LTC opens design center in Phoenix AZ

I don't know where all that "analog design talent" is... besides me I only know a few analog guys and they're young and green, or quite old and very good... thus unemployable ;-)

...Jim Thompson

I like that line, "...or an Asian corporation has them for lunch" ;-)

I've been contracting to Asian corporations for about 11 years.

...Jim Thompson

Hey, Jim, you and I are both quite old and very good, but neither of us is in any way "unemployable." Your friends need some good advice, perhaps in skills marketing, or in modern-day networking?

Some people are part of the solution, others are part of the problem. I'm not yet quite sure where that activity lies on the scale...

It's called riding your reputation. I'm pouring my pensions and SS into savings ;-)

...Jim Thompson

Fits me quite well. I've just gone through my third research facility RIF in 10 years. The first time it took a full year and a half (with a couple of small contract jobs to help me eat), the second time, 6 months, and that was cut short when a job opened up for an old colleague who remembered me.

Now, it's 3 months and counting...

I'm a 60-year old data acquisition engineer, by the way, most recently at NASA Langley. I've been looking at the contract consulting houses, but they typically want zillions of years of product development experience...

My kids experimented, and all three were brilliant at math. But living with an engineer encouraged the first to end up as a pure math professor, the second as an opera singer, and the third as a security management official.

A good part of my last few jobs has been fixing the mistakes of the immigrant engineers who obviously were better qualified than I. And I would like very much to be employed. I haven't been able to develop the people skills needed to market my scientific skills in the public marketplace.

John Perry

Hello Jim,

They could but they usually don't want to.

My impression is that at least here in the US universities don't breed analog talent anymore. Kids don't experiment anymore. The result is that only few people can think and design down to transistor level.

Older folks don't necessarily have to be employed and sometimes don't even want to be, long distance contract design works well. But many companies absolutely have to have it all in house. So they often try and try and then hit a tree or an Asian corporation has them for lunch.

Regards, Joerg

Hello Jim,

I did, too. Much of the cultural barriers that the media often talk about aren't really there or don't matter that much, at least not among engineers. A stark example was a trip to a client in Korea. At lunch time we went downstairs where there was a fine Japanese restaurant. A Japanese restaurant in Korea. Wow. You could hear all kinds of languages spoken there, certainly not just Korean and English. The staff was mostly Koreans. Then came the topper: A Korean looking guy asked in English if they had forks. They didn't. But they sent someone over to the restaurant across the street, Italian or something, to get one for him.

I found that the major challenge is the language since you can't always use tricky pronounciations such as reverberation or something like that. But after a while you get used to it and communication becomes pretty easy.

Regards, Joerg

Hello John,

Besides networking there isn't really much out there in terms of a work/skills brokerage. Recruiters often know too little about what a certain task really requires but are nevertheless entrusted to find talent. Data bases for consultants either don't exist or are not advertised, like the IEEE consultants data base. Hardly anyone knows it's there.

I never had formal people skills education. Should have when I ran a business but at that point there just wasn't any time for that. Where I really learned about people skills was afterwards, in a program that prepared for a ministry. It is amazing what can be learned totally outside any management education.

Regards, Joerg

Right now, just CD's, 'cause I have no time to mind them, but I should put them into (probably) 3.

...Jim Thompson

-- | James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona Voice:(480)460-2350 | | | E-mail Address at Website Fax:(480)460-2142 | Brass Rat | |

What the hell? "3" should be "mutuals"

...Jim Thompson

You can be part of the problem, part of the solution, or part of the scenery. Most people are just part of the scenery.

;-)

--Mac

Whenever I go to Japan my coworkers take me to Korean Barbeque.

-- Mike --

Hello Jim,

Just curious, how do you invest that?

Regards, Joerg

I know a Japanese guy (PhD from Hamamatsu) who visits us occasionally, and he always wants to go out for sushi!

John

Most of the Japanese restaurants around here are actually run by Koreans. There's often a section in the menu in Korean without translation into English that features Korean dishes, and they sometimes have Korean phonetic characters on the sign.

It's more lucrative to supply sushi, sashimi, chirashi, teriyaki, donburi, etc. than bibimbap, gam ja tang, cold noodles, kim chee etc. But bulgogi is pretty accessible.

There's also an (expensive) Korean-style Chinese restaurant (the kind of Chinese food that the Chinese immigrants to Korea sell in Chinese restaurants there). Korean immigrants to Canada get homesick for that specific kind of Chinese food, ya know. It's a mixed up world.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

The thing that I don't like about mutuals is the potential tax implications, even though no money was transferred.

Hello Jim,

Yes, but it requires quite a bit of research to figure out which ones. I was kind of surprised when the newspapers mentioned the no-frills investments of, IIRC, Alan Greenspan. Probably he didn't get burned in the stock tumble a few years ago.

Regards, Joerg

Hello Spehro,

We barbequed Korean ribs yesterday night, bought at a Korean store where hardly anyone speaks English. When you turn into the candy aisle there everything changes from Korean to Russian, cookies from St.Petersburg and all that. And some of the high-volts stuff. Nastrovje!

Many restaurants here are "tri-cultural". Mostly Chinese, Sushi and Mongolian barbeque buffet all in one setting. The next one is just two miles away and we are living way outside of town. I do miss a good bulgogi though. But, we have a friend who is half Korean and can cook very well.

I grew up in Germany but what do I miss the most from there? Suvlakia, stifado, gyros ...

Regards, Joerg

They say the older you get the more you should change your strategy from "growth" or "value" to preservation of capital. If the CD's pay more than inflation, I guess they pretty much preserve your capital. I'm not sure how old you are.

;-)

At least you don't have it all in a no-interest checking account.

--Mac