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ASIAMS.NET |
ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
TIME FOR AA TO LEAVE SILICON VALLEY?
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:53:41 PM)
or two decades the computer industry seemed the Asian American railroad to surefire prosperity. A seemingly inexhaustible demand for tech talent, astronomical starting salaries, dizzying sign-up bonuses and stock options that doubled in value every month made an engineering or computer science degree seem like a license to print money.
Now Silicon Valley reels from a relentless onslaught of bad news -- worthless options, hiring freezes, perpetual layoffs, bankruptcies. Graduates of top universities are pounding the pavement in search of jobs. Many AA are starting to think they've been suckered into investing the best years of their lives to buy a ticket onto a sinking ship. Some have already begun lookin into the prospects of mid-career changes.
Is it time for the best and brightest AA to leave Silicon Valley for greener pastures? Or are we overreacting to a dip on the road to tech riches?
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WHAT YOU SAY
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To Ur Dead Wrong
Wait just one minute. Your assumption of me being a squirrel who hasn't gathered his nuts is wrong. Believe me, I have plenty of nuts!
Your point of time being precious and as a person gets older and less and less time proves my point that a job is just a job. Do your 40 hrs and get the heck out. Go enjoy the rest of your life. Don't make work your life. It's the people who have the crappy home life that work the most..... work becomes a place of solace and a shelter from the wife and kids. Believe me, if my wife and kids were really nagging me every day, I would be at work 24/7.
And as for my crappy job, well, between you and me, they pay me just enough and give me enough options to withstand the crappiness and bumblingness. My point is, that I work to make money.... period... there isn't a altruistic motivation other than greed.... Money is Good, now go find and do what ever it takes to make more....and forget the "I need to find a "good" job crap."
So, what you're saying is that we should strive and die for a tinge of greatness? Busting my butt all my life for a sip of the golden nectar? No way, that's not my trip. That's like the Queen bee telling the worker bee, make all the honey you can, then I'll let you have a taste before I kill you......
Without greed, one can never achieve.
Show Me Da $$$
Saturday, August 18, 2001 at 12:30:26 (PDT)
Oops, I guess my wobbly attempt at lightening the situation is not working for Mr. Show Me Da $$$ and Mr. Ur Dead Wrong. Here, I see issues that you two have missed completely. I have a few comments for each of you.
Mr. Show Me Da $$$, if you are working only for the check on Friday, then I do believe you are mismatched in your career. I think that if I had to do something I absolutely hated, then the only thing that I would look forward to would be my check. Nothing I do would make me happy and I would have no sense of accomplishments or pride in my work. If you actually did what you really loved to do, then you would have one more thing to look forward to other than your check, and that would be your work-in-progress or your accomplished goals. I've actually brought home my work on many weekends simply because I was enjoying the challenge and didn't want to stop because I was on a roll.
Also, is your wife gainfully employed? If she brings in some of da $$$, this will aleviate much of your monetary problems as well as your stress. If she's not bringing home anything, she has no right to nag at you for not being able to support her in the manner that she feels she's entitled to. Your best bet is to find another woman, one who will stand by her man through the worst of times and support him emotionally, even if she is unable to support him financially.
Mr. Ur Dead Wrong, you state that "...A job becomes a lifetime passion if it gives a person influence, power, fame and of course, money". But what if the job you love doesn't pay much? Let's say you're a beleaguered highschool teacher in a ghetto area from a poor state like Mississippi. Or better yet, let's say your job is that of giving care and love to your children (yes, I do consider being a full-time Mother a very very important job). In each of these cases, your job does NOT give you any influence, power, fame or money even though you have prepared yourself extensively at the onset of your career. In this situation, no matter how hard you work, you will never get ahead! Does that mean then that teaching or parenting can never become a lifetime passion? I would have to respectfully disagree with you here and point out that many non-monetized jobs do bring immense satisfaction without the trappings of fame, influence, power, or even much money.
Regards
MLK
Friday, August 17, 2001 at 13:37:10 (PDT)
To Show Me Da $$$,
Let's get these matters straighten out. First of all, being a married man with kids requires a hefty responsiblity. I do agree with you on this one. Money is to be made so that it can be used resourcefully not wastefully as with some young person in their 20's would do.
However, you ever heard of a saying which says gather resources when plentiful for difficult times to come? Well, obviously you haven't done your work. Time is precious and when you get older, your passions and goals are harder to fulfill. You apparently didn't pursue your goals hard enough when you were younger so therefore now you have a crappy and bumbling job with some nagging kids and a wife on top of that.
Can a person love their job? Absolutely, it happens when a job gives a person both personal satisfaction and a large sum of money (this will solve many of the monetary issues you have with your wife and children). A job becomes a lifetime passion if it gives a person influence, power, fame and of course, money. Not that many individuals have a job that includes all these things but if one works hard at it, he or she might be able to attain them. The cunning Machiavelli have said in his book as we know it to be the Prince. He said an ordinary man may never reach the greatness of a superhuman, but if he strives hard at it, he will at least feel a tinge of greatness. This also proves why many Asian Americans are so competitive and tend to outperform other groups in school or in the workplace. Think about it!
Without enthusiasm, one can never perform well.
I have said enough. Take care.
Ur Dead Wrong
Thursday, August 16, 2001 at 16:39:18 (PDT)
"To Show Me Da $$$,
You sound more like a blue collar working class person than someone with a $$$ tech paying job.
Maybe that's why you're so disgruntled. LOL....."
HaHaHa Ur Dead Wrong Tuesday, July 31, 2001 at 17:25:30 (PDT)
=======
Are you telling me that what you do defines you as a person? Come on, you can't pull that crap on me. The only reason you're working is for the checks on Friday. Don't give me your egalitarian viewpoint that money doesn't matter and what you do in life is important and it defines who you are as a person.
