The Hindu Business Line : Of fast cars, rising costs, and work blends

As you drive from San Francisco airport to San Jose amidst picturesque redwood trees with Toyota Prius hybrids and six-door stretch Lincoln limousines and Harleys zipping by, it begins to sink in that this entire region referred to as Silicon Valley has a distinctly different aura and lifestyle.

As one passes through the Bay Area with $1 million-plus luxury villas dotting the hillside, the profound impact of products and services of thousands of technology companies such as Intel and Sun, and the ecosystem created by the Stanford University located in the vicinity, gradually becomes all pervasive.

While discussions around possible economic slowdown and the US presidential elections continue intermittently, two major concerns centre around spiralling gas prices and real estate value coming down.

Loving the culture

During a brief stay in San Jose, and interactions with a cross section of people, it comes out that they love the valley culture, live with high costs (this is one of the costliest parts of the US) as they also earn more, and significantly, have a great work-life balance.

A resident in the region, Mr Bob Turek, who recently moved over to a new job after changes in the old company, explained that what they have witnessed after the dotcom crash and 9/11, has made them strong enough to withstand any changes.

Be it the Tech Museum where Intel hosted a get together or Microsoft’s Billiards and Beer in the midst of scores of tables, it’s a clear demonstration of how they blend best of work with off-work networking.

Mr Michael J. Palma, a senior research analyst with IDC, said “the impact of the sub-prime crisis will take a couple of quarters to be negated. However, as enterprises try and extract more out of their IT spend, there is likelihood of outsourcing to low-cost destinations going up.”

Student-speak

Mr Santosh Racherla, a student at the San Jose University pursing his Masters in VLSI design, said what is significant is the exposure a student gets in the technology-intensive hub of the world.

Another techie from India, working for a US insurance firm on behalf of an IT major here, requesting anonymity, said, “most of the work is being shifted to Texas to save costs.”

When you think of the Valley, one is reminded of the popular Eagles number from the 1976 album ‘Hotel California’, titled ‘Life in the fast lane’, about fast cars and heady lifestyles.

More Stories on : Information Technology | Lifestyle

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page