A few days ago, I chatted with an engineer friend and wanted to set up a set of new products from their company. Unexpectedly, he opened the door and talked about a lot of industry insiders, so Kung Fu Auto decided to make an interview.
This friend is a senior engineer in the industry, working in a state-owned automobile research institute for 9 years, and then chose to jump to Great Wall Motors, and now works in his fourth year. When it comes to his new and old owners, he can be said to be a number of family treasures, and many of his views are refreshing.
Kung Fu Car can't do everything, but you can share his mental journey with everyone. If you happen to have a similarly confused reader, you can also provide a reference.
(1) Treatment and "running head"
When asked why he went to a private enterprise, his friend's answer was very crisp, and the most impressive point for him was the treatment. He is a typical workaholic, in the original research institute is actually more valued, in his words, performance is above B all year round, several salary increases have caught up. But Rao is so, his salary is still only 200,000, and after jumping to the Great Wall, his salary has doubled.
Of course, money is the focus, but the most crucial thing is still a question of development space. He is a more typical technical house, and he has always been more interested in technical research. In the original state-owned enterprise, after nine years of work, he had no technical challenges and few opportunities in his position. Further up, he can only consider turning to management and becoming a middle manager, and he is not interested in this aspect. But if he doesn't take this path, his chances of rising are very small.
He said that the distribution mechanism of state-owned enterprises, the ceiling of technical personnel and middle-level managers, is actually two or three hundred thousand, if there is no special opportunity, the highest is up to three hundred thousand. If you can become a senior manager, the salary can be multiplied, because the distribution rules are made by them, and often five or six executives in a department can get nearly half of the bonus, and the remaining hundreds of people are left.
But to become a senior manager, you need to "take advantage of the time and place", ability, team, opportunity are indispensable, and he does not have such an opportunity. His ceiling is a middle manager, and he doesn't like to take this road, so he thinks about it and decides to jump out.
After arriving at the Great Wall, not only has there been a big increase in salary, but also the room for growth is indeed greater. The Great Wall has begun to implement the equity incentive system in the past two years, promoting employee shareholding, they are no longer just "migrant workers", more like "partners", and the income has increased significantly compared with before. He said that compared with the "old owner", he was already equivalent to an expert-level salary, which would not be possible if he stayed in the original unit.
In his words, although the treatment can not be compared with the Internet and financial industries, as a practitioner of the traditional automotive industry, he is quite satisfied with this treatment. The key is that in the past few years of the Great Wall, the growth has also been great, and the technical connection with the front line of the industry has become closer. There were new forces that had spent more money to dig him up, but of course he didn't think about it, because he felt that there was still a lot to learn.
(2) From "bottom-up" to "top-down"
Since the income has increased a lot, has the intensity of work also doubled? In the face of this problem, the friend did not hide it at all, bluntly saying that in fact, both sides are busy, but the way of busyness is not the same.
He said that in the original state-owned enterprise research institute, he was not as easy as everyone imagined, "nine to five", in fact, he undertook a lot, because the "old owner" actually implemented the "bottom-up" research and development system.
What is "bottom-up"? That is, the upper layer basically does not do the program, which is also very understandable, because the upper layer has been away from the front line of research and development for a long time, and the specific technical details are not so well understood. Therefore, the following grass-roots technical personnel put forward various programs, and the above decided which one to use, and there were many reciprocations in between, in his words, "tired heart".
After arriving at the Great Wall, in fact, the implementation of the "top-down" research and development system. It is that the upper-level technical personnel will set the general direction and framework, and the middle-level and lower-level technical personnel will improve the details and continue to optimize on this basis. Of course, the strength of the Great Wall is not low, but he stressed that the former is tired, the latter is more of an execution level, and the pressure is not so great. And he's a workaholic himself, and there's not much pressure to adapt.
He also gave a few examples, the Great Wall is very focused on the construction of top-level research and development. For example, the leader of the great wall gearbox research and development is Gerhard Henning, which is an absolute industry leader, who has led the research and development of Mercedes-Benz 7AT and 9AT, and has also participated in the research and development of Volkswagen 7DCT. After arriving at the Great Wall, according to the situation of the Great Wall itself, it first developed a more popular 7-speed wet dual-clutch gearbox, which was rated as one of the world's top ten gearboxes, and recently developed the first domestic longitudinal 9AT gearbox to meet the needs of high-end off-road vehicle tank 500 vehicles.
Another example is the exterior design, first from PIERRE from BMW, and then from Simmons from Land Rover. The former taught the Great Wall to build urban SUVs, and the latter taught the Great Wall to build hardcore SUVs. With the operation of such a top celebrity, the models of the Great Wall have become more and more foreign, and indeed there are many detours.
In his original state-owned enterprise, this is unimaginable. Because the chief designer and chief engineer tend to be more inclined to administrative positions, there is not much technical participation. And we must emphasize independent research and development, refuse to "take shortcuts", in his words, has been taking detours.
(3) From state-owned enterprises to private enterprises, in fact, it is "involuntarily"
Regarding the jump from state-owned enterprises to private enterprises, he said that he was under great pressure at that time, and his family members especially did not understand why he gave up the "iron rice bowl".
He said that it wasn't really impossible to get by, in fact, his salary was not bad at the time, but he just felt that he still had energy that was not burning, and hoped to break through. At the point in time when he left, not many people made such a choice.
However, in the more than three years since he left, his original unit has actually undergone earth-shaking changes. The company has also launched several rounds of reforms, the result is that the internal volume is getting worse and worse, he said that the younger engineers, because there is no hope, there are many have left, and even joined his group, but the opportunity is actually no better than that year.
He recalled that when he first graduated from college, the outstanding graduates who really graduated from "985" and "211" rarely chose private enterprises such as Geely, Great Wall and BYD. People generally give priority to the major joint ventures, and then the research institutes of major state-owned enterprises, because the treatment is better. In particular, companies such as North and South Volkswagen were not only the ceiling of the automotive industry at that time, but also a sense of superiority compared with other industries.
But after so many years, the situation has changed a lot. A large number of private enterprises have risen, and they have made great improvements in the way they operate and in terms of salary and treatment. Of course, there are also some new forces, which are now more attractive than those state-owned enterprises and joint ventures.
But he is also very grateful for the cultivation of the "old owner", saying that in the 9 years there, he has learned a lot of knowledge, and has successfully married, settled down, and had children. Even when he had just jumped to the Great Wall, his wife and children were still in the city of the "old owner's home", and it was not until last year that he decided to move his family to a place of work and settle down.
He also missed working very much, saying that the working atmosphere at that time was really good, and he really wanted to spend his life in that place.
(4) Kung Fu shooting
In general, whether it is for enterprises or for individuals, it is always good to think of danger in times of peace, make the right choices, and constantly strengthen yourself. As this friend mentioned, the "old owner" has actually realized the problem and is also reforming. Including his visit to the Great Wall in the past few years, in fact, it is constantly changing, constantly contacting new things and meeting new challenges.
It can only be said that this society is developing too fast, just like the song sings, "The only thing that never changes, is constantly changing." In just over a decade, the world has changed.