Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Booms, Busts, and Recoveries -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: smolejv@gmx.net who wrote (39962)	10/22/2003 8:58:28 AM
From: Chas.	Respond to of 74559

Coneheads for #1 followed up by Alpha Centurions #2(the guys with the aluminum foil hats)after that we have Hispanics, African Americans,Indians (push me and pull yous), Orthodox Jews, and it goes on and on..... hope this helps

To: smolejv@gmx.net who wrote (39962)	10/22/2003 11:58:53 AM
From: RealMuLan	Respond to of 74559

Hispanic? I honestly don't know<g> But I think there are also plenty of Jewish people, Asians, Russian mafia<g>

To: smolejv@gmx.net who wrote (39962)	10/22/2003 11:13:42 PM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 74559

Dolinar: Germany extends green card for 15,000 IT experts to 2004 The German government is extending its green card programme for IT specialists until the end of 2004, when a new immigration law is expected to regulate work and residency permits for highly qualified, non-European Union workers seeking employment in the country. The green card programme, which was scheduled to finish at the end of this month, will allow more than 15,000 cardholders, largely from India and Eastern Europe, to remain in Germany through the end of next year. After that deadline, the left-of-centre government of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder hopes to replace the green card initiative - introduced as an interim solution to remedy an acute shortage of software and network engineers - with a more broadly defined immigration policy. "Under the proposed new law, highly trained workers not only from the IT sector but also from all other sectors will be able to work and live in Germany without a time limit," said a spokeswoman from the Federal Ministry of the Interior. By comparison, the green card targeted IT professionals only and granted them permission to work in Germany for a set period of time. In August 2000, the German government introduced the US-style green card to lure IT talent into the country and help overcome a growing deficit of skilled computer professionals in local companies. At that time, the skill shortage was particularly acute among programmers and software developers. Even though the IT and telecom sectors in Germany have been affected by the global economic downturn, the country is still need of computer and networking experts, albeit at a noticeably lower level than over the past two years, according to Germany's main IT industry association, the Bundesverband Informationswirtschaft, Telekommunikation und neue Medien (BITKOM). "The high-tech sector has definitely been hit by the economic slump and some green card holders have been affected by layoffs and bankruptcies, but many companies continue to struggle to find qualified IT professionals, especially in the area of IT security," said an association spokesman. "Believe it or not, Germany has only one professor specialised in this area." A survey conducted by BITKOM in June revealed that around 12.5% of the companies polled were unable to find the right people to fill their IT job openings, compared with 41.3% for the same period in 2002 and 45.6% the year before, the association said. Around 60% of the green card holders are employed in companies with less than 100 employees. Now some news to make the Indians salivate at the prospects of mor ejobs moving there!!! Fewer students opt for IT courses A significant fall in the number of applications for university IT courses has left hundreds of computer-related courses up for grabs in the clearing system. Applications for computer science courses this year were down 12% from the previous year, although the number of IT-based courses rose from 1,385 to 1,570. At the time of writing around 80% of university IT courses had vacancies. University IT courses break down into four subject areas: computer science, information systems, software engineering and artificial intelligence. Applications for all of these courses are thought to be down on last year. Signs that students are shunning technology courses comes as the IT industry struggles under its worst downturn for 10 years. Over the past few years companies have shed thousands of IT staff and consultants and trimmed back investment in new projects. However, David Roberts, chairman of corporate forum TIF, said that the drop in applications for IT courses was unlikely to be linked to the downturn in the market. He suggested that main problem was that IT lacked the status of other more established careers. "It could be the case that IT is not seen as a profession in the same way as accounting or engineering, and we should look at elevating IT and getting recognition as a profession," he said. Meanwhile, GCSE results out today showed that the number of candidates gaining grades A-C passes in IT was down fractionally (less than 1%) on the previous year. However, more than of candidates gained an A-C.