Where to move for an embedded software engineer.

[no one]

I assume the bay area is number one for embedded software engineers,
but where else are the big markets, as companies run from califoria taxes.

Denver, CO - Does big population mean high tech?
Phoenix, AZ - Sun birds.
Albuquerque, NM - Sun birds, ballon festival.
Salt Lake City, UT - Mormons, big population.
Portland, OR - Big population.
Seattle, WA - All those ex-Microsofties starting companies.

Which of these are go, or no-go?

And if the bay area is it, where in the bay area?

 

[hamilton]

On 12/9/2012 6:04 PM, no one wrote:

I assume the bay area is number one for embedded software engineers,
but where else are the big markets, as companies run from califoria taxes.

Denver, CO - Does big population mean high tech?
Phoenix, AZ - Sun birds.
Albuquerque, NM - Sun birds, ballon festival.
Salt Lake City, UT - Mormons, big population.
Portland, OR - Big population.
Seattle, WA - All those ex-Microsofties starting companies.

Which of these are go, or no-go?

And if the bay area is it, where in the bay area?

I see by your list, you are not going East of the Miss.

Embedded Software Engineers is no longer a term of embedded processor
engineers.

Everyone uses it anymore, so you really need to be specific about _your_
definition of embedded engineer.

As this is an FPGA newsgroup, do you mean Embedded FPGA engineer ?

Do you mean assembly language / C language Embedded Engineer ?

hamilton

PS: Don't Come to Denver, we have too many UN-employed engineers already.

 

[David Brown]

On 10/12/2012 02:04, no one wrote:

I assume the bay area is number one for embedded software engineers,
but where else are the big markets, as companies run from califoria taxes.

Denver, CO - Does big population mean high tech?
Phoenix, AZ - Sun birds.
Albuquerque, NM - Sun birds, ballon festival.
Salt Lake City, UT - Mormons, big population.
Portland, OR - Big population.
Seattle, WA - All those ex-Microsofties starting companies.

Which of these are go, or no-go?

And if the bay area is it, where in the bay area?

This is an international group, not an American group - "the bay area"
is meaningless outside your country.

And since the world extends a long way outside the USA, have you
considered moving abroad? Certainly Norway has a great shortage of
engineers.

 

[Gabor]

David Brown wrote:

On 10/12/2012 02:04, no one wrote:
I assume the bay area is number one for embedded software engineers,
but where else are the big markets, as companies run from califoria
taxes.

Denver, CO - Does big population mean high tech?
Phoenix, AZ - Sun birds.
Albuquerque, NM - Sun birds, ballon festival.
Salt Lake City, UT - Mormons, big population.
Portland, OR - Big population.
Seattle, WA - All those ex-Microsofties starting companies.

Which of these are go, or no-go?

And if the bay area is it, where in the bay area?


This is an international group, not an American group - "the bay area"
is meaningless outside your country.

It's meaningless in most of the USA also. I used to live in the
"bay area" on the "west coast" - Tampa, FL...

And since the world extends a long way outside the USA, have you
considered moving abroad? Certainly Norway has a great shortage of
engineers.

Have you considered looking for a job first, and then deciding where
to move? In this economy, that would seem a sounder approach.

-- Gabor

 

[no one]

In article <ka3e4a$vab$1@dont-email.me>,
hamilton <hamilton@nothere.com> wrote:

On 12/9/2012 6:04 PM, no one wrote:
I assume the bay area is number one for embedded software engineers,
but where else are the big markets, as companies run from califoria taxes.

Denver, CO - Does big population mean high tech?
Phoenix, AZ - Sun birds.
Albuquerque, NM - Sun birds, ballon festival.
Salt Lake City, UT - Mormons, big population.
Portland, OR - Big population.
Seattle, WA - All those ex-Microsofties starting companies.

Which of these are go, or no-go?

And if the bay area is it, where in the bay area?

I find I must specify the California bay area, picky, picky, picky.

I see by your list, you are not going East of the Miss.

Correct.

Embedded Software Engineers is no longer a term of embedded processor
engineers.

Everyone uses it anymore, so you really need to be specific about _your_
definition of embedded engineer.

