Detroit Outgrows Silicon Valley In Tech

**ndavies** · March-24-11, 08:29 AM

Some good news for the engineering and computer science majors. Salaries should be rising with the high demand.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...-on-hires.html

**English** · March-24-11, 09:09 AM

Now, this is a great story!!! Thanks for sharing this. It would be great if downtown Detroit was recreated as a tech hub...

**iheartthed** · March-24-11, 09:57 AM

So...

Silicon Valley is California

Silicon Alley is Manhattan

Silicon Prairie is the Plains states...

Silicon Urban Prairie = Detroit?

**innercitydoc** · March-24-11, 10:07 AM

Another positive article from CNBC: http://www.cnbc.com/id/42030774/Outs...obs_to_Detroit

**Red Devil** · March-24-11, 10:08 AM

Did I miss something or is Michigan State only going to graduate 54 computer science majors this year? What the heck is everyone else studying? "Business"? LOL

**English** · March-24-11, 10:18 AM

^ Or "English."

**maxx** · March-24-11, 10:28 AM

DId the federal gov. stop issueing H1-B visas?

**RaumVogel** · March-24-11, 11:12 AM

Please steer me to the site were I can apply for an IT job at Ford. I'd love to move back to Detroit.

**ndavies** · March-24-11, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by RaumVogel

Please steer me to the site were I can apply for an IT job at Ford. I'd love to move back to Detroit.

http://corporate.ford.com/careers/no...s/job-openings
Look under manufacturing/engineering

Most of these jobs are not traditional IT. Most are embedded software and electrical engineering jobs. IT has been outsourced to India based companies.

There's also plenty of Ford jobs listed on Monster. However few of them will say they are for Ford. The easiest way in is either through the Ford College Graduate program directly out of college or hired in through a contract house.

**RaumVogel** · March-24-11, 12:43 PM

Originally Posted by ndavies

http://corporate.ford.com/careers/no...s/job-openings
Look under manufacturing/engineering

Most of these jobs are not traditional IT. Most are embedded software and electrical engineering jobs. IT has been outsourced to India based companies.

There's also plenty of Ford jobs listed on Monster. However few of them will say they are for Ford. The easiest way in is either through the Ford College Graduate program directly out of college or hired in through a contract house.

Thanks,ndavies. I'll go check on Monster.

**Yooper** · March-24-11, 01:11 PM

I would act quickly Raum, because Ford is adding 300 white collar jobs in the next two years in their Michigan operations in the next two years.
There will be 10's of thousands of applicants, so act fast.

**Detroitnerd** · March-24-11, 02:08 PM

Some pretty vicious comments on the end of that article...

**Red Devil** · March-24-11, 02:18 PM

Outsourcing is great...here you can read about the results from Alan Mulally's outsourcing initiatives at Boeing, and how that company has paid a heavy price

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb...ltzik-20110215

**Yooper** · March-24-11, 02:30 PM

These articles are a dime a dozen, planted by corporate interests. That Detroit is even remotely compared to Silicon Valley is beyond comprehension. While I wish it were true, it's not. It's called investor relations. Anyone here remember the fluff pieces from CNBC on Countrywide, Enron, AIG, Lehman...? 300 tech jobs added to the roster at Ford is parlayed into Detroit overcoming Silicon Valley? Bizarre.

**bahbay** · March-24-11, 09:28 PM

Puuuleeeeze...

**Jimaz** · March-25-11, 05:51 PM

Originally Posted by ndavies

Most of these jobs are not traditional IT. Most are embedded software....

I've worked in both but their definitions have changed so much over the years that I'm not even sure I know what IT [[traditional or not) is anymore. It used to be that all software was considered to fall within IT. Most people seem to believe that IT consists entirely of help desk and PC repair techs. I've never done either of those [[well, officially). Is that all IT is anymore? What about compiler designers? Is that still considered to be within IT?

Regarding the fewer graduates today, I read somewhere that it's because students were discouraged from the field when so much work was offshored to India.

Thanks for the article!

**ndavies** · March-26-11, 08:00 AM

Originally Posted by Jimaz

I've worked in both but their definitions have changed so much over the years that I'm not even sure I know what IT [[traditional or not) is anymore. It used to be that all software was considered to fall within IT. Most people seem to believe that IT consists entirely of help desk and PC repair techs. I've never done either of those [[well, officially). Is that all IT is anymore? What about compiler designers? Is that still considered to be within IT?

Thanks for the article!

This comes from an automotive company specific definition of IT. It comes from a large organization needing to label/classsify all the jobs that need to be done in order to put millions of vehicles on the road. The IT department controls the systems that run the company. THey are involved in the business systems for managment, accounting, engineering, and the network to support all of that. The embedded systems people are the vehicle development engineers.

Sorry, I should have been more specific. These Ford jobs are not business systems jobs. They are new vehicle and component product development jobs. That's why they are listed under engineering/Manufacturing, not IT. They are still clasified as IT jobs. They just aren't in the IT department.

**ThisIsForTheHeart** · March-26-11, 09:19 AM

This does not help. No new economic sectors are created. Same old Auto industry. Detroit and Michigan need to diversify the economy and not put all egg's again in one basket.