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Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs

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Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs

#41
post #2

The apprenticeships are particularly important. Many brilliant friends of mine who failed university or even high school did an apprenticeship instead. Among them are CEOs, R&D managers and founders.

I've often idly wondered if you could do Software Development as an apprenticeship. Use industry tools in your work day, and theoretical computer science at night schools/block courses.

Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs

#42
post #35
post #28

I have an interesting anecdote to share, couple of years back I was working in an Indian branch of an MNC. The water from the tap on a wash basin had low pressure and it was frustrating to wash your hands but I guess we never complained because in India you just accept such minor inconvenience. One day the VP from the American HQ came to the Indian office and yes he was German, during the intro meeting he talked abou…

I have a similar anecdote except the German in my story fixed the tap himself! I was squarely impressed with the skills an average German has.

A lot of things are common sense. OK, "this part must go here because it looks like it does X." We just need a little motivation.

Granted, doesn't mean you should rewire your house using YouTube videos

Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs

#43
post #35
post #28

I have an interesting anecdote to share, couple of years back I was working in an Indian branch of an MNC. The water from the tap on a wash basin had low pressure and it was frustrating to wash your hands but I guess we never complained because in India you just accept such minor inconvenience. One day the VP from the American HQ came to the Indian office and yes he was German, during the intro meeting he talked abou…

I have a similar anecdote except the German in my story fixed the tap himself! I was squarely impressed with the skills an average German has.

This is so German actually.

I've been living in Australia the past year (which has a lot of Germans) and twice I helped someone change a flat tyre. Both times a German also came to assist, and both times it was an American who didnt know how to change a flat (there arent that many of them in Aus).

Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs

#44

Proganda shit! Germany has in oft the biggest low deployement sector in Europe.

"Germany has in oft the biggest low deployement sector" no idea what your saying

probably meant: G "has one of the biggest low income employment sector" - less than 1/3 of median income - < 20% of all employees (Dec 2016) with decreasing tendency

Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs

#45

The article asks why there are so many successful mid-size companies in Germany, and it lists reasons such as continuity of leadership, scientific competencies, system of apprenticeships and others. I don't see how this answers the question in the title. How does the school of mathematics of the University of Goettingen help make German factory workers competitive with Chinese ones? Why aren't these companies moving…

Wage suppression. Seen most obviously by simple comparison to other Eurozone states:

http://fortune.com/2014/10/22/why-germany-is-the-eurozones-b...

This is not something Germans -- such as apparently the author of OP -- like to talk about.

Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs

#46
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. They are insulated by EU trade tariffs on goods external to the EU. Combine that with the most efficient factories in the EU. They get to provide things that can still beat China after considering the tariffs. In other words, trade barriers strengthened the middle class.

Tariffs on the EU strengthened manufacturing employment in Germany, but many other EU countries don't seem to have much manufacturing and are poorer than Germany, yet still pay those tariffs. That's consistent with the idea that tariffs provide substantial help to a lucky few while levying costs on everyone else.

But there is manufacturing in those countries too.

Those poorer countries are more able to compete with Germany than with China.

Cheaper goods are nice but aren't as useful to people without jobs.

Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs

#47
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to hedge, that comment about inheritance tax is literally ridiculous and completely unsupported. The idea that the US has a problem with too little accumulation of intergenerational wealth is patent nonsense.

The idea that the US has a problem with too little accumulation of intergenerational wealth is patent nonsense. This is different from parent leaving you stock and bonds. Father dies, leaves company that makes engines to son and $50 million in cash because he has invested most in his company. IRS+State: son, you owe us half+ of what your father left you, or $1.1 Billion. If he borrows half of company's worth that's n…

If you've got that much at stake, generally in the US you'll have estate planners that ensure you pay little to no tax on it.

Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs

#48
post #2

The apprenticeships are particularly important. Many brilliant friends of mine who failed university or even high school did an apprenticeship instead. Among them are CEOs, R&D managers and founders.

I've often idly wondered if you could do Software Development as an apprenticeship. Use industry tools in your work day, and theoretical computer science at night schools/block courses.

Not so much the apprenticeship, but my formal education was in a trade school in Australia (TAFE, back when it was funded properly, my 2 years cost about $2K). It was a lot more hands on and less theory than comp sci, which meant the graduates could actually code. Even a lot of the theory we did cover was done through hands on activities, like creating our own databases so we had to know how things were stored and indexed efficiently. The only major areas left out that are of use in the real world were the lower level stuff (c/asm) unix tools, which would have served us better than learning how to mail merge in the early "computing" courses.

From what I've heard Germany has a similar trade school path for software development.

Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs

#49
post #2

The apprenticeships are particularly important. Many brilliant friends of mine who failed university or even high school did an apprenticeship instead. Among them are CEOs, R&D managers and founders.

I've often idly wondered if you could do Software Development as an apprenticeship. Use industry tools in your work day, and theoretical computer science at night schools/block courses.

You could. The majority of software development isn't science it's craftsmanship and often good business skills make more value than something like calculus or linear algebra.

Not for people inventing new stuff or pushing boundaries, but for the horde of developers who are copy pasting, google programming and writing classic ASP every day.

Re: Why Germany Still Has So Many Middle-Class Manufacturing Jobs

#50
post #2

The apprenticeships are particularly important. Many brilliant friends of mine who failed university or even high school did an apprenticeship instead. Among them are CEOs, R&D managers and founders.

I've often idly wondered if you could do Software Development as an apprenticeship. Use industry tools in your work day, and theoretical computer science at night schools/block courses.

There is a whole movement around this called Software Craftsmanship. There are a lot of companies involved and typically they are using the apprenticeship model to bring on new employees and grow the company. The one I'm most familiar with is 8th Light which started in Chicago but is now in Los Angeles, London, and New York City too.

Their approach is more spend 5-9 months having the apprentice do mostly directed self-study, then a kind of final project and other work and, if they pass, an offer of employment. It's a really interesting model that seems to have worked well for them -- they attract developers from both traditional backgrounds and non-traditional.

They have a page that goes into what apprenticeship means to them here: https://8thlight.com/apprenticeship/

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