Let me guess, you must be single without any responsibilities other than to feed your mouth (well, unless mommy does that for you) and cloth yourself. Now, if you were married with children, you'd have so many things on your mind that your pathetic job doesn't really matter. You're just trying your best to survive. So, if the means job-hopping for the next gold mine, so be it. Don't blind yourself with the BS that you are your job. The old mantra of "Work to eat and eat to work," doesn't cut it anymore.
Now, whether you're writing XML, caculating ROI's on the next Must-Cost project, or performing Nastran/Patran calcs.... it doesn't matter. My point, however myopic, is that you'll be doing whatever it requires to make more money. You're not in it for the glory.... you're in it for the paycheck. If you don't believe that, well, donate 25% of the weekly income to a charitble cause.... no? I didn't think so.
P.S. What is wrong with a blue collar working class person? Are you assuming that a white collar person is innately superior than one that is of the blue persuation? Or is this the elitist attitude of a new generation of nouveau rich? Give a boy a few options and he thinks he owns the world.....
Show Me Da $$$
Monday, August 13, 2001 at 17:30:27 (PDT)
It was one of those really really HOT days when the temperature was soaring into the mid eighties in the shade, that I decided to leave Silicon Valley in search of better conditions elsewhere. Sitting underneath a large leafy palm tree in that aforementioned shade, I perched my RayBans on my nose and slurped a frosty Margarita as I scoured the laptop for a cool new deal in Anytown Nebraska.
Holy Schmoly! A mansion over there only costs a couple of hundred thousand bucks! Cheepie like a birdie, especially when all you can buy with two hundred grand here is either a cheap, run-down, tiny apartment-looking condo or a mobile home and live like trailer trash. And oh my, gas is only a buck or so a gallon! I can afford to get a SUV now and go dirtbike riding in the flat corn fields of Nebraska! Whoopie!
My little puppy jumps on a guava fruit and attacks it with a vengeance that made me laugh. The guava was half her size, and she was growling at it and wrestling it to the ground as if it was her mortal enemy. She was getting fat off the ripe guavas dropping from the tree in front of my bedroom window. In fact, she's the only dog I know that likes tropical fruits. I wonder if Nebraska has any guava trees. I wonder if Nebraska has any trees.
I looked at the bright blue sky above and smiled at the soft southern breeze that was sashaying in through the trees. Then I looked at my blooming garden that flowered for much of the year because the weather was so fair. I inhaled deeply of the aroma of the roses mingled with faint traces of puppy poop and decided that I was starting to get a little high off of the heady scent mixture. I logged off the Net and turned off my laptop. I think I'll stay in paradise as long as I possibly can.
MLK
Friday, August 03, 2001 at 15:19:27 (PDT)
To Show Me Da $$$,
You sound more like a blue collar working class person than someone with a $$$ tech paying job.
Maybe that's why you're so disgruntled. LOL.....
HaHaHa Ur Dead Wrong
Tuesday, July 31, 2001 at 17:25:30 (PDT)
It's human instinct to follow the money trail. It's how most people live. They ascertain where the money is being made and will lead themselves down that path. It may not be their lifelong ambition, but when the baby is crying and the wife is naggin' -- it behooves one to find a lucrative career.
Now, as mid-life approaches, it will become apparent that one's job is just a job. And that any job becomes just a job. Those with rose colored glasses will tell ya' that you gotta do what you want in life. Let me tellya, very few people do what they want in life. Most of the population do what is necessary to survive. We're not a nation of "trust account" kiddies. It's not about being cynical or greedy. It's a matter of survival on instincts.
After the end of the day, no matter how great your job is; it's just a stinking job. It's what is at home that counts not what you do at work. So, like the Olympics, go for the gold baby.... if you don't, some other joker will.......
Show Me Da $$$
Wednesday, July 25, 2001 at 17:54:29 (PDT)
Nothing to say about Silicon Valley. And that it " Sucks!" I'm going where all the Asians go... and that is Seattle.
nobody special
Monday, July 23, 2001 at 10:06:38 (PDT)
I find this quite a trend - most (not all) Asians are quick to be stereotypical and cynical. Unless there is an up-and-coming lucrative industry, AA would be an omnipresence in the computer industry. Maybe this recessive economy would force us all to rethink WHAT do we wanna do for the next 40 years of our lives, instead of WHERE the money is.
To answer the questions on the post, I don't think any AA in love with computers should leave just yet. Those who are overreacting are those who are usually lured for the $$, and not their lifelong ambition.
jukoh
Thursday, July 19, 2001 at 09:58:26 (PDT)
Silicon Valley is where
Housing is New York City expensive,
And traffic is Los Angeles bad,
But at least something unique we have,
Is the outrageous gas.
Gals are all ugly yet taken,
Cuz it is like Engineering Schools,
A place where ugly Engineers are in hell,
And ugly gals are in heaven.
I Hate Silicon Valley
Thursday, July 12, 2001 at 00:03:47 (PDT)
My friends and I treated our jobs as lottery tickets. Chasing the illusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Well, it turns out that most of us never found that pot. And now, with all the dot.bombs blowing-up without a santuary in sight, we're packing our bags and leaving the land of the geeks and heading south to LA-LA land.
At least down south we can bask in the sun and best of all, we no longer have to pay mortgage sized rent. In essence, we're fleeing one gold rush in search of another. Perhaps, a few of us will be lucky enough to taste the golden nectar. Whatever happens, The Gold Rush of the late 90's will never be forgotten; especially those holding the ticket on a sinking ship.
Just another passerby
Friday, June 22, 2001 at 16:47:17 (PDT)
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