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Will young Americans want to work in semiconductor manufacturing? [video]

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Re: Will young Americans want to work in semiconductor manufacturing? [video]

#131

Post by pm90 »

JimmieMcnulty wrote: post #14

Honestly, based on the content of this video and the replies from the prior HN thread, it seems like folks are locked into the belief that the current manufacturing... "experience" (for lack of a better term) for the workers involved will be lifted from Asia and dropped into the US, but that doesn't actually make any sense to me. Sure, that's how the world knows how to make chips now, but given the varying laws betwe…

Why would it lead to dropoffs in quality? I think u are underestimating how much ingenuity workers of all cultures have when its encouraged. Considering the strength of American research universities, I believe that we might see gains in quality and productivity.

Re: Will young Americans want to work in semiconductor manufacturing? [video]

#132

Post by smegger001 »

bluedino wrote: post #116

Depends on the role. There's a place nearby where they produce raw silicon. They are rated three of five stars on Famous_Job_Site, and they only hire through a temp service, and you can be there ten years before getting hired in directly. Rules like if you miss X days or are late Y times you get fired. The worst job is probably poly breaker, where they have three shifts of people in protective suits that smash large…

that seems like a job that should have been replaced by a machine. no way it more effective to have people breaking that with hammers than to have machine do it.

also this country really needs stricter laws on what qualifies as a temp

Re: Will young Americans want to work in semiconductor manufacturing? [video]

#133

Post by ElevenLathe »

dmitriy_ko wrote: post #124
bluedino wrote: post #116

Depends on the role. There's a place nearby where they produce raw silicon. They are rated three of five stars on Famous_Job_Site, and they only hire through a temp service, and you can be there ten years before getting hired in directly. Rules like if you miss X days or are late Y times you get fired. The worst job is probably poly breaker, where they have three shifts of people in protective suits that smash large…

> poly breaker, where they have three shifts of people in protective suits that smash large pieces of silicon down with hammers Why is this done manually? wouldn't it be easy to automate?

No idea, but assuming this guy doesn't live in mid-Michigan, there's a plant here that hires people to do the same thing.

Re: Will young Americans want to work in semiconductor manufacturing? [video]

#134

Post by [deleted] »

KerrAvon wrote: post #115
nightski wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't M1 manufactured by TSMC? Are you saying TSMC has good pay and treats it's workers great? (it might I honestly don't know).

I'm not taking a position either way, butI believe the poster is talking about the design/integration phase.

[deleted]

Re: Will young Americans want to work in semiconductor manufacturing? [video]

#135

Post by bee_rider »

TylerE wrote: post #107
rcarr wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone I know who got an apprenticeship after school instead of going to uni are absolutely raking it in and have enjoyed a significantly better quality of life than their uni going peers. I personally can’t see how the uni goers will end up having a better time in the long run as the official narrative goes. The majority of the tradies seem to end up buying multiple houses and going the landlord route for early re…

Ask them about their back and knees when they’re 50.

Sitting in a chair is really unhealthy, so it isn't like the programmers have dodged selling their bodies for a nice salary.

Re: Will young Americans want to work in semiconductor manufacturing? [video]

#136

Post by madrox »

pm90 wrote: post #131
JimmieMcnulty wrote: post #14

Honestly, based on the content of this video and the replies from the prior HN thread, it seems like folks are locked into the belief that the current manufacturing... "experience" (for lack of a better term) for the workers involved will be lifted from Asia and dropped into the US, but that doesn't actually make any sense to me. Sure, that's how the world knows how to make chips now, but given the varying laws betwe…

Why would it lead to dropoffs in quality? I think u are underestimating how much ingenuity workers of all cultures have when its encouraged. Considering the strength of American research universities, I believe that we might see gains in quality and productivity.

I think OP is agreeing with you

Re: Will young Americans want to work in semiconductor manufacturing? [video]

#137

Post by tristor »

xwdv wrote: post #100
tristor wrote: post #63

I have worked with a lot of people that escaped from fab jobs here in the US during my career. The biggest issue I see is that manufacturing has an absolutely grueling schedule and the pay is half or less than what equivalent level software jobs pay, with worse working conditions. If you want young Americans to work these jobs, you need to pay /more/ than software jobs, because the conditions are worse. Otherwise, yo…

A lot of people cannot escape. And it often surprises me how many people really don’t want to work in software.

Ironically, I much prefer hardware to software myself, but during college (while studying EE) decided that it was a deadend career path and figured out a way to be software-adjacent without having to be a developer. It worked out pretty well for me so far.

The reality is that most people follow incentives, almost nobody works their actual dream job, they work the job that they have the most return for their abilities and investment. HW and SW jobs used to have a lot of overlap from an abilities perspective, but as each has become more specialized that overlap has eroded. A lot of people are choosing to go all-in on software, whether they particularly love it or not, because it is a far better environment to work in.

Re: Will young Americans want to work in semiconductor manufacturing? [video]

#139

Post by mhh__ »

bee_rider wrote: post #135
TylerE wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ask them about their back and knees when they’re 50.

Sitting in a chair is really unhealthy, so it isn't like the programmers have dodged selling their bodies for a nice salary.

"really" unhealthy

Re: Will young Americans want to work in semiconductor manufacturing? [video]

#140

Post by rr888 »

tristor wrote: post #63

I have worked with a lot of people that escaped from fab jobs here in the US during my career. The biggest issue I see is that manufacturing has an absolutely grueling schedule and the pay is half or less than what equivalent level software jobs pay, with worse working conditions. If you want young Americans to work these jobs, you need to pay /more/ than software jobs, because the conditions are worse. Otherwise, yo…

> you need to pay /more/ than software jobs

The other way to do that is cut the wages of software jobs. Honestly with the glut of young developers and remote working it has started to happen already.

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