4 ms·
I suspect "hardware is real engineering" is really just "hardware engineering is where you can find prestigious employment in this country". It used to be quit
by sho_hn 4y ago
I suspect "hardware is real engineering" is really just "hardware engineering is where you can find prestigious employment in this country".
It used to be quite similar in South Korea until the more recent rise of domestic software giants like Naver and Kakao Corp.
In a lot of the East Asian countries, there is a large gap in desirability between the large, established employers and smaller companies due to outrageous differences in pay grade, benefits and job stability. So new business has a tougher time making it to escape velocity and offering significant numbers of jobs.
- smahs 4y ago+1. I have vague memories of my time at a Japanese automation vendor out of the uni. I had quit out of frustration that the software was super buggy, there was no one to help except just a couple of people in Japan who knew the software but would not reply to emails. I also remember feeling neglected as folks working on the hardware or on customer projects were paid higher than me. A recent experience at a neobanking startup from SE Asia reaffirms the point. Despite the product built around an API-only model, the firm was operations heavy when it came to decision making and investing in people, as it was believed to be the core company strength (for a variety of reasons including the institutional bureaucracy, corruption in these markets, etc.) TL;DR people work where the money flows. Companies get what they pay for. And the investors pay for what they think is the strength or is likely to sell at inflated valuations.