As this is an FPGA newsgroup, do you mean Embedded FPGA engineer ?

No, I just happen to lurk here as the posts are interesting.

Do you mean assembly language / C language Embedded Engineer ?

Correct, and this group seemed to cover software as well as hardware,
though a few think not. If anyone would nominate a non-dead more software
embedded newsgroup I will gladly go take a look.

With the exception of C++ groups, fringe freaks debating broken ideas
do not excite me.

PS: Don't Come to Denver, we have too many UN-employed engineers already.

I have scoped out Denver a little and each of the suburb cities seems to
have a major high tech company. On the downside last time I drove
through I found the traffic to be horrible. Denver is so big I would
have to pick a sub-city as the commute is to long, same as California.

All those places I listed (except the bay area) would allow me to engage
my geology hobby on the weekends.

 

[David Brown]

On 12/12/2012 05:52, no one wrote:

In article <ka3e4a$vab$1@dont-email.me>,
As this is an FPGA newsgroup, do you mean Embedded FPGA engineer ?

No, I just happen to lurk here as the posts are interesting.

That's why I am here too. I have only done a little FPGA (or CPLD)
development, but sometimes threads here can be very interesting. I've
learned a lot about high-speed digital design from this group over the
years, and it applies to processor-based boards just as well as to FPGA
boards.

Do you mean assembly language / C language Embedded Engineer ?

Correct, and this group seemed to cover software as well as hardware,
though a few think not. If anyone would nominate a non-dead more software
embedded newsgroup I will gladly go take a look.

That would be comp.arch.embedded. It is not software-only, but that is
certainly a common topic.

mvh.,

David

 

[scrts]

And since the world extends a long way outside the USA, have you
considered moving abroad? Certainly Norway has a great shortage of
engineers.

Really? Where can I search for job listings?

 

[Tim Wescott]

On Tue, 11 Dec 2012 22:52:17 -0600, no one wrote:

In article <ka3e4a$vab$1@dont-email.me>,
hamilton <hamilton@nothere.com> wrote:

On 12/9/2012 6:04 PM, no one wrote:
I assume the bay area is number one for embedded software engineers,
but where else are the big markets, as companies run from califoria
taxes.

Denver, CO - Does big population mean high tech? Phoenix, AZ - Sun
birds.
Albuquerque, NM - Sun birds, ballon festival. Salt Lake City, UT -
Mormons, big population. Portland, OR - Big population.
Seattle, WA - All those ex-Microsofties starting companies.

Which of these are go, or no-go?

And if the bay area is it, where in the bay area?

I find I must specify the California bay area, picky, picky, picky.

I see by your list, you are not going East of the Miss.

Correct.

Embedded Software Engineers is no longer a term of embedded processor
engineers.

Everyone uses it anymore, so you really need to be specific about
_your_ definition of embedded engineer.

As this is an FPGA newsgroup, do you mean Embedded FPGA engineer ?

No, I just happen to lurk here as the posts are interesting.

Do you mean assembly language / C language Embedded Engineer ?

Correct, and this group seemed to cover software as well as hardware,
though a few think not. If anyone would nominate a non-dead more
software embedded newsgroup I will gladly go take a look.

With the exception of C++ groups, fringe freaks debating broken ideas do
not excite me.

PS: Don't Come to Denver, we have too many UN-employed engineers
already.

I have scoped out Denver a little and each of the suburb cities seems to
have a major high tech company. On the downside last time I drove
through I found the traffic to be horrible. Denver is so big I would
have to pick a sub-city as the commute is to long, same as California.

All those places I listed (except the bay area) would allow me to engage
my geology hobby on the weekends.

comp.arch.embedded is active, on-topic, and usually has many interesting
threads.

Dallas and Austin both have a lot of high tech. LA and San Diego have
some automotive and industrial, and lots of defense stuff.

Embedded is everywhere. If you're really pretty agnostic about where you
want to work, I'd suggest that you just move to the first job you find
(and in this economy, don't settle down: consider renting and not buying
much stuff that's hard to move 1000 miles).

