Things to do while on Bench Network: Keep a sharp look out for jobs Visit job sites like assureconsulting.com, monster.com regularly Join Immigrant support forums. Update your skills: ERP, CRM, Asic UNIX and C, C++. Microsoft.net are hot. Research your company before joining so you don't land in a bigger soup.

Techie: Who are you?

Ragpicker: Saab main kachchra uthane wala (I am the garbage picker)

Techie: You people do not have a life. Look I have a car, two flats and lots of money. What do you have?

Ragpicker: Saab gaadi bangla to nahin hai, par mere pas kam hai (Sir, I have work)

he bizarrely ironic world view enclosed in the sub-text of this rather ingenuous dialogue underscores the plight of US-based middle and low-end programmers. The downturn in the US economy and massive cutbacks in jobs has shocked Indian techies, who regardless of their skill sets and experience were accustomed to being hard-won trophies at the end of fierce global bid wars for hi-tech talent. Riding high on the dot-com wave, six months earlier (last October to be precise), the tech sector lobbied heavily to increase this year's H-1B quota to 1,95,000 from 1,10,000. An industry clamouring for H-1B workers required programmers to design web pages, write code, troubleshoot and install networks. The dotcom meltdown, the battering of shares on Nasdaq, the cut in capital spending by 20 per cent in the last quarter and the slowdown in IT investment has triggered a downward spiral in the US economy. Low and mid-level programmers imported by US body-shoppers to subcontract to companies are now bleeding. Although hard statistics are unavailable, anecdotal evidence suggests that approximately 20 per cent of H-1B programmers in this category are on the Bench, tech parlance for engineer's in-between projects. 

The skidding US economy has shattered hopes of these programmers for whom the US symbolised a tech utopia, spectacular career growth and astronomical salaries. The dream has now turned into a veritable nightmare, as the industry reins in its recruitment overdrive and in a cost-cutting spree sheds flab, which ninety per cent of tech companies define as low-skilled contract workers who do not possess adequate experience. For instance, Cisco recently announced that it would terminate 2,500 to 3,000 jobs. All the workers were on contract employment. This is not the only instance of proof of a tightening job market and an increasing selectiveness in hiring. The costs have been particularly high for H-1B workers trained in VB, Web application and Java skills who were lured to the US with ready work and salaries $55,000 a year. The collapse of dotcoms, the biggest hirers of web-application skills have rendered possibilities of finding work virtually nil. Similarly, Java programmers, who a few months back, could command up to $75 to $80 an hour are now finding it difficult to get work even at $40 an hour. The jobs have simply dried up. Despairing messages on the immigrant support network forum, seeking help from body shoppers, who have shifted techies to the US but have not placed them, abound. Mona, a Java professional with two years experience, laments: "I can't seem to get any job in Detriot after getting my H-1B since three months. I don't receive any money for my Bench because they say (i.e, the employer) they will give Bench money only after you get one project." (sic)

Certain unscrupulous body shoppers, who mushroomed in the mid-Nineties, to capitalise on the job market are compounding the agony of workers in these difficult times. Fuelled by dreams of earning $55,000 annually, many of these so-called consultants are not earning even a minimal allowance, while they wait for employers to sub-contract them on projects. Consider the case of this despairing H-1B worker: "I am out of contract and want to change employers, since the one I have is very bad. He doesn't pay me a salary. Under the new Bill, is it possible to transfer H-1Bs, even if I haven't been working in the US? Some people tell me that I need a pay stub to prove that I have been working for my current H-1B-sponsor. Is this true! If that is a fact, I will travel back to India where you at least get paid." 

Many of these unwitting victims, although aware of US Department of Labour law, decreeing Bench beyond a period of 30 days illegal, are helpless. Completely at the mercy of their employers in a foreign country and with few friends to turn to, techies with low-end skills are now being treated as use and throw commodities. These H-1B programmers have few options. They either abandon the American Dream or return to India or take salary cuts and low salaries and update their skills. Although 10 to 20 per cent of people on the Bench are returning, not surprisingly the majority of them have decided to weather the storm rather than turn back. In the worst of times, the US offers an opportunity to earn $1,500 a month, the salary techies in India earn in the best of times. In the latest Assure poll, 56 per cent of the respondents said they would still consider US a hot destination, despite the flurry of lay-offs. In addition, high-end jobs have been unaffected. There is demand for workers skilled in advanced technologies like embedded systems, Asic, Microsoft.net, Bluetooth, CRM tools, C, C++ and VC++ on Unix. Many body shoppers are urging workers to update their skills. Although bitterly disillusioned and angry, many of these techies have displaying amazing resilience and survival skills by ploughing on to make the American Dream a reality. 

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