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The global economy is causing industries to go separate ways in the Bay Area

As global economic trouble continues to hurt businesses in the United States and abroad, a wider variety of industries in the U.S. are beginning to weaken.  Silicon Valley, for example, at first seemed indifferent about the sluggish economy, but now is beginning to suffer alongside other industries.

Cisco Systems announced its sales will likely drop 10 percent in the next quarter compared to last year, with Hewlett-Packard and other companies likely to feel the ripple effect.

Sun Microsystems recently suffered a brutal $1.67 billion quarterly loss, and is expected to announce more job cuts in the future.

Yahoo and Google also have been forced to reduce their work force, with other companies big and small also preparing for another wave of job cuts.

The problems will soon plague Silicon Valley and could be "longer than what we thought two months ago," said Steven Levy of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy.  

Biotechnology is thriving at the moment, and the U.S. Department of Labor expects biomedical engineering to be the fastest growing occupation through 2014.

Indeed, during a recent trip to the San Francisco Bay Area, it seems the local biotech companies are hiring researchers and scientists at a staggering pace.  Companies such as Bayer, Genentech and Novartis continue to recruit bright talent to help create the next generation of pharmaceuticals, while companies in other sectors are announcing job cuts.

Graduate degrees often times are necessary for entry-level bioengineering positions, but companies and organizations such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) are available to help students prepare for biotech positions.

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Crisis
By Plester on 11/11/2008 11:31:58 AM , Rating: 5
We are preparing to step with both feet into the deepest sh!t any of us has ever seen.




RE: Crisis
By jonmcc33 on 11/11/2008 12:42:55 PM , Rating: 2
Ooops, we already stepped into it. Worst part is? Our pants are down too!


RE: Crisis
By amanojaku on 11/11/2008 12:58:07 PM , Rating: 3
It's not safe to have your pants down in the bay area... Right or wrong, I'm saying it before someone else does. ;-)


RE: Crisis
By deeznuts on 11/11/2008 4:22:01 PM , Rating: 2
Yes. it is quite cold up there. Don't want to give off the wrong impression!

Cue George Costanza "I was in the pool!"


RE: Crisis
By Omega215D on 11/11/2008 9:20:26 PM , Rating: 2
What if they wanted to taste the rainbow?

Anyway I would wear more than just pants what with all that smug around. =P


RE: Crisis
By kbehrens on 11/11/2008 9:58:30 PM , Rating: 2
After reading this thread I have to admit I'm totally lost. I guess I need to get out more.


RE: Crisis
By amanojaku on 11/11/2008 11:19:00 PM , Rating: 2
The San Francisco Bay Area is known to have a large gay and lesbian population, hence my tasteless joke about it being unsafe to have your pants down there. I travel a lot so I can say that every place has a lot of gay and lesbian residents; the Bay Area, like New York's Greenwich Village, is one of the few places where they can be open about it and not get the snot beaten out of them. The rainbow is a symbol of gay pride. Yes, you really need to get out more seeing as how some of your neighbors, even the married ones, might actually be gay. Or maybe you should stay INSIDE if you're homophobic. Or gay. In Jamaica, among other places, being gay is a death sentence as people will kill you. In fact, it's against the law.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_flag_(LGBT_comm...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beard_(female_compani...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Jamaic...


RE: Crisis
By abzillah on 11/11/2008 2:24:32 PM , Rating: 2
Biotech strong my ass. I graduated in June and I have applied to over 600 places, and none have offered me a job yet. That's a bunch of BS. Some places that were interested canceled the position.


RE: Crisis
By snownpaint on 11/11/2008 2:39:05 PM , Rating: 2
All areas are going to be hurting.. Bite Down, Hold Tight, and Suck it Up.. It is going to get allot worse before it gets better.. "both feet in, pants down, and pissing into the wind.."


RE: Crisis
By Ammohunt on 11/11/2008 2:45:46 PM , Rating: 2
Experience matters in this job market.


RE: Crisis
By Oregonian2 on 11/11/2008 10:38:55 PM , Rating: 2
Good or bad? I've 35 years of experience and I was laid off last week (EE).


RE: Crisis
By LordNorthmore on 11/12/2008 10:50:44 AM , Rating: 2
Though on the same token the less experience you have the less the company is going to be paying you. I expect more companies to be looking at a balance with say a few researchers/engineers/whatever with a lot of experience leading a bunch who are fresh graduates with maybe 2-3 years under their belts.


RE: Crisis
By The0ne on 11/12/2008 11:07:01 AM , Rating: 2
Sorry to hear that. It's tough right now, tougher than 2003 and I've gone through that myself. Stick to it though because there's nothing else you can do. Good luck.


By phxfreddy on 11/11/2008 1:43:59 PM , Rating: 2
...because the economy will take longer to rationalize.

http://www.amarketplaceofideas.com/nonlinear-modes...




By FITCamaro on 11/11/2008 3:02:37 PM , Rating: 2
Thank the liberal movement. One that governs with its emotions rather than common sense. Emotions say "help the poor" and "stop people from losing jobs". Common sense says "let it happen now so it doesn't happen worse later".

