Interesting Trend

I have been doing a lot of interviews for my company lately. Not just in Dumbfuckville, but all around the country. Jobs for the West Coast, East Coast, the central part of the country, everywhere. These are high paying Senior Level Developer, SOA Architects, SharePoint Developers, all sorts of High Tech jobs. I have done at least 100 interviews, and noticed that I have only interviewed perhaps 2 native born American citizens. Nearly all of the candidates I have talked to were from Inda, a smaller percentage from Russia. I wonder why this is...

Is it that Americans are simply getting out of the High Tech industry? Is it because of a big influx of new foreign workers? Is it because the jobs pay worse than other jobs? Is it because the foreign worker is the first to be fired or laid off? Honestly, I don't know.
I don't think that there has been a large influx of foreign workers. The people that apply for these jobs typically have to be established resident aliens, many with security clearances.
These jobs certainly pay well. Most are asking salaries that I wish I would have negotiated when I was hired on. The benefit and other employment perks are good to, especially in a city where my company has a large presence.
Of the questions above I think that the foreigners are the first to be laid off may be hitting closer to the mark. You keep the workers who are native born or naturalized citizens. Easier to get clearances, quicker turn around on other HR stuff, and no extra headache if a green card goes in to flux. BUT I also have to consider that in an economic down turn, the first people to be laid off is the development staff. You cut your "nice to have" projects, and lay off the project teams running those projects.

I fear that Americans are simply getting out of the industry. I think that many developers see security in the mobile phone application market and are looking to get started there... That or young Americans see the software and computer industry as boring and don't want to waste time there... I don't know...