I received my H-1B visa about 25 years ago. I went directly from F-1 student visa to H-1B worker (without the OPT or Optional Practical Training) because I quit from the Ph.D program from my graduate school at the time. I was probably one of the first batch of the international graduate students took that route in my school. Do keep in mind the US job market and economy was in much better shape at the time (1999 and 2000) compared to now. The current job market is the worst job market I’ve seen in last 25 years.
I came across a thread re: H-1B on linkedIn re: this topic. I pasted the content below as not everyone has LinkedIn. You may find the discussion below the post interesting too.
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I’m seeing a lot of takes about the new H1B $100,000 fee. What I rarely see is this issue framed from the perspective of the unemployed senior software engineer with 10–20+ years of experience who has been searching for months; or the recent CS graduate who can’t land their first job.
The reality is that the H1B program has been heavily used for cheap labor. When you count renewals, there are over 600,000 H1Bs in the U.S. Roughly two thirds (400,000) are in technology; and the vast majority of those are software engineers.
Multiple studies by the Center for Immigration Studies; a group that is generally pro immigrant; have found that H1B employees in technology earn about 30% less than domestic engineers. With around 1.2 million employed software engineers in the U.S., that means roughly one third of the field has been replaced by H1Bs over the past decade. This isn’t a case of “we can’t find enough domestic engineers.” This is “we’re going to replace our existing engineers with cheaper labor.”
The most glaring example came recently… Microsoft laid off thousands of employees and then applied for thousands of H1Bs to replace them. So yes, the program is heavily abused. I’m not calling for it to be axed; the original purpose of H1B was to bring in the best and brightest to fill genuine gaps. That’s still important. But the way it’s being used today is a complete distortion of that purpose.
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The US is obviously going through a lot of changes since the new administration took over in January 2025. But I didn’t expect things happened so fast: probably some other friends felt the same way too.
I think it’s time. Right now I am only drinking the non-alcoholic beer. I may quit that too. I never tried non-alcoholic wine, but may taste it once later on.
I think my main motivation factor is better sleep, as I talked a bit here. But there are other concerns: mainly around driving as I got my Uber duty for my kids. Also eating, which is related to sleep too.
It looks like I tried quitting about 3 years ago. I have since quit whiskey. Btw, I never drunk whiskey before I watch the Netflix show the Ranch.
Note in last 20 years or so, I don’t recall I ever got drunk once. But I do recall once, more than 20 years ago, I did had too much alcohol at my home, probably my house warming party or something, and I ended up calling up other friends and talked too much… 🙂
Note DUI (driving under influence) is a big problem in the USA. And it’s something one should never do. Because I have Uber duty (mentioned above), I think quitting drinking completely also removes one factor when I am on the duty.
Somewhat related to this: I recall a few years ago, when our older daughter was with the St. Louis Children’s Choirs, the artistic director who is a bit older than me, told the parents of the Concert Choir kids, that we write down her cell phone number and give the number to our kids. The reason is she cares deeply about the kids, and she want the kids to know, they can text or call her anytime, even when the kids are drunk or something. I think I am at this stage of my life too, if any of my family members or friends truly needs urgent help, I can be there.
When I was much younger, note I grew up in China and there was no legal drinking age. I remember a few incidents such as this one (in Chinese), I drunk some wine trying to help me fall into asleep – the results was not very good, I think. Before I was 10, I recall two incidents in which I drunk too much alcohol, and I just went to bed and slept. The other notable drinking time was around time I graduated from college.
I will update this post as time goes. Action is louder than words.
(Update 09-25-2025) I came across this tweet (a very short video) about addiction, and I found it’s helpful. There is a longer both English and Chinese versions here. The talk is actually a Ted Talk – Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong | Johann Hari | TED (YT link here).
If I can extrapolate a bit, I think a lot of times we put too many “artificial” (self-made) constraints around us and thus limiting us to achieve our full potential. I was thinking I did this to myself many times in my life, and probably many friends suffered from similar syndrome too.
Having worked in the IT/software field for almost 25 years, I think it was beneficial to know a few good recruiters, at least it’s something I felt important in the old days in the IT/software industry. Another reason to have recruiters, is because that’s their livelihood and they have incentive to help or work for you.
I still recall Michael Banocy: about 20 years ago, it was probably year 2007 or 2008, I recall he said to me “make sure you have some marketable skills, and then you will be okay”. Although I haven’t worked with Michael directly after that, his words left me impressions. I just realized he retired in recent years. He is probably 15 years senior than me.
