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Comment by snakeyjake | Hacker News Reader

I feel like I'm living in a parallel universe.

My company has approximately 1,000 open positions for engineers. Not "build a website" or "use AI to sell ads" engineer but "build a TX tuner for spaceborne synthetic aperture radar from scratch" engineer.

We don't grant massive quantities of stock as part of a get rich quick lottery scheme, but I make over 3x the current US annual household income in an area where a 4 bedroom house on an acre and a half is $400k and that's enough. Anyone who thinks that isn't enough is crazy-- sociopathic, even.

Maybe there's not a shortage of biology and IT skills and coding bootcamp grads but there is a shortage of people who took, and paid attention in, a linear algebra class.

There is 100%, irrefutably, undoubtedly, unquestionably, a shortage of engineers. Actual engineers not "use AI to sell crypto ads" engineers.

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1000 open positions? They should hire people for work/study programs, train them, pay for their education, and then they'll have a pipeline of engineers they so desire.

Unfortunately, companies think they can skip investing in their people and expect people to spend $100k+ just for the privilege of applying to some company that doesn't respect their work/life balance and wants to pay them $50k/yr to start. Hard pass.

They should hire people for work/study programs, WE DO

train them, WE DO I started over a decade ago as a technical writer and am now a senior principal engineer.

pay for their education, WE DO I had to get a degree and the company paid for almost all of it. They flexed my schedule and looked the other way when I slacked off due to fatigue because I was a single parent of three daughters at the time. Any cert I want, any conference I want, any class I want- gets paid for. Gratis (except owing them time).

and then they'll have a pipeline of engineers they so desire. WE DON'T

Highschool work study participants are paid $34.62/hr which is $72k full time, which is just below what techs earn. College engineering interns are paid more. New hires even more.

Also highschool work study participants are given full benefits. Have you ever tried to explain health insurance and 401k to a 17-year-old?

Like I said, I feel like I'm living in a parallel dimension.

I do not know where people work.

I do know that if you're a god damned receptionist at my company or any of our competi-mates and you say "hmmm.. can I take some classes to try to get more technical" they will throw wheelbarrows full of cash at you. They will give you WAAAAAY past the non-taxable benefit for education and then give you a raise or bonus to cover the taxes.

Kind of a weird reply. What it sounds like they need is an EE with experience in radio/comms. That’s a rare skillset these days. I’m not sure why that’s rage worthy.

What's your company and how can you get experience in this kind of engineering?

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