Business Week has an article on the state of the Technology sector job market.  Good news for Engineers in that area- “Unable to find enough U.S. citizens for tech jobs, U.S. companies scoop up as many foreign nationals as they can using the limited pool of H-1B work visas issued by the federal government each year.”

Have a read here.

A tourist walked into a pet shop and was looking at the animals on display. While he was there, another customer walked in and said to the shopkeeper, “I’ll have a CAD monkey please.” 

The shopkeeper nodded, went over to a cage at the side of the shop and took out a monkey. He fitted a collar and leash, handed it to the customer, saying, “That’ll be $5000.”   

The customer paid and walked out with his monkey. 

Startled, the tourist went over to the shopkeeper and said, “That was a very expensive monkey. Most of them are only few hundred dollars. Why did that one cost so much?”   

The Shopkeeper answered, “Ah, that monkey can draw in AutoCAD - very fast, clear layouts, no mistakes, well worth the money.” 

The tourist looked at a monkey in another cage. “That one’s even more expensive! $10,000! What does it do?”

“Oh, that one’s a Design monkey; it can design systems, layout projects, mark-up drawings, write specifications, some even calculate. All the really useful stuff,” said the shopkeeper. 

The tourist looked around for a little longer and saw a third monkey in a cage of its own. The price tag around its neck read $50,000. He gasped to the shopkeeper, “That one costs more than all the others put together! What on earth does it do?” 

The shopkeeper replied, “Well, I haven’t actually seen it do anything, but it says it’s an Engineer.”