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UK's hardware talent is being wasted

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Re: UK's hardware talent is being wasted

#851

Post by twic »

GasVeteran wrote: post #433
dzhiurgis wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait what. Quality of life in rural UK is worse than rat race of London?

Depends what you mean by "Quality of Life". I literally won't go to see friends because that would mean travelling to London. I hate the place. It is expensive, hostile, dirty and everyone is rude. I live on the outskirts of the peak district. I can walk/cycle less than 30 minutes out of town and be walking along the old canals, through old villages and get amazing views of the countryside.

> everyone is rude

I take it you've never been to Yorkshire then?

Re: UK's hardware talent is being wasted

#852

Post by constantcrying »

fxtentacle wrote: post #208
mrtksn wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree, the problem in Europe is not regulations or anything like that - it is a mindset issue. It is one of things that europeans can learn from Americans. My hypothesis is that this is a combination of old money and class consciousness. In other words, the rich are risk averse because all they care is preserving their wealth and the working class don’t believe and can’t even imagine that more is possible.

In Germany, you can typically finance the first 1-3 years of your start-up through government gifts like "EXIST". That's why you don't need early seed investors.

Great that the German government makes some of the most start up unfriendly employment laws and funds these doomed start ups at the same time.

This is really ridiculously and needs to stop.

Re: UK's hardware talent is being wasted

#854

Post by cap11235 »

CharlieDigital wrote: post #657
Animats wrote: post #137

If engineering isn't near the factory, it's not as effective. Here's one of the most generic electronic components - a 1K resistor.[1] These sell for about US$0.0015 each. DigiKey has a list of many suppliers. There are a few old-line US resistor makers in there, including Bourns and Ohmite. They're price competitive with Chinese companies. But when you look up their engineering job locations, none are in the US or U…

Taiwan is kinda nice though? And just a short hop to Japan for holidays or even long weekends.

Taiwan is the only Asian country that has western sensibilities. Gay? Who cares.

Re: UK's hardware talent is being wasted

#855

Post by jillyboel »

flir wrote: post #779
hintymad wrote: post #679

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UK ignited the First Industrial Revolution. It's sad to see that UK has slipped to number 16 or lower when it came to the market share of global manufacturing. And the problem is not to just UK, but to pretty much all the developed countries. Many nations and people have benefited greatly from globalization, but I have to ask: is it worth it if the cost is forfeiting my own country's manufacturing know-how and supply…

When I was a kid (80s) I knew old boys with lathes and mills and pillar drills at the bottom of the garden. They were the last generation, I think, of a tradition rooted in the Victorian era which informally transferred a lot of knowledge from one generation to the next. My pet theory is that their disappearance is tied closely to the cost of land. I see US-based hardware hobbyists' shops on YouTube, and I think "I c…

It's insane how much space there is in America, and most Americans don't realize this beyond a simple "america big".

Re: UK's hardware talent is being wasted

#856

Post by brewdad »

constantcrying wrote: post #840
graemep wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that people think property is a risk free way of making money - even if they borrow heavily to invest. Maybe what we need is a property price crash.

>Maybe what we need is a property price crash. What is needed is a steady decrease in demand or an increase in supply. The cost of living crisis is directly caused by the huge bureaucracy needed to build new housing. And speculators are benefiting from that. As long as governments are unwilling to let go of regulations housing costs will only increase.

There is no appetite for increasing supply anywhere in the West. Maybe Trump will get us into WWIII and we can shift the demand curve.

Re: UK's hardware talent is being wasted

#857

Post by monero-xmr »

James_K wrote: post #235
monero-xmr wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s exhausting trying to explain this to American leftists. They believe the UK / EU is rich, their healthcare is amazing and “free”, and no one has to work more than 35 hours a week. They visit London and Paris once in 10 years for vacation and think they understand the economic order.

You should understand that the American situation is, in fact, much worse than ours in many ways. For instance, the average American pays a 40% tax rate compared to our 25% once you account for healthcare.

The majority of Americans pay 0% tax. They get free healthcare via Medicaid or Obamacare, and get refunded any taxes paid by the EITC.

The richest Americans pay an outsized amount of taxes.

The upper middle class pays a very low tax rate. If your family income is less than $500,000 per year, your blended tax rate will be around 35%.

Europeans do pay taxes for their healthcare. You can't "hide" the taxes Europeans pay, that is illogical

Re: UK's hardware talent is being wasted

#858

Post by scientism »

BuyMyBitcoins wrote: post #369
DoingIsLearning wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really starts at a young age. I remember playing (my) football (your soccer) in school and my neighbourhood as a kid. If you were going to strike you needed to be pretty sure that you can score or that you can take the heat from your team mates if you fail. In contrast watching kids play sports in the US, everyone is constantly trying to lift each other up after failure. These small cultural differences easily add…

Spot on. I’ve met several foreign exchange students during my time at university. A simple observation from one of them really stuck with me: “You Americans really like to help strangers.” The “happy go lucky” observation squares with what I have been told by my Eastern European friend. Any stranger, or mere acquaintance, who is friendly and offering help is likely trying to obligate you into repaying the favor later…

A theory I've heard of why this happens is that Europeans are generally suspicious because there is a lot of international trauma considering Europe was the center of two World Wars, both relatively recently. The US on the other hand didn't have that imprinted in its collective memory.

Re: UK's hardware talent is being wasted

#859

Post by twic »

retrac98 wrote: post #373
nextos wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To some extent, this also applies to software. Except for DeepMind and a few other select places like Altos Labs, getting past £100k is hard , especially outside London. Unless you go into finance, of course. But then, you have to stick to London. Finance is like a black hole that sucks a big chunk of the mathematical, CS and statistical UK talent. They have very proactive recruiters trying to e.g. connect with Oxbri…

I know plenty of engineers (web application developers) making over £100-£150k outside of London, usually in fairly low-stress remote jobs. The pay is clearly nothing compared to the US, but I wouldn’t say it was massively hard for them to get where they are. They all have 5+ years experience at a senior level, and are otherwise just reliable, capable, low-maintenance employees, but maybe that’s rare!

Just want to echo the other replies and say i think this is rare. It happens, but it's rare. I have >15 years experience, and currently work in finance making plenty. A while ago, i spoke to a recruiter about opportunities outside finance; everything he had topped out at ~90k for engineers, a bit higher for team leads.

But then, i also have friends working at a few non-finance companies on 100-150k. Small places, willing to pay for quality. Seems to be unusual though!

Re: UK's hardware talent is being wasted

#860

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

tormeh wrote: post #822
ashergill wrote: post #663

> The reality for most graduates is even grimmer: > • £25,000 starting salaries at traditional engineering firms > • Exodus to consulting or finance just because it's compensated better This is _exactly_ my career so far. The key thing about the British economy is that while most things operate in a free market, construction is centrally planned by councillors who are incentivised to block most development. So the wh…

This is a disease that has infected the entire West. It's just become impossible to do anything that requires space. Even industrial giants like Germany are now de-industrializing because it's just too hard to get permits for building anything new. Sure, labor costs, energy costs, environmental regulations, etc. are all bothersome, but what really makes German industry emigrate is how hard it is to get permission to…

What statistic are you citing for your claim that "Germany is now de-industrializing" ?
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