T
Tom Joad
Guest
Actually, this doesn't just apply to Synopsys, all of the big EDA
companies are sending jobs offshore now.
It goes without saying that Silicon Valley is expensive. It's an
expensive place to live and an expensive place to do business.
Because it's an expensive place to live, companies have to pay more to
their employees there so they can afford to live there.
The simplistic answer we're getting from the corporations these days
is "We've got to offshore jobs to save money so we can compete because
everyone is doing it.". Of course the premise of this argument is
debatable in itself: are they saving money on salaries and losing in
productivity or do they simply think they're going to make it up in
volume (of employees). But even if the overseas engineers are not as
experienced as their US counterparts, they soon will be - might take a
few years, but they will be. So we're not only going to see jobs and
money leave the US (salaries not paid here means no taxes for
Fed/State/local governments paid by employees - this is the main
reason most states are coming up short on revenue not because tax
rates are too low, but I digress.) but also knowledge and experience.
US engineers will not be able to keep up their skillsets on their own
and soon they'll lag behind.
Given that the major EDA companies are very much engineering companies
and are based in the US we might hope that they would have some
loyalty to the US. So how about other ideas for saving money? As was
noted above, Silicon Valley is expensive. Apparently Synopsys has a
rather large empty office building on their Oregon campus. Why not
move most of their engineering up to Oregon? The expense for office
space would seem to be much lower there and over a period of a few
years salaries could be allowed to match the lower salaries of that
area. I even hear you can get a very decent house up there for around
$200K. I'm sure that one of the arguments would be that employees may
not want to move, but given the increase in standard of living for the
dollar I suspect many would be very eager to relocate. And of course,
it beats the alternative of having your job sent over to India.
Believe me, being unemployed in the Valley quickly drains all your
savings.
Of course Synopsys isn't the only EDA company that could save money
this way and thus avoid at least some offshoring. Cadence, for
example, could do something similar. I believe Mentor Graphics
already has their headquarters out of the Valley (also in Oregon?) so
they may not be able to save much, but there are also some large
Mentor Graphics sites in the Valley.
Lots of engineers who haven't lost their jobs yet are getting nervous.
Those who have are getting mighty angry about offshoring. There are
more and more stories about offshoring in the mainstream news. The
political mood would seem to turning against the practice. If you big
corporations could avoid it, it might do you some good. We've already
lost manufacturing. Let's not lose engineering, if that happens the
US will cease to be a technology leader. And if that happens, how
long till the US falls to third world status?
Tom Joad
companies are sending jobs offshore now.
It goes without saying that Silicon Valley is expensive. It's an
expensive place to live and an expensive place to do business.
Because it's an expensive place to live, companies have to pay more to
their employees there so they can afford to live there.
The simplistic answer we're getting from the corporations these days
is "We've got to offshore jobs to save money so we can compete because
everyone is doing it.". Of course the premise of this argument is
debatable in itself: are they saving money on salaries and losing in
productivity or do they simply think they're going to make it up in
volume (of employees). But even if the overseas engineers are not as
experienced as their US counterparts, they soon will be - might take a
few years, but they will be. So we're not only going to see jobs and
money leave the US (salaries not paid here means no taxes for
Fed/State/local governments paid by employees - this is the main
reason most states are coming up short on revenue not because tax
rates are too low, but I digress.) but also knowledge and experience.
US engineers will not be able to keep up their skillsets on their own
and soon they'll lag behind.
Given that the major EDA companies are very much engineering companies
and are based in the US we might hope that they would have some
loyalty to the US. So how about other ideas for saving money? As was
noted above, Silicon Valley is expensive. Apparently Synopsys has a
rather large empty office building on their Oregon campus. Why not
move most of their engineering up to Oregon? The expense for office
space would seem to be much lower there and over a period of a few
years salaries could be allowed to match the lower salaries of that
area. I even hear you can get a very decent house up there for around
$200K. I'm sure that one of the arguments would be that employees may
not want to move, but given the increase in standard of living for the
dollar I suspect many would be very eager to relocate. And of course,
it beats the alternative of having your job sent over to India.
Believe me, being unemployed in the Valley quickly drains all your
savings.
Of course Synopsys isn't the only EDA company that could save money
this way and thus avoid at least some offshoring. Cadence, for
example, could do something similar. I believe Mentor Graphics
already has their headquarters out of the Valley (also in Oregon?) so
they may not be able to save much, but there are also some large
Mentor Graphics sites in the Valley.
Lots of engineers who haven't lost their jobs yet are getting nervous.
Those who have are getting mighty angry about offshoring. There are
more and more stories about offshoring in the mainstream news. The
political mood would seem to turning against the practice. If you big
corporations could avoid it, it might do you some good. We've already
lost manufacturing. Let's not lose engineering, if that happens the
US will cease to be a technology leader. And if that happens, how
long till the US falls to third world status?
Tom Joad