posted on July 8, 2007 06:46:37 AM new
July 6, 2007
Microsoft: North to Canada
Microsoft needs more brainiacs to fill its developer ranks, so it's going North to nurture them.
The software giant said it plans to expand its presence in Canada by opening a new software development center in the greater Vancouver, British Columbia, area. Doors are slated to open this fall, and it will house software developers from around the world.
The announcement comes at a time when Microsoft is facing a shortage of developers, and after the U.S. Senate recently ended debate on an immigration reform bill that would have included provisions for allowing more special visas for tech workers. Microsoft bemoaned the move.
The H1-B visas allow U.S. companies to sponsor foreign-born U.S. graduates in science, engineering and math for up to six years of U.S. employment. Tech executives and lobbyists insist an increase in H1-B visas is necessary to fill what it claims is a chronic shortfall in American IT talent.
"The nation continues to witness a dramatic decline in the number of native-born computer science graduates," Pamela Passman, Microsoft's vice president for global corporate affairs, said in a statement sent to internetnews.com just after the Senate ended debate on the bill. "Technology companies like Microsoft rely on the H-1B visa and employment-based green card programs to deliver an adequate supply of highly qualified employees to help maintain our competitive position."
On to Canada. The company said the Microsoft Canada Development Centre will operate as one of a handful of development centers outside its Redmond, Washington headquarters. Other sites are in North Carolina, Ireland, Denmark and Israel.
In a statement announcing the expansion, S. Somasegar, corporate vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft, said the company's goal is to attract the next generation of leading software developers from all parts of the world. "This center will be a beacon for some of that talent."
Phil Sorgen, president of Microsoft Canada, said the region has "burgeoning high-tech and software industries and a globally envied quality of life, and our cities represent exactly the kind of environment that leading information workers want to live in. "This center will help Microsoft remain globally competitive while providing strong economic benefits to British Columbia and Canada."
posted on July 8, 2007 10:37:54 AM new
Gates simply doesn't want to pay Americans what they are worth. There is no shortage of highly qualified workers here.
posted on July 8, 2007 06:06:38 PM new
Helen, I agree with you. Not many qualified workers here will be getting the jobs either because Microsoft is using Canada's lax immigration policy to bring in workers from overseas, specifically China, Pakistan, India and Russia. They will work for lesser wages and it's a faster way to gain citizenship.
posted on July 8, 2007 10:26:08 PM new
Big corporations don't even have to bring people in....they just go to a country like India.....hire them ( engineers, etc.) at a fraction of what they pay Americans and the work is e-mailed in.
And they thought it would be just blue-collar jobs that were lost......
"Big corporations don't even have to bring people in....they just go to a country like India.....hire them ( engineers, etc.) at a fraction of what they pay Americans and the work is e-mailed in."
And in this case, they move to a country like Canada...."bring them in" and hire them at a fraction of what they could pay Canadians or Americans.
posted on July 9, 2007 09:20:41 AM newAnd here I thought progressives wanted everything 'fair' for all - including wages.
To me, 'progressive' is a dirty word as far as politics because I think of the Progressive Conservative party in Canada that reached the height of corruption when Mulroney was in power - the same leader that brought us the GST and granted favors to all his buddies.
Not sure exactly what 'progressive' means in the US so will have to read more about it later.