I think the US should adopt the motto of "Show Me the Money". Since that's how everyone is choosing to vote. Based of what they'll get in the short term. No thought what so ever towards the long.


By phxfreddy on 11/11/2008 3:12:53 PM , Rating: 2
Actually "show me the money" would work well....that is to say "Cash on the barrel head" ....or no deal. Excessive credit / easy money is what caused it all.


By The0ne on 11/12/2008 11:10:14 AM , Rating: 2
Just from my 15 years of experience I think this ride is going to be much longer for everyone to recover. There's just so much going on now that so many people/families are affected. I also believe due to this, many of them are changing their thinking when it comes to politics, economy, job and even the basics such as food, gas, travel, entertainment, etc.

I thought 2003 was terrible having gone through it myself but this is much worse.


Layoffs
By phorensic on 11/11/2008 2:46:13 PM , Rating: 2
Well, I can vouch for this news story. Last week it was announced that all of our lower level IT in our large company was being laid off as of Dec 31st and then outsourced to another company. However, we have first dibs to interview with that company. This comes as sort of a delayed fallout compared to other industries. Many other types of jobs have been cut, but now it looks like it's IT's turn.




RE: Layoffs
By eickst on 11/11/2008 3:08:20 PM , Rating: 2
You got laid off because you like to shoot guns at work not because your company is in trouble. And don't lie....I know the truth!

We haven't experienced any cuts here. Phorensic, I think the fact that you worked for an insurance company had more to do with the cuts that anything wrong in the IT industry.

But it goes to show that we are all effected by this crappy economy.


RE: Layoffs
By phorensic on 11/11/2008 4:22:24 PM , Rating: 2
Ahahaha. I didn't know you read Dailytech. Well, at least my interview went well today!


RE: Layoffs
By Ananke on 11/11/2008 3:14:35 PM , Rating: 2
IT specialists are, in general, very expensive. That's why from a management stand point are ones of the first to go.
Also, R&D....Research can be cut, since no new technology will result in higher sales in short future anyway. Strategically this may sound false, but first the company has to survive to the long term, then to start spending strategically.

The guy with "show me the money" should understand that the last decade this was actually our moto, so here we are in an ocean of SH!T now :)


Seems like there's something wrong here...
By Chipper Smoltz DT on 11/12/2008 1:18:03 AM , Rating: 2
Hello Guys and Gals,

First off, most of those companies mentioned are manufacturing companies that rely on the sales of their equipments and other "stuff". But without the demand for them, they don't get to sell anything... I know am not that an intelligent of a person but it seems that we could stop this "bleeding" once it happens again, "hopefully not"... by:

1. Why not start manufacturing when there are demands for the product itself in the near future. I know that sometimes the customer wants the product/s immediately but I believe that with so many automated assembly plants this would be easy. Instead of keeping on manufacturing hoping for those things that's being manufactured to be sold in the near future, why not not adopt a "pull" way of manufacturing, that is when there is "demand". As it is, the manufacturing company will tie up most of its resources in useless merchandise inventory and since there is no demand for their products... they will just accumulate dust and cobwebs somewhere in the factory and will become defective should they not be properly stored.

2. For company owners and CEOs, everytime there is something that becomes more expensive that could factor into the cost of the product (transportation costs, electricity cost, etc.), the reaction would be to increase prices so as to offset these costs. But, doing so would not help since if the price increase can be felt by consumers from other stuff that they purchase, do you believe that they would still purchase your product if it's not really a necessity?
During hard times, most people basically put their money on "needs" and not "wants". Rich people can still afford to buy their "wants" even if they're more expensive but that's just a fraction of the total population and even then, most of them are wise when it comes to spending on stuff. So why not price your products at the same price or increasing by a small amount (by sacrificing your profit margins) even though your profits would not be as good as it was before. By doing this, it would at least hopefully encourage people to patronize your products and your companies' could still have some decent earnings. At least in your own way you could help people continue to spend and it would help your company to still earn inspite of the rising costs or operating expenses.

3. Maybe when everything will be well, it's time to start investing in alternative sources of energy, software to automate some business operations and maybe look into outsourcing (cut down on operating expenses) so that you could sell a product that is cheaper... again not purely for profit but with the hopes that in doing so it could help other people as well since your product is basically cheaper thus they spend less and can spend some for other things and stuff. Consumption is a big driver of any economy and without people buying or if they cut down on spending - it's a "domino effect" that is not good for any economy - one such effect being the company without any sales would have to cut down on costs - such as retail shops, manufacturing sites, and even their employees that without any source of income would not be able to spend or "consume" - the "bad cycle".

"Hoping for America to get well soon...then we will too hopefully..."




By Murloc on 11/12/2008 1:43:23 PM , Rating: 2
nice wall of text


"A politician stumbles over himself... Then they pick it out. They edit it. He runs the clip, and then he makes a funny face, and the whole audience has a Pavlovian response." -- Joe Scarborough on John Stewart over Jim Cramer

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