The first time I worked with recruiter, it was for a contractor position at Unigroup (2010). Note: I have comments for most of my past employers or clients here, if you are interested. Please note they are by no means comprehensive, it’s just my quick notes and hopefully it benefits people in the future.
I worked with another recruiter in 2012 for another contractor position, about 2 years later after the 1st contractor position. Those 2 plus the earlier position at Unidev, which technically is a contractor position for Union Pacific railroad, are all the contractor positions I had. Btw, I talked about contractor vs employee here. I worked with recruiters after 2012 too, but I believe I found all my positions myself the the exception of my current position, and the Mercy Health position. In both cases, I already know the recruiters because I knew them from working with Technology Partners earlier (2010).
I also worked with recruiters a bit in year 2019 and 2020, when I was working for Ascension, as we were hiring quite a few people at the time.
The best time is now; the second-best time is tomorrow. –anonymous
After 25 years career I finally got an office with windows
Career
Per my age and typical stereotype, I think I am expected to wind down my career in the software field now (my LinkedIn profile here). I understand career is more than a LinkedIn profile or a resume, but here in the USA IT IS one of those things that MATTER, in addition to title, experience and compensation history. Useless or but fun fact: I started my LinkedIn profile in 2008, about 17 years ago.
US companies are mostly snobs, in my not too humble opinions. I mean CEOs or the higher ups, not the average Jane and Joe. Doesn’t matter whatever they say publicly – their mission is making money for the owners, not for employees. This is quite obvious from the recent high-profile layoffs such as Amazon laying off 14,000 back-office people/white collar workers last week.
And I have my favorite quote related to that topic too. When questions by reporters why he took $55 million exit package in 2002, when he was forced out, former CEO of EDS, Electronic Data Systems, Dick Brown famously said: I have an expensive wife. I know I know, I don’t have expensive wife. But I also have two daughters who like to buy things. Or should I ass that they have good taste? 🙂
Sorry a bit off topic 🙂 Last month (Oct 2025) I passed 25 years’ work anniversary in the USA. I started working here on Oct 2nd, 2000. A lot has changed since I started working here. I have seen quite a bit of industry underwent paradigm shift. From the Internet bubble (web 1.0) burst to web 2.0 (remember delicious, Flickr and digg.com?). And now we have web 3.0 and more. My career wise, I changed from working in the CAD software to mostly enterprise web applications, with a bit of consulting and iOS dev in between.
I don’t want to be forced out
I have seen coworkers who are about 50 years old, being laid off, at multiple places. Some of them were caught off guard. I was much younger or a bit younger then. Now I am at that age. And I don’t want to be in their shoes. I have literally seen grownups crying when they got laid off.
Also, right now I felt I can still do some meaningful work. If the time comes that I feel I cannot contribute in a meaningful way, I will just quit.
Re: AI, we all know the AI is causing a lot of disruptions and anxiety among IT/software workers nowadays. But I also believe at least for now, my job is not impacted. And if I can learn those AI tools and they can actually help me doing my job.
How much money is enough
One problem is most of us don’t know the answer to “how much money is enough?”. Or my favorite answer is “a little bit more” (it’s both a joke and also has some truth to it).
But seriously I need to think about this question as the date of retirement is approaching, either I want to face it or not. Some of the things I am thinking about regarding this topic.
1. My retirement is probably going to be different from my parents’ retirement. They have a more traditional retirement. My dad has a pension, and I don’t. And they stopped working completely when they retire. I think I will likely do some work (not too strenuous), for example, I will manage my 401k and IRAs, as well as doing other things I like to do (music, walking outside, does that include swimming??? 🙂 And some social life too (not drinking at the bar, I mean probably I am good enough, I can play music at the bar, again just for fun, not for money 🙂
Do I continue to mow my lawns? If I am health enough and feel like it. If not, I can either outsource it or sell the house and move to a townhouse or condo. Note selling the house will be a joint decision not solely mine.
