Recruiting engineers from Asia - Panel Presentation. Badri Gopalan Synopsys Inc.,

Transcription

1 Recruiting engineers from Asia - Panel Presentation Badri Gopalan Synopsys Inc.,

2 Diversity the art of thinking independently together. Malcolm Stevenson Forbes

3 A disclaimer Any direct or implicit opinions expressed here are mine alone, and not approved by my employer.

4 Staffing an organization abroad with foreign-trained engineers Staffing an organization in Silicon Valley with foreigntrained engineers A few rules in getting the most out of a remote (foreign) team..

5 Staffing your engineering team abroad with overseas engineering talent Technical skill levels for beginning engineers Education focus may be different from on-the-job requirements Education systems in the US tend to produce job-ready engineers Experienced engineers tend to have different skills as well India: A push / impatience to graduate to management sooner? Project management skills typically lacking, and need investment in.. (on-the-job usually..) Teamwork skills For example: Asians tend to be uncomfortable with confrontation. As opposed to direct, being comfortable with confrontation etc., Communication proficiency differs Could be an issue for non-native English speaking countries. The world is certainly getting flatter here: English awareness is increasing rapidly? And then there are the cultural differences.. Commitment to the group cause (seems to be very high in Japan, Korea.. Low in India) Hierarchical functioning (vs. ability to be effective in matrix organizations) Creative / Lateral thinking (vs. following a pattern can be important in some industries) Execution orientation ( The rule ) Ethical systems (think: use / abuse of Intellectual Property, honor system etc.,)

6 Staffing your engineering team in Silicon Valley: foreign-born engineering talent Workers who have trained in the US assimilate easily: they have had time to adapt to unfamiliar systems.. Technical skill levels for beginning and experienced engineers My observation is that US-trained foreign engineers have comparable technical skills They also tend to be among elite students from their countries Project management skills may need to develop.. But this is probably the same for all engineers (regardless of origin) anyway Communication proficiency may be the issue in some functional capacities Marketing / sales vs. engineering

7 Developing an engineering pool Does having a Silicon Valley office offer any advantages? Talent pool: wide and deep Always an innovative and happening ambience Same-time zone promotes better productivity in high-touch projects Strong virtuous-cycle effect Perhaps a better and more open ecosystem EASIER TO INCUBATE AND DEVELOP CUTTING-EDGE TECHNOLOGY HERE Does locating elsewhere in the US or outside the US have different trade-offs? Financial incentives Global customer base: being close to your customers Understanding localization needs Multiple time zones promotes greater throughput in low-touch projects COST EFFECTIVE FOR TECHNOLOGY FOLLOW-UPS AND MAINTENANCE DIVERSITY OF WORKFORCE USUALLY A BENEFIT DISTRIBUTION OF WORK LOCATIONS SOMETIMES A BENEFIT

8 Putting it together: A remote business unit What is the best strategy for a Silicon Valley firm looking to get work done in India? A mix of experience levels (necessitated by talent availability) Fresh Engineers from good schools: Companies need to commit to training Experienced engineers and leaders mentoring them Time zone, travel costs and efficiency need consideration Needs a few committed leaders (local and remote) who Have a stake in success Understand the local issues Can be effective liaisons and champion May be expat engineers with good connections and visibility into parent Put in place a lightweight monitoring mechanism Expose the team to the user-market The best way to communicate the urgency, user requirements etc., Have a long-term commitment to develop the offshore group