This phenomenon really frustrates me on behalf of my peers. I'm not sure what the right answer is, but anecdotally I've observed many others struggle to get their first jobs in tech, while, meanwhile, I am mostly being assigned to interview people who require visa sponsorship. Most of my referrals for my low YOE peers are rejected before the recruiter call. I have observed this at both very-big tech and my current medium-sized tech company.

I have also observed that on my team, more than half of the people are either currently on immigrant visas or were previously on immigrant visas. Just to be absolutely clear—these people are great, and I don't fault them or hold any ill will for them having coming here to work.

At the same time, it seems that most hiring is done at the mid and senior level. If we only hire senior talent and rely on immigrant visa labor to fill these ranks, where exactly is each subsequent generation of seniors supposed to come from? I feel there should be some requirements in place to ensure that companies aren't perpetuating this shortage by hiring very few domestic workers at the entry level.