Pay close attention to cost of living: I had a friend from the Portland
(OR) area who went to work at a company in Silicon Valley at a pay rate
that astonished him, only to discover after he had moved that the cost of
rent and food and damn near everything else is astonishing, too -- he
soon found a gig in Seattle for way less pay and higher net return. This
cuts both ways: a pay rate that sucks in Portland (and is in the sub-
basements in San Jose) may get you ahead in the long run if the job is in
Missoula.

Even though you specifically mention not looking east of the Mississippi,
you should take a second look at the east coast. Massachusetts has tons
of high-tech along the 128 corridor, and even more work scattered up and
down I-495. There's plenty of high-tech in New Hampshire, to boot. If
you don't mind Military, there's tons of work to be had in the various
Washington DC outer suburbs, and the southeast is coming on strong. I'm
sure I'm leaving out something here, but you get the idea.

If you like your geology flat, there's always the Midwest: anything
automotive (and I mean _anything_: cars, tractors, railway, etc.) needs
lots of embedded, and it's all concentrated around the great lakes.

It's not a bad idea if you do settle down to try to scope out where the
work is concentrated, and try to center yourself in the area (or if you
want to live out of town a bit, go for "center-rural"). Settling right
next to work is great until you have to change jobs. Settling in the
middle of a 30-minute-drive-to-anywhere spot works well when things
change, or when the spouse gets a job, too.

--
My liberal friends think I'm a conservative kook.
My conservative friends think I'm a liberal kook.
Why am I not happy that they have found common ground?

Tim Wescott, Communications, Control, Circuits & Software
http://www.wescottdesign.com

 

[hamilton]

On 12/12/2012 11:32 AM, Tim Wescott wrote:

comp.arch.embedded is active, on-topic, and usually has many interesting
threads.

If you visit comp.arch.embedded, be aware of the (right/left) wing
crackpot that live there.

"interesting threads" is an understatement !!

 

[Les Cargill]

Tim Wescott wrote:

On Tue, 11 Dec 2012 22:52:17 -0600, no one wrote:

In article <ka3e4a$vab$1@dont-email.me>,
hamilton <hamilton@nothere.com> wrote:

On 12/9/2012 6:04 PM, no one wrote:
I assume the bay area is number one for embedded software engineers,
but where else are the big markets, as companies run from califoria
taxes.

Denver, CO - Does big population mean high tech? Phoenix, AZ - Sun
birds.
Albuquerque, NM - Sun birds, ballon festival. Salt Lake City, UT -
Mormons, big population. Portland, OR - Big population.
Seattle, WA - All those ex-Microsofties starting companies.

Which of these are go, or no-go?

And if the bay area is it, where in the bay area?

I find I must specify the California bay area, picky, picky, picky.

I see by your list, you are not going East of the Miss.

Correct.

Embedded Software Engineers is no longer a term of embedded processor
engineers.

Everyone uses it anymore, so you really need to be specific about
_your_ definition of embedded engineer.

As this is an FPGA newsgroup, do you mean Embedded FPGA engineer ?

No, I just happen to lurk here as the posts are interesting.

Do you mean assembly language / C language Embedded Engineer ?

Correct, and this group seemed to cover software as well as hardware,
though a few think not. If anyone would nominate a non-dead more
software embedded newsgroup I will gladly go take a look.

With the exception of C++ groups, fringe freaks debating broken ideas do
not excite me.

PS: Don't Come to Denver, we have too many UN-employed engineers
already.

I have scoped out Denver a little and each of the suburb cities seems to
have a major high tech company. On the downside last time I drove
through I found the traffic to be horrible. Denver is so big I would
have to pick a sub-city as the commute is to long, same as California.

All those places I listed (except the bay area) would allow me to engage
my geology hobby on the weekends.

comp.arch.embedded is active, on-topic, and usually has many interesting
threads.

Dallas and Austin both have a lot of high tech.

Dallas has this endless supply of 3 month Java contracts, so it's
at least something, but there's not a lot of embedded work.

Something's gone horribly wrong in Dallas. Can't put my finger on it.

LA and San Diego have
some automotive and industrial, and lots of defense stuff.

