Re: [tlug] OT: interesting NY times article:High-Tech Japanese, Running Out of Engineers

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

CL writes:

 > Agreed.  Hamamatsu in 1979.  I recall several long evenings of massive 
 > quantities of stuff on sticks, lubricated with shochu, listening our 
 > design team bucho bemoan the dearth of good Japanese engineers even 
 > then.

Sure, but the "bitchin' bucho" is a cross-cultural timeless
phenomenon.  I'll bet even Joseph was bitching about the quality of
Egyptian slaves, that's why he welcomed his brothers so effusively.
"At last, quality people!  Now I can really turn this country around!"
The stats I've seen indicate that engineering grads in Japan were
still increasing around 1980, it's just that demand was increasing
more rapidly (of course the imbalance was especially bad in gaku-batsu
shops like yours).

What's interesting/scary about the parallel between the US in 1978 and
Japan 2008 is that the scare talk is backed by real numbers regarding
declining rikei enrollments.

 > In front of twelve Japanese and four roundeyes.

<img src="eyes-roll-left.svg" />
Rank hath its privileges.

 > There was a huge ongoing debate over whether to allow Korean,
 > Chinese, and Taiwanese engineers (we were working on a tieup with
 > an Indian company already) to work at the headquarters as it was
 > feared that they'd copy everything and do it cheaper when they went
 > home.

It's funny that the Japanese would fear that, since it's what they did
so well.  It's sad that on the whole they decided (as many <insert
non-Japanese ethnicity du jour here> will tell you) to act on their
fears and keep the foreigners as far away from sensitive technology as
possible.  Ironically, it's like kids and cookie jars.  Putting the
cookie jar on the refrigerator only teaches the kid to be a good
climber.

I have to admit it was not a no-brainer, though.  The Japanese neither
want foreigners to stay a minute longer than they're needed for the
job at hand, nor do they expect them to, whereas (corporate) America
has been far more welcoming (to the H1B elite, anyway), and succeeded
in corrupting most of them into staying.  Hell, it's working on my
wife and daughter!

Regarding technical recruiting, my car was in the shop the other day,
and the consultant was a woman.  So while I was waiting for the gofer
to bring up the car, I asked her how she got into a technical field
(recruiting female students is a big issue in technical fields in both
US and Japan).  She said, "it's a family business -- no way I could
beat the money and hours in high school, and I'm good at it."  But
she'd rather be in personal finance or sales, and she's thinking about
quitting if they don't move her.  Seems like the tale of the times!