Comments on: The decline in computer science students (part 2) http://brucefwebster.com/2008/06/24/the-decline-in-computer-science-students-part-2/ Making IT work since 1974. Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:03:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: L2H http://brucefwebster.com/2008/06/24/the-decline-in-computer-science-students-part-2/comment-page-1/#comment-135 L2H Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:25:10 +0000 http://brucefwebster.com/?p=49#comment-135 You are leaving the economic piece out of this chart. During the two bubbles your chart shows, the requirements for talent rose, and so did the starting salaries for that talent. At least some portion of the depression in IT students has to do with the cost of an IT degree measured in the amount of Student Loans vs. the number of years to Pay off said loans. Do you have a chart that compares the cost of an IT degree vs. Starting IT Salaries over the same period? Since H1B visas will fill much of the demand, there are fewer entry-level jobs and those jobs pay lower Starting Salaries then they would without H1B visas filling jobs. So, you have fewer IT students. Or to stretch Wayne Holder's test to make my point, when you have to put a fist full of dollars in another bowl in order to hang out and work with the computers, it becomes much less attractive to even the most talented and interested among us. You might enjoy reading the article "The H1B Visa Sham" By John Miano at FrontPageMagazine.com for a good statistical look at H1B visas. Perhaps you would also take some time to read my (long) comments there. Although, my comments are based on my experience and not statistics. You are leaving the economic piece out of this chart. During the two bubbles your chart shows, the requirements for talent rose, and so did the starting salaries for that talent.

At least some portion of the depression in IT students has to do with the cost of an IT degree measured in the amount of Student Loans vs. the number of years to Pay off said loans. Do you have a chart that compares the cost of an IT degree vs. Starting IT Salaries over the same period?

Since H1B visas will fill much of the demand, there are fewer entry-level jobs and those jobs pay lower Starting Salaries then they would without H1B visas filling jobs.

So, you have fewer IT students. Or to stretch Wayne Holder’s test to make my point, when you have to put a fist full of dollars in another bowl in order to hang out and work with the computers, it becomes much less attractive to even the most talented and interested among us.

You might enjoy reading the article “The H1B Visa Sham” By John Miano at FrontPageMagazine.com for a good statistical look at H1B visas.

Perhaps you would also take some time to read my (long) comments there. Although, my comments are based on my experience and not statistics.

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