The latest articles on Forem by realberry (@realberry). https://forem.com/realberry https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3770078%2Ff99fc621-3e83-4070-aba2-3d7b96bd2393.jpg https://forem.com/realberry en realberry Mon, 02 Mar 2026 01:02:59 +0000 https://forem.com/realberry/i-built-a-tool-to-find-your-h1b-wage-level-by-zip-code-openh1borg-48fm https://forem.com/realberry/i-built-a-tool-to-find-your-h1b-wage-level-by-zip-code-openh1borg-48fm <h1> Building a fast H1B search engine with DuckDB </h1> <p>Hey devs,</p> <p>I'm excited to share a project I've been working on recently - a fast and clean H1B search engine called <a href="https://openh1b.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">OpenH1B.org</a>. As someone who's dealt with slow government databases and ad-heavy sites, I wanted to create a better alternative for finding honest H1B data.</p> <p>To make this project a reality, I used a combination of Python and DuckDB, a columnar database that allows for fast querying and indexing of large datasets. Here's a high-level overview of the tech stack and architecture:</p> <ul> <li> <strong>Data Ingestion</strong>: I used Python scripts to process over 546,000 certified H1B records.</li> <li> <strong>Data Storage</strong>: I used <strong>DuckDB</strong> and <strong>Parquet</strong> for fast analytical processing, with <strong>SQLite</strong> for transactional metadata.</li> <li> <strong>Performance</strong>: Optimized for <strong>200+ QPS on a 4-core ARM VPS</strong>.</li> <li> <strong>Frontend</strong>: I used a minimal HTML/CSS/JS frontend to keep it lighweight and fast.</li> </ul> <p>Some key features of the project include:</p> <ul> <li> <strong>Wage Levels by ZIP</strong>: Users can search by ZIP code to find the official DOL Wage Levels (I-IV) for their specific role.</li> <li> <strong>Real-time Market Pulse</strong>: The homepage features a real-time feed of the latest 100 certifications, providing insight into current market trends.</li> <li> <strong>Dedicated Rankings</strong>: I built dedicated rankings for Top Hospitals and Law Firms, where median salaries often exceed $200k-$500k+.</li> </ul> <p>In terms of performance, I'm proud to say that the site loads in under a second, even on mobile devices. I achieved this by optimizing the database queries, using caching, and minimizing the number of requests to the server.</p> <p>I'm still fine-tuning the search functionality, so I'd love to hear your feedback. Does the ZIP code lookup accurately match your area? Check out the site at <a href="https://openh1b.org" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://openh1b.org</a> and let me know what you think!</p> <h1> h1b #data #python #career #visa </h1> python data career webdev