lamenting about me apparently claiming blue collar jobs are easier (and then deleted it when I was writing this reply):
1. I didn't claim that.
2. Yes, I did say it's "high consequence", but technically, comparing skill to skill, it's MUCH easier. I've done a ton of electrical work (along with plumbing) on our old home, there are a great set of safety rules to follow (and gear to use) before "touching the wrong wire".
> Soon AI can do your job easily, but it can't do an electrician's job.
[he said gleefully]
do you really want an Amercian to lose a job to AI?? Also, why do you think I can't become an electrician after AI apparently "does my job" (or a plumber, I'm a better plumber than an electrician)
anyway, it's fine, you don't seem to have any idea about software development or how AI is actually going to help me more.
I think you might be biased by where you live. In Germany an electrician's apprenticeship is ~3.5 years (and can sometimes be shortened). So while I am not an electrician and have no deeper insight than what friends who are told me, I am reasonably sure our electric installations are not 40%-50% as complex as the ones in your country.
I know electricians that were working within days of being hired with no experience. Apprenticeships are entry level jobs, not minimum certifications. They're also used to gatekeep positions by the unions. It has absolutely no bearing on whether or not the position is "skilled" or not.
And the answer really is that they're both skilled. Neither is more or less unless you're getting much more specific about the roles.
Apprenticeships are just unions gate keeping. Unions only reward seniority so you have to “pay your dues” in terms of time before you’re allowed to make any money.