Embedded is everywhere. If you're really pretty agnostic about where you
want to work, I'd suggest that you just move to the first job you find
(and in this economy, don't settle down: consider renting and not buying
much stuff that's hard to move 1000 miles).

+1. You can move a lot of stuff surprisingly cheap these days.

Pay close attention to cost of living: I had a friend from the Portland
(OR) area who went to work at a company in Silicon Valley at a pay rate
that astonished him, only to discover after he had moved that the cost of
rent and food and damn near everything else is astonishing, too-- he
soon found a gig in Seattle for way less pay and higher net return. This
cuts both ways: a pay rate that sucks in Portland (and is in the sub-
basements in San Jose) may get you ahead in the long run if the job is in
Missoula.

Even though you specifically mention not looking east of the Mississippi,
you should take a second look at the east coast. Massachusetts has tons
of high-tech along the 128 corridor, and even more work scattered up and
down I-495. There's plenty of high-tech in New Hampshire, to boot. If
you don't mind Military, there's tons of work to be had in the various
Washington DC outer suburbs,

They very frequently expect an active clearance and military spend is in
grave risk these days - has been since '08. If you point that way
get and keep an active clearance.

and the southeast is coming on strong. I'm
sure I'm leaving out something here, but you get the idea.

If you like your geology flat, there's always the Midwest: anything
automotive (and I mean _anything_: cars, tractors, railway, etc.) needs
lots of embedded, and it's all concentrated around the great lakes.

Yep. It also usually has a very low Mickey Mouse factor.

It's not a bad idea if you do settle down to try to scope out where the
work is concentrated, and try to center yourself in the area (or if you
want to live out of town a bit, go for "center-rural"). Settling right
next to work is great until you have to change jobs. Settling in the
middle of a 30-minute-drive-to-anywhere spot works well when things
change, or when the spouse gets a job, too.

--
Les Cargill

 

[David Brown]

On 12/12/2012 22:26, hamilton wrote:

On 12/12/2012 11:32 AM, Tim Wescott wrote:


comp.arch.embedded is active, on-topic, and usually has many interesting
threads.

If you visit comp.arch.embedded, be aware of the (right/left) wing
crackpot that live there.

"interesting threads" is an understatement !!

I use c.a.e. all the time, but I am not aware of any such crackpots -
the newsgroup is mercifully free of such people. There are a few with
strong or unusual opinions (people probably think of me that way at
times), but none of the sort of characters who blame some politician for
every bug in their software, or throw a tantrum when they are contradicted.

Occasionally, we get visits from such people via cross-posts.
sci.electronics.design is a group that is mostly dedicated to political
discussions amongst retired Americans that view mainstream Republican
politics as so left-wing they are practically communist, but it
sometimes also has threads on the topic of electronics design. These
can get cross-posted to c.a.e., and start off fine - but inevitably
degenerate into politics.

There is also the world-famous (in the Usenet world, anyway) character
Rod Speed, whom I have seen once or twice in c.a.e. via cross-posts to
Australian electronics newsgroups. But I haven't seen him at his full
strength there.

All in all, c.a.e. is at a similar level to c.a.f. regarding crackpots,
off-topic threads, spam, etc.

 

[Philipp Klaus Krause]

On 10.12.2012 02:04, no one wrote:

I assume the bay area is number one for embedded software engineers,
but where else are the big markets,

Southern Germany. Lots of companies seem to be hiring around here,
inluding some bigger ones, such as Bosch and Sick, and a huge number of
smaller ones with at most a few hundred employees.

Philipp

 

[scrts]

"Philipp Klaus Krause" wrote in message news:kacoae$25e$1@solani.org...

On 10.12.2012 02:04, no one wrote:

I assume the bay area is number one for embedded software engineers,
but where else are the big markets,

Southern Germany. Lots of companies seem to be hiring around here,
inluding some bigger ones, such as Bosch and Sick, and a huge number of
smaller ones with at most a few hundred employees.



Remember to tell that You will probably must speek German...