2. I will probably have some hobbies and some travel. But probably equally important, I need to manage my 401k and IRAs, making sure they have decent return and will last. This is also something my parents don’t do. Sorry I am getting repetitive here – signs of my age and the need to retire 🙂
Still TBD as of 11-03-2025 (JIRA board doesn’t look good in terms of velocity 🙂
I need to calculate how much my 401k and IRAs were earning in last 35 or 10 years or so. If the total earnings (capital gain + dividend) are approaching my take home pay of my day job, that will be a good sign. Obviously, I need to fact into my financial obligations: the big-ticket item will be my kid’s college costs, and it will also be a big unknown because the US higher education industry is very similar to the US healthcare industry in terms of price transparency 🙂 You may read more about the college cost here as I learned last year. Note that’s applicable for the American students only (I assume US citizens and permanent residents, not sure about the children of visa holders), and not for the international students. Consult an expert on this topic, if applicable.
3. When applicable, I am thinking some side hustles including but not limiting to Uber or eBay to make some money and have something to do.
Cannot counting on that for meaningful amount of money though – ideally main income stream should come from investments, as said in this old saying “if you don’t make money when you sleep, you will work until you die.” I for one definitely don’t want to work until I die.
Yesterday (9/14 Sunday, I started writing this blog on 9/15 Monday) was the last day for the outdoor pool at the J Creve Coeur, for this year.
This summer is likely the most I swam in a summer in an outdoor setting.
Growing up I didn’t know how to swim. The main reason is my parents were very much scared that we would drown in the water reservoir which is one or two miles away. The story was two young guys who are probably in their early 20s, went to swimming after a hot working day in the summer, and both of them drowned and died. I am guessing they were probably my dad’s age or slightly younger. I have 2 elder brothers, we played in the water sometimes, but not at the big water reservoir. We played at the brooks in front of our house, and also a small pond in which we can stand without swimming. Only one of my brothers, my little big brother (who is 2 years older than me), learned or taught himself how to swim.
I first learned to swim myself after college, mostly at swimming pools, when I was working in Shanghai. I did learned a few things from other people, here and there. But the most important part is I practice myself, either in the swimming pool, or when I get a chance, in the water park. But my swimming skills were not that great, and my stamina for swimming is not that great either. That lasted for long time, until this summer, as I decided to swim more or longer distances. I think in the past, I usually swim probably 6 laps or 300 yards at the J indoor lap pool. This year, I set my goal higher, and I usually swim 600 yards. I also swam more at the outdoor pool when possible. Keep in mind I talked about the J or JCC here and there, and as you may be able to tell I am a fan of the J.
Also, note I paused swimming for quite a while before this summer. But now I am back.
This summer, at the J outdoor pool, once a boy asked me how to swim. He probably thought that I am a good or a decent swimmer because I was doing lap swimming. I never expected that but it’s definitely made my day as I like to share my knowledge with other people, especially younger folks. I think the boy is 11 years old, just like my younger daughter. Both my girls know how to swim, but they are not big fans of swimming as their dad 🙂
Now I am back to the indoor swimming, and I hope to stick to it until next summer.
I talked about “learning Cantonese” a while ago, in my earlier blog post. There is probably another reason that led me to learn Cantonese and I am not going to disclose for now. But I promise it’s a good reason or motivation factor for me. Hint: this is along the lines of the point 2 I laid out in my earlier blog post 🙂
Back to the learning resources.
First, Duolingo, which I have used for about 180 days now. Duolingo itself is free but you can pay for advanced features. It’s a good way to get feet wet.
Recently I bought a course (mini-program, or 小程序）on WeChat, I learned a tiny bit of Pin’yin so far. I am attaching the screen shots below.
识某文微信小程序
Then I came across this one 粵語網路課堂. This is a self paced online learning course created by 香港中文大學自學中心 the Chinese University at Hong Kong (website, Wikipedia). I haven’t started on this one yet: my expectation is the content here will be good, but in terms of delivery or interactions, the mini-program, or 小程序 above may work better for many people (a bit like Duolingo, mini-program will be more engaging).
Last but not least, this one from Qing’ting FM 📻 app, my old friend.
Note you don’t have to pay to become a member if you don’t need to go back and listen to old podcasts.
In my opinion it’s stupid for me to persuade people to change their political or religious views, or world view for that matter, especially for people over 50 years old.
Also, recently I found out one of my friends in middle school, doesn’t appear to understand a simple thing (the point I was trying to make) I said in the WeChat group. Honestly, I am not surprised.
