Letter from Silicon Valley
10/1998
There has been much discussion about the advisability of letting in more foreign engineers to work in American high-tech companies. Here is a report from an American engineer who wishes to remain anonymous.
Reality has set in: I will have to leave California. The situation here is beyond what I can tolerate. I cannot work in an all-foreign environment, where I have nothing in common with anyone, where every communication with co-workers is strained and difficult. I’m not just a worker, I’m a human being. As soon as I walked in the door, I got on the phone to a high-tech recruiter. I told her, “Help me to get out of this place as soon as possible.”
It’s too bad, because I love California. While growing up in the Midwest and attending college in another part of the country, I dreamed of coming here. Now I realize it’s not part of the United States anymore, and I’m being pushed out.
I’m just one person in the large stream of American engineers who have left or are planning to leave. A co-worker at my last company is transferring to the company branch in Austin, Texas. His sole reason, which he made clear to everyone in our department, was to work in an environment “that doesn’t have so many immigrants.” He’ll be a loss to the Silicon Valley office because of his excellent technical abilities.