8 ms·

What a strange comment. Ford is a us tech company. Most people in Europe don’t want to leave.

jonnybgood 4y ago
Ford is not a tech company. > Most people in Europe don’t want to leave. I believe they're saying if European tech companies want to compete in business with US tech companies they need to pay their engineers more money.
- jbay808 4y ago
  > Ford is not a tech company. By what standard?
  - jonathankoren 4y ago
    Software is not their primary business.
    - chrisseaton 4y ago
      If you mean ‘software company’ then say that - software isn’t the only form of technology - drive trains are also technology.
    - jbay808 4y ago
      Is SpaceX a tech company?
- speed_spread 4y ago
  > Ford is not a tech company. By their CEO's own admission, Ford sees itself as a "data company": https://www.autoblog.com/2016/01/06/ceo-mark-fields-ford-data-company/ https://www.autoblog.com/2016/01/06/ceo-mark-fields-ford-dat... Their software chops are certainly dubious, but there is no questioning their intent when it comes to entering the surveillance economy.
  - rkagerer 4y ago
    Ford sees itself as a "data company" What a disaster. I wish they would focus on simply making good cars.
    - speed_spread 4y ago
      Ironically, Ford stopped selling the Focus and all other passenger cars (except the Mach-E) in the USA after 2018.
    - colinmhayes 4y ago
      Margins for car companies are shit. Why would anyone invest in a race to the bottom high marginal cost company when differentiated zero marginal cost companies exist? And what if we just told everyone we were the latter?
      - hef19898 4y ago
        Worked for Tesla so far.
  - IncRnd 4y ago
    > By their CEO's own admission, Ford sees itself as a "data company": The linked article quotes the CEO, "Overall, when you look at our business, we're not only a car manufacturing company. We are a technology company. As our vehicles become part of the Internet of things and as consumers give permission to us to collect that data, we'll also become an information company." That's marketing related to the IoT buzzword. Next week they might talk about using blockchain. The other part of the statement is that they are a "data company," because they can sell information about their customers. The words from the CEO are the same words from a data analyst, but they each mean something entirely different.
  - jonathankoren 4y ago
    > By their CEO's own admission, Ford sees itself as a "data company" What does this even mean? They don’t sell access to data. Oh! They use data to make business decisions? Well, welcome to 2004.
jakewins 4y ago
I’ve spent the last decade working with very good EU engineers. If I wrote a list of the top 50 people I’ve come across in EU, I would estimate 45 of them now work remote for US companies or have moved to the US. Anecdotal, but at least that’s my experience.
systemvoltage 4y ago
I worked in a tech company in US and it was full of PhDs from Europe. I'd say as much as 30% PhDs were Europeans.
ceeplusplus 4y ago
> Most people in Europe don’t want to leave Sure, but most people aren't skilled white collar tech workers with in demand skills who could be earning 3x post-tax salary in the US. Health insurance is essentially free or cheap at any good tech company. EU pensions are underfunded (just like US ones) and as a high paid tech worker you're better off with maxing your 401k anyways. If you look at the nationalities in any top US MS/PhD/MBA program, you'll find it's about 40% European, far above what undergraduate programs look like. That shows quite a few skilled workers in Europe want to leave. If you are an unskilled worker, Europe is better as long as they can continue to sustain their social programs by taxing high earners and having defense be subsidized by the US. If too many high earners leave or the US becomes unwilling to pay for bases all across Europe, the whole system collapses pretty quickly.
- oceanplexian 4y ago
  Half the people I work with are from Western Europe and they won’t waste any time to take a dig at our lack of social safety net. However, the thing I’d be worried about in their position, is, if the safety net is actually a sustainable project in a time of declining economic growth. They’re extrapolating on 30 or 40 years worth of data and if you’re retiring in 30 or 40 years a lot can change. Look what’s happened with the austerity crisis, something EU folks usually don’t want to talk about. Personally I’d want to manage my own retirement and risk tolerance.
- barrenko 4y ago
  The US is also funding medical research of most kind.
spaniard89277 4y ago
We don't want to leave but you can bet american companies have it easy fishing here. It's increasingly common for american companies to set small teams around here. The only problem american companies have is dealing with the workers rights around here.