Last but not least, my latest rant on FB (here is what I said on FB regarding that article/that situation: People are doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different outcomes. What I am saying is, even for the lottery, 99.999999% of the time, one would not win the million dollar jack pot. || That’s the main reason I am retiring from the politics and lottery business. That’s the only way I keep myself sane. || Honestly whenever I saw someone who appears doesn’t have a million dollars in the bank* is buying lottery tickets in stash of cash (not just a $5 bill), I am saying a prayer for the state of the Missouri (the are the lottery authority) and this person’s math teacher. || * I could be wrong estimating people’s wealth – I should not judge people just by their look.)
回到美国的国运。小布什在2000年大选中与克林顿的副总统戈尔打得难解难分。最后打官司，最高法院判定不再无止境地重新数选票：也就是判了小布什赢。但是小布什好像对伊拉克总统萨达姆曾经想刺杀他老爸老布什这件事耿耿于怀。9-11 事件让他正好找到一个借口。他先打的阿富汗，因为当时塔利班给制造9-11的基地组织和本拉登提供庇护。他接着说萨达姆有Weapons of Mass desctrucion. 后来大家发现这纯属于谎言。但是2003年到2011年8年的伊拉克战争其实也是小规模地撕裂了美国。
当时美国参议院投票，77:23 支持小布什去打伊拉克和萨达姆。我记得当时比较有名的民主党美国参议员里面，希拉里，拜登，克里(John Kerry), 爱德华(John Edwards), Joe Lieberman (戈尔2000年总统竞选搭档）等都投了赞成票。投反对票的参议员不多，我记得有西弗吉尼亚州的一个老参议员 Robert Byrd，还有Bernie Sanders, 和伊利诺伊州出来的年轻参议员奥巴马。现在来看，其实奥巴马2008年大选以黑马(no pun intended)的姿态先在党内打败希拉里，然后又在大选中打败共和党的候选人约翰麦卡恩John McCain。这些在2002年关于授权给小布什打伊拉克的投票中已经埋下伏笔。
I don’t want to reiterate what happened after George W Bush. During 2001 to 2009, the W’s presidency, I felt not that good. And I had similar feeling between 2017 and 2021 (and the January 6th made me sick, honestly). Now it’s Trump’s 2nd term, and we all know what happened in last 8 months or so. Basically, the Hispanics (the brown people) were treated horrendously. And not to mention the Korean engineers who came to help the Hyundai plant in Geogia.
September 11 Commission
This is their Wikipedia page. I do recall there were bi-partisan commission, and they did a lot of good work, reflecting what went wrong etc. But this is purely from technicality level, not political level. By that I mean, the people on the commission didn’t examine why the terrorists have so much hate towards America (government and people, not just military). In fact, if you pay a bit attention to that part of the world, the hate is not limited to the hardened terrorists, they are fairly common among ordinary people in some of countries in the middle east and northeastern Africa say Somalia. I remember rewatching this documentary Black Hawk Down last year and can get the sense of hate or resentment towards America. But neither the US government nor the American people pay attention to that, with the recent cut and shutdown of USAid, the work of trying to win heart and minds is totally gone now.
The 9/11 Commission Report identified critical failures in U.S. intelligence, border security, and aviation security, leading to the 9/11 attacks, and proposed a global counterterrorism strategy focused on attacking terrorists, disrupting their support networks, and preventing attacks. It recommended structural reforms to improve government coordination, establish a new Department of Homeland Security, and enhance national security capabilities through improved intelligence sharing, border controls, and cybersecurity measures. Key Failures Identified
Failures of Imagination, Policy, Capabilities, and Management: The report highlights fundamental flaws in how the U.S. government perceived and responded to the terrorist threat before 9/11.
Intelligence and Information Sharing Issues: The intelligence community failed to follow up on potential leads, recognize tampered visa applications, and share information effectively.
Border and Aviation Security Loopholes: The U.S. had permeable borders, weak immigration controls, and inadequate aviation security measures.
Lack of Military Options: Before 9/11, there were limited military options to deal with the evolving terrorist threat, and unsuccessful diplomatic efforts were made to address it.
Inadequate Response Systems: Homeland defense and emergency response systems were not fully developed or effective.
Key Recommendations
Global Strategy Against Terrorism:The report called for a coherent strategy that included attacking terrorists, disrupting their financing and operations, and preventing future attacks.
Strengthening Homeland Security:It recommended creating a unified homeland security system, including the establishment of a new Department of Homeland Security.
Improved Intelligence Community Management:The report suggested organizational changes to enhance intelligence, including better human resource development and the establishment of a central security coordination body.
