Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Existential Anxieties of Engineering

Mostly come from ignoring economic reality, just ask Boeing management;

Boeing's engineering leader Mike Delaney on Wednesday warned that if the company is forced to give local employees higher compensation and benefits than they would earn in other markets, the inevitable outcome will be Boeing will move engineering work — especially high-end tasks developing new airplanes, as well as defense projects — out of the Puget Sound region.
"It won't be fast," said Delaney, addressing The Seattle Times editorial board. "We'll keep hiring people to build 737s. But slowly over time, if you become uncompetitive, you have to deal with the arbitrage and leverage other resources."
He pointed out that about 30 percent of the engineering work for his unit is already done within the company but outside the Puget Sound region.
"We want you to be rewarded," said Delaney, as if addressing his engineers. "But you have to understand there is a market out there."
A market that you can price yourself out of, if you keep trying.  Which the SPEEA--average pay for its engineers being $110,000--seems intent on doing. 

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