4 ms·

I wonder what's the difference in Airbus.

aredox 3y ago
Aircraft Certification: Comparison of U.S. and European Processes for Approving New Designs of Commercial Transport Airplanes https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-104480 https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-104480 See also this comment and answers: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38973101 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38973101
marsRoverDev 3y ago
Have worked at both, Airbus pays worse but has a much better engineering culture. Also arguably, because of the location(s) the quality of the engineers is quite high despite the pay as they can afford a pretty good lifestyle. Airbus also functions very much like a quasi governmental institution in many parts, so there's less interest in squeezing everything to death to save money. Finally, Airbus generally has a KISS mindset, and are very conservative w.r.t change in engineering practice and tooling. When I was there we spent way, way, way, way, way more time testing than writing software - and the software was written in a way that any software engineer could walk off the street and understand it. Oh, and quite low levels of outsourcing in critical software - they save that for things that don't have people's lives on the line.
- ahartmetz 3y ago
  > the software was written in a way that any software engineer could walk off the street and understand it Amazing if true. One of the highest achievements in software.
- eddiewithzato 3y ago
  Doesn’t Boeing use infosys? Yea I’d take airbus
  - Zigurd 3y ago
    HCL was mentioned as a Boeing software outsourcing shop. Not the only India software shop used by Boeing. I recall reading a news story about outsourcing being linked to Boeing sales in India, but there's a pile of news stories about Boeing outsourcing to India, so it's hard to find where and how it started. More recently, Boeing laid off 2000 people in the US and moved those function largely to Tata's BPO. This follows the pattern of how IBM was hollowed-out.
  - leoh 3y ago
    Boeing writes a lot of code in Banagalore iiuc and has an office there right around the corner from Infosys.
- TheCondor 3y ago
  What are some of the differences in engineering culture? It’s kind of an opaque term that can mean a lot of different things.
pjc50 3y ago
Airbus are trying to compete in the US market, while Boeing rely on protectionism?
ranger207 3y ago
Their corporate culture hasn't been corrupted by MBAs chasing profit over product yet
MilStdJunkie 3y ago
Germans. Germans everywhere.
- Glawen 3y ago
  As in understand, German played a minor role in the design in Airbus, for example the flight controls were designed in Toulouse by french engineer. However they have more responsibility in designing the production system and assembly line. The assembly line in Hamburg is quite unique.

Aircraft Certification: Comparison of U.S. and European Processes for Approving New Designs of Commercial Transport Airplanes https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-104480 https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-104480 See also this comment and answers: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38973101 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38973101

marsRoverDev 3y ago

Have worked at both, Airbus pays worse but has a much better engineering culture. Also arguably, because of the location(s) the quality of the engineers is quite high despite the pay as they can afford a pretty good lifestyle. Airbus also functions very much like a quasi governmental institution in many parts, so there's less interest in squeezing everything to death to save money. Finally, Airbus generally has a KISS mindset, and are very conservative w.r.t change in engineering practice and tooling. When I was there we spent way, way, way, way, way more time testing than writing software - and the software was written in a way that any software engineer could walk off the street and understand it. Oh, and quite low levels of outsourcing in critical software - they save that for things that don't have people's lives on the line.

ahartmetz 3y ago
> the software was written in a way that any software engineer could walk off the street and understand it Amazing if true. One of the highest achievements in software.
eddiewithzato 3y ago
Doesn’t Boeing use infosys? Yea I’d take airbus
- Zigurd 3y ago
  HCL was mentioned as a Boeing software outsourcing shop. Not the only India software shop used by Boeing. I recall reading a news story about outsourcing being linked to Boeing sales in India, but there's a pile of news stories about Boeing outsourcing to India, so it's hard to find where and how it started. More recently, Boeing laid off 2000 people in the US and moved those function largely to Tata's BPO. This follows the pattern of how IBM was hollowed-out.
- leoh 3y ago
  Boeing writes a lot of code in Banagalore iiuc and has an office there right around the corner from Infosys.
TheCondor 3y ago
What are some of the differences in engineering culture? It’s kind of an opaque term that can mean a lot of different things.

pjc50 3y ago

Airbus are trying to compete in the US market, while Boeing rely on protectionism?

ranger207 3y ago

Their corporate culture hasn't been corrupted by MBAs chasing profit over product yet

MilStdJunkie 3y ago

Germans. Germans everywhere.

Glawen 3y ago
As in understand, German played a minor role in the design in Airbus, for example the flight controls were designed in Toulouse by french engineer. However they have more responsibility in designing the production system and assembly line. The assembly line in Hamburg is quite unique.