This IT retraining money is more than a distraction, it's a deliberate charade.
While the legislators may believe the stories about lack of training, the real issue is the lack of US entry level
Java and .net jobs for programmers who already have the knowledge.
I say deliberate charade because few of the IT executives peddling this nonsense in Congress learned their
most recent language and platform software in a class, they learned from books and quickly switched over on the job. The tough certification exams available from Sun, Microsoft, Oracle, etc., prescreen applicants and reduce the time required for technical interviews. It doesn't take years for an experienced programmer to come up to speed in a new language, it takes a few months. Besides, Java programmers don't start out as enterprise architects with the deepest possible understanding of OOP principles.
Many US companies are thoroughly hooked on low-wage, low-medical-expense, never-make-trouble H1B workers. They think it's the best thing since indentured servitude. It's up to Congress to cut them off cold turkey by cutting the H1B quota and unchaining existing H1B workers by giving them Green
Cards.
Then we'll see plenty of US entry-level Java jobs on monster.com.
BTW, the threat to off-shore jobs in the absence of H1B's is more nonsense. The programming jobs left in the US are the ones that, by their nature, are unsuitable for off-shoring. If the employers could have shipped those jobs to Asia, they would have.
[ February 12, 2005: Message edited by: Mike Gershman ]