 

[hamilton]

On 12/14/2012 2:16 AM, scrts wrote:

"Philipp Klaus Krause" wrote in message news:kacoae$25e$1@solani.org...
On 10.12.2012 02:04, no one wrote:
I assume the bay area is number one for embedded software engineers,
but where else are the big markets,

Southern Germany. Lots of companies seem to be hiring around here,
inluding some bigger ones, such as Bosch and Sick, and a huge number of
smaller ones with at most a few hundred employees.



Remember to tell that You will probably must speek German...

Are the EU countries more welcoming to foreign workers then the USA ?

What is the equivalent to the H1-B visa ?

Does each EU country have a different visa requirement ?

thanks for any info

hamilton

 

[Sean Durkin]

hamilton wrote:

Are the EU countries more welcoming to foreign workers then the USA ?

What is the equivalent to the H1-B visa ?

Does each EU country have a different visa requirement ?

thanks for any info

I don't have information on other EU countries, but Germany at least is
always trying to attract foreign talent. Instead of the US Green Card,
they have the "Blue Card":

http://www.bluecard-eu.de/

This is meant to simplify the process of well educated immigrants coming
there to work.

The language is usually not a problem either. Of course speaking German
makes every-day life easier, but for work at tech companies English is
usually sufficient, especially in the embedded sector. All the
literature and such is in English anyway, so being proficient in English
is mandatory for (software) engineers. German universities also offer a
lot of engineering courses in English these days, so most young
(software) engineers speak fluently.

This is even less of a problem when you're working for one of the global
players like Siemens, Bosch, Continental or the automotive industry
(Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, BMW, Audi in southern Germany, Volkswagen up
north), to bring up a few names that do a lot of work in embedded software.

HTH,
Sean

 

[David Brown]

On 14/12/2012 15:38, hamilton wrote:

On 12/14/2012 2:16 AM, scrts wrote:
"Philipp Klaus Krause" wrote in message news:kacoae$25e$1@solani.org...
On 10.12.2012 02:04, no one wrote:
I assume the bay area is number one for embedded software engineers,
but where else are the big markets,

Southern Germany. Lots of companies seem to be hiring around here,
inluding some bigger ones, such as Bosch and Sick, and a huge number of
smaller ones with at most a few hundred employees.



Remember to tell that You will probably must speek German...

Are the EU countries more welcoming to foreign workers then the USA ?

That question is impossible to answer - the EU is not like different
states in the US. Different countries will have different attitudes to
immigrants from different parts of the world, even though the official
rules are probably fairly similar. And there are countries in Europe
that are not part of the EU (such as Norway).

What is the equivalent to the H1-B visa ?

Does each EU country have a different visa requirement ?

You are going to get more useful answers by looking at a more official
source of information. I would recommend looking at the website of the
embassy for the countries you are interested in - they will give you the
exact answer. In general, if you are a well-qualified US citizen (and
no complications like criminal records), and there is a company in the
European country that can offer you a job, then the paperwork should not
be a hinder.


More importantly, you have to consider if you can live in the country
you are looking at. Language is a big issue. In many technical
departments of companies in Scandinavia, much of the work is in English.
But towards the south of Europe, it is mostly in native languages
(except in the bigger and more international companies). Outside work,
you can get by with English more easily in Northern Europe and smaller
countries, but less so further south and in bigger countries. A
particular point here is that in countries like Norway or the
Netherlands, much of the TV is foreign and in English with local
subtitles - while in bigger countries like Spain and Italy, far more of
the foreign TV is dubbed. Similarly with books and translations. This
makes a big difference to how familiar people are with English in
everyday life.

Other things like climate, food, culture and general way of life are
important, and vary enormously across Europe.

thanks for any info

hamilton

 

[Paul Colin Gloster]

On 2012-12-12, scrts <delete@myemail.com> sent:
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|[David Brown sent:] |
|["]And since the world extends a long way outside the USA, have you |
|considered moving abroad? Certainly Norway has a great shortage of |
|engineers.["] |
| |
|Really? Where can I search for job listings?" |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|

It is not Norway but you can try:
WWW.EraCareers.Pt

Beware that the economy in Portugal is not excellent.

Good luck.

