WTF #21: Can’t Buy Me Love
Three weeks ago, I offered one of my analog IC designers a 30% raise, hoping to entice him to stay with the company. Unfortunately, he’s still leaving despite our better offer than his soon-to-be new employer. Back in WTF #18, I mentioned that salary wasn’t the only issue and in fact, wasn’t even the main issue. He had other personal reasons to leave and I was trying my best to accommodate him. At the end of the day, I wasn’t able to convince upper management to make that accommodation. Hence, all the leverage I had remaining was money and my charming personality. Apparently, both failed miserably. Analog IC desginers are hard to come by in China. I’ve recently hired four and they weren’t exactly my top choices. But given market conditions, I’m forced to go with the traditional route of hiring those with good foundations and then developing them in-house.…
Weekend Journal — Leaving An Engineering Job
Friday was my last day at my job. I had put in my two week notice on the 21st of November. This was a choice that was a long time in the making; I decided to change jobs in order to get more design work than I currently had (my recently-departed job was partially a support role in manufacturing). So when I had the opportunity to work on some brand new products and learn a lot about a new industry, I jumped at the chance. And yes, I also had a net positive change in my salary, but this was not the primary motivator. I thought I’d do an article this week about leaving an engineering job and then try and do an article next week about starting an engineering job. If your math skills are keen, you’ll notice that I also took the opportunity to have a week off…