Ford is not a tech company. > Most people in Europe don’t want to leave. I believe they're saying if European tech companies want to compete in business with US tech companies they need to pay their engineers more money.

jbay808 4y ago
> Ford is not a tech company. By what standard?
- jonathankoren 4y ago
  Software is not their primary business.
  - chrisseaton 4y ago
    If you mean ‘software company’ then say that - software isn’t the only form of technology - drive trains are also technology.
  - jbay808 4y ago
    Is SpaceX a tech company?
speed_spread 4y ago
> Ford is not a tech company. By their CEO's own admission, Ford sees itself as a "data company": https://www.autoblog.com/2016/01/06/ceo-mark-fields-ford-data-company/ https://www.autoblog.com/2016/01/06/ceo-mark-fields-ford-dat... Their software chops are certainly dubious, but there is no questioning their intent when it comes to entering the surveillance economy.
- rkagerer 4y ago
  Ford sees itself as a "data company" What a disaster. I wish they would focus on simply making good cars.
  - speed_spread 4y ago
    Ironically, Ford stopped selling the Focus and all other passenger cars (except the Mach-E) in the USA after 2018.
  - colinmhayes 4y ago
    Margins for car companies are shit. Why would anyone invest in a race to the bottom high marginal cost company when differentiated zero marginal cost companies exist? And what if we just told everyone we were the latter?
    - hef19898 4y ago
      Worked for Tesla so far.
- IncRnd 4y ago
  > By their CEO's own admission, Ford sees itself as a "data company": The linked article quotes the CEO, "Overall, when you look at our business, we're not only a car manufacturing company. We are a technology company. As our vehicles become part of the Internet of things and as consumers give permission to us to collect that data, we'll also become an information company." That's marketing related to the IoT buzzword. Next week they might talk about using blockchain. The other part of the statement is that they are a "data company," because they can sell information about their customers. The words from the CEO are the same words from a data analyst, but they each mean something entirely different.
- jonathankoren 4y ago
  > By their CEO's own admission, Ford sees itself as a "data company" What does this even mean? They don’t sell access to data. Oh! They use data to make business decisions? Well, welcome to 2004.

jakewins 4y ago

I’ve spent the last decade working with very good EU engineers. If I wrote a list of the top 50 people I’ve come across in EU, I would estimate 45 of them now work remote for US companies or have moved to the US. Anecdotal, but at least that’s my experience.

systemvoltage 4y ago

I worked in a tech company in US and it was full of PhDs from Europe. I'd say as much as 30% PhDs were Europeans.

ceeplusplus 4y ago

> Most people in Europe don’t want to leave Sure, but most people aren't skilled white collar tech workers with in demand skills who could be earning 3x post-tax salary in the US. Health insurance is essentially free or cheap at any good tech company. EU pensions are underfunded (just like US ones) and as a high paid tech worker you're better off with maxing your 401k anyways. If you look at the nationalities in any top US MS/PhD/MBA program, you'll find it's about 40% European, far above what undergraduate programs look like. That shows quite a few skilled workers in Europe want to leave. If you are an unskilled worker, Europe is better as long as they can continue to sustain their social programs by taxing high earners and having defense be subsidized by the US. If too many high earners leave or the US becomes unwilling to pay for bases all across Europe, the whole system collapses pretty quickly.

oceanplexian 4y ago
Half the people I work with are from Western Europe and they won’t waste any time to take a dig at our lack of social safety net. However, the thing I’d be worried about in their position, is, if the safety net is actually a sustainable project in a time of declining economic growth. They’re extrapolating on 30 or 40 years worth of data and if you’re retiring in 30 or 40 years a lot can change. Look what’s happened with the austerity crisis, something EU folks usually don’t want to talk about. Personally I’d want to manage my own retirement and risk tolerance.
barrenko 4y ago
The US is also funding medical research of most kind.

spaniard89277 4y ago

We don't want to leave but you can bet american companies have it easy fishing here. It's increasingly common for american companies to set small teams around here. The only problem american companies have is dealing with the workers rights around here.