Enhanced Border and Immigration Security:Specific recommendations included implementing a comprehensive biometric entry-exit screening system and setting standards for identification documents to control travel and prevent terrorism.
Strengthened Aviation Security:This included improving profiling systems, developing a robust “no-fly” list, and improving security in other parts of the transportation system.
Protecting Civil Liberties:The report called for safeguards for privacy and civil liberties within new security systems and recommended a board within the executive branch to oversee adherence to these guidelines.
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我自己的一点想法
But at the same time, what do I care? I have lived in this country since 1997 and worked since 2000, and our two kids were born and grew up here and they are Americans (US citizens). I am in middle 50s and I think I have done my part on many things in life, and now I like to step back on many things that could potentially make me unhappy: this include my 9 to 5 day job, as well as the US politics. I am doing something fun now, from swimming, to learning music (guitar and piano) and so on.
I think I am going to live outside the USA for a few years after my retirement. But in my crummy years I will probably stay reasonably close to my kids and that probably means USA.
Update 09-26-2025: she is back safe and sound and we asked her this boring question: did you miss us? …… based on the feedback, we think she is ready for some sleep away summer camp next summer 🙂
(Original 09-10-2025) 再过一个礼拜，下礼拜三我们家小宝（潇宝）就要第一次离开爸爸妈妈，和她的六年级小朋友们，老师们，以及Ladue 高中的大哥哥大姐姐counselor 们去大概80公里以外的 Camp Mihaska 宿营两个晚上。The 6th graders camp has been a Ladue Middle School tradition since year 1977 – when I was 6 years old. I believe not many this school year’s LMS 6th graders parents were born yet, my wife included 🙂
我又想到老爸我自己18岁高中毕业去武汉上大学：一个人背着行李从上海的十六铺码头走上长江轮，跟我的爸爸和姑父挥手告别。后来又在大学毕业四年以后从上海独自来美留学。我记得来美之前的那个晚上没睡着：因为我不确定美国到底是个怎么样的地方？|| 从父母的角度我常听说”儿（女）行千里母担忧”。我想做父亲也一样：只是我们中国的传统文化里还有”男儿有泪不轻弹”。那父亲也就最好不要表现会外露自己的真实感情了。我自己的经验和观察是有不少父亲也是担忧的或弹眼泪的（或者把眼泪留在眼眶里？）。可怜天下父母心：虽然我现在已年过半百，在我的老母亲那里，我可能还是那个12岁就去镇海中学读书的小孩。比如说她会担心我下午两三点到上海，有地方吃饭吗？找的到旅馆吗？等等。昨天我小女儿就跟我说接送她去学校的事，我跟她开玩笑说：I want to hold you (我要把你抱起来）。她说No, but we can hug. Best of the luck in the road ahead, my baby girl. Dad always loves you.
Enterprise Mobility (EM，formerly Enterprise Holdings Inc，or EHI), private owned by the Taylor family in St. Louis。村里一般叫Enterprise. Enterprise 我是二进宫：2013年做短期合同工，现在（从2021年夏天开始）迄今做employee。
Mercy Health: 2nd largest hospital in St. Louis area
Ascension Health: 2nd largest hospital chain in the USA, behind Kaiser Permanente
举个油水被榨干的具体例子：主要是 on-call 相关的。我有一些博客文章提到 on-call, 比如这个 Sleep – go to “Pager Support (On-call)”. 我记得有一个礼拜六晚上，是production deployment (release), 我是 lead biz op engineer, a fancier word for SRE, stands for Site Reliability Engineer, or production support engineer. 结果因为一个certificate 过期，找能生成 certificate 的人等了一晚上，到拂晓才弄到新的 cert, 完成 deployment. 一夜基本没睡。
在万事达卡公司，我大概有两年多在 on call rotation. 除了有时候真的有production issue, or product release, 或者说真的有事，或做事。On call 其实有两方面的额外压力：
I found out the lesson via hard way, that at 养老公司, sometimes we encounter nice but extremely incompetent people: and that could mess up things and cause issues. I talked a bit here in my earlier blog post, under “Lesson learned“, if you are interested.
Last but not the least: 不管在哪里，养老或非养老公司，自己千万不要卷自己，老板不榨你油水，结果你把自己的油水榨榨干。你还别笑：这种傻事yours truly 也做过的😂
My point – try to spend as much time as possible with the people you like and doing the things you enjoy. Because life is short – even if one lives to 100 🙂