With kind regards,
Colin Paul Gloster

 

[Paul Colin Gloster]

On 2012-12-17, David Brown <david@westcontrol.removethisbit.com>
sent:
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|"[. . .] |
| |
|More importantly, you have to consider if you can live in the country |
|you are looking at. Language is a big issue. In many technical |
|departments of companies in Scandinavia, much of the work is in English. |
|But towards the south of Europe, it is mostly in native languages |
|(except in the bigger and more international companies). Outside work, |
|you can get by with English more easily in Northern Europe and smaller |
|countries, but less so further south and in bigger countries. A |
|particular point here is that in countries like Norway or the |
|Netherlands, much of the TV is foreign and in English with local |
|subtitles - while in bigger countries like Spain and Italy, far more of |
|the foreign TV is dubbed. Similarly with books and translations. This |
|makes a big difference to how familiar people are with English in |
|everyday life. |
| |
|[. . .]" |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Television is important, but not everybody uses
television. Soundtracks in Portugal are often in English but many
people in Portugal do not understand English, and this is at a similar
level to Italy where television is dubbed.

(A former colleague who spent most of her life in Italy improved her
English by using television in the Netherlands.)

 

[Paul Colin Gloster]

On 12/12/2012, Tim Wescott sent:
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|"[. . .] |
| |
|Pay close attention to cost of living: I had a friend from the Portland |
|(OR) area who went to work at a company in Silicon Valley at a pay rate |
|that astonished him, only to discover after he had moved that the cost of |
|rent and food and damn near everything else is astonishing, too -- he |
|soon found a gig in Seattle for way less pay and higher net return. This |
|cuts both ways: a pay rate that sucks in Portland (and is in the sub- |
|basements in San Jose) may get you ahead in the long run if the job is in |
|Missoula. |
| |
|[. . .]" |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Do not be conned into a bad-faith contract to provide assistance
finding somewhere affordable to live:

HTTP://69.54.212.166/~gloster/Evil_which_is_so-called_science/Mariano_Gago/Attachment_emailed_to_Gago_during_August_2012.htm

 

[John Larkin]

On Tue, 11 Dec 2012 22:52:17 -0600, no one <notaclue@gmail.com> wrote:

In article <ka3e4a$vab$1@dont-email.me>,
hamilton <hamilton@nothere.com> wrote:

On 12/9/2012 6:04 PM, no one wrote:
I assume the bay area is number one for embedded software engineers,
but where else are the big markets, as companies run from califoria taxes.

Denver, CO - Does big population mean high tech?
Phoenix, AZ - Sun birds.
Albuquerque, NM - Sun birds, ballon festival.
Salt Lake City, UT - Mormons, big population.
Portland, OR - Big population.
Seattle, WA - All those ex-Microsofties starting companies.

Which of these are go, or no-go?

And if the bay area is it, where in the bay area?

I find I must specify the California bay area, picky, picky, picky.

I see by your list, you are not going East of the Miss.

Correct.

There are plenty of jobs on the SF peninsula, but housing is insanely expensive.
Easy Bay has lots of tech companies too, and housing is cheaper.

Embedded Software Engineers is no longer a term of embedded processor
engineers.

Everyone uses it anymore, so you really need to be specific about _your_
definition of embedded engineer.

As this is an FPGA newsgroup, do you mean Embedded FPGA engineer ?

No, I just happen to lurk here as the posts are interesting.

Do you mean assembly language / C language Embedded Engineer ?

Correct, and this group seemed to cover software as well as hardware,
though a few think not. If anyone would nominate a non-dead more software
embedded newsgroup I will gladly go take a look.

With the exception of C++ groups, fringe freaks debating broken ideas
do not excite me.

PS: Don't Come to Denver, we have too many UN-employed engineers already.

I have scoped out Denver a little and each of the suburb cities seems to
have a major high tech company. On the downside last time I drove
through I found the traffic to be horrible. Denver is so big I would
have to pick a sub-city as the commute is to long, same as California.

All those places I listed (except the bay area) would allow me to engage
my geology hobby on the weekends.

We have rocks here too.




--

John Larkin Highland Technology Inc
www.highlandtechnology.com jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com

Precision electronic instrumentation
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators
Custom timing and laser controllers
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links
VME analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer
Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators