USA beckons
The millennium came and went and we followed the celebrations from New Zealand through Asia Pacific, West Asia, Europe on to the US until the sun went down over the West Coast.
I was by then, flying quite regularly to the US mainland as many companies had set up shop in China. After working in Asia for a few years, the scale of industry in the US was a real eye-opener. Even items as small as electronic watches were shipped in tractor-trailer loads.
We learned that the movements (a component of a watch) manufactured in Japan was three times the cost of one manufactured in China. We learned of currency difference profit and loss accounts, of gold prices on the London exchange, of factors and advance payments, of the innumerable contract laws across countries, of accounting systems and statutory reporting requirements.
We learned of "ship-or-kill", a practice probably unique to Walmart vendors, item coding systems, batch numbering. We learned the difference between discrete manufacturing and process manufacturing. And of the need for one item to have multiple measurements and how these were used by different business functions for different purposes - units for inventory, length to ship, weight to invoice. We learned of the volume of gold consumed in electronic manufacturing, of chip-on-board, Kanban, and two-bin systems.
We learned to distinguish between what the Americans considered important from what the Japanese considered important. We learned to live with the concept of multiple books of account, one for each of many purposes - statutory, regulatory, tax, stakeholder, accounting and internal - because what was okay for Jack was crap for Peter.
And we ate as the locals ate - dim sums in Hong Kong, Mei Goreng in Singapore, Fish'nÇhips near the Gap in Sydney, Otak-Otak in Penang, Ful Mudammas and Koushari in Cairo.
And then - trouble!
It started with an innocuous piece of news. The technology that I was specialized in - Baan - made by the Dutch firm Baan, was being investigated for some "accounting irregularities". We didn't think much of it. We knew there was some trouble between the Dutch head office and their US partners about the distribution of software licenses, which, according to the grapevine, was the exclusive right of the US partner. That is until Baan decided that they needed to open offices in the US themselves.
In the meantime, this whole new game of Indian firms coming into the Asia Pacific to implement ERP solutions meant that the consulting rates crashed to such a point that business in AP became unviable. And so the layoffs started. Some of us who were given the choice of moving to the US until they could decide what to do with Singapore took the offer and I found myself in San Jose, right at the heart of Silicon Valley.
The US was a very different ball game. Of course, the big advantage was that everyone spoke English (or American as they prefer to call it). What hit us most was the scale of operations. Even things as small as watches were shipped in tractor-trailer loads. The US also provided a nice balance between work and personal life. Unlike the Asia Pacific, we were required to work only 40 hours a week. Then we headed home. It meant that if you were putting in 10 hours a day, which was quite frequent during peak workload periods, you were done by Thursday.
Of course, there was no difference in flight durations. Flying between US cities took as long as flying between major capitals of the Asia Pacific. However, unlike the AsiaPac, we took rental cars in the cities we worked and kept the car until the weekend. I was probably driving a different car each week of the year, even models that I had heard very little of earlier.
Coming from AsiaPac, another thing you notice is the level of freedom, the autonomy, and trust that clients had in us as contractors. We literally had the keys to the treasure house and every privilege that their own employees had. So much so, it often felt that we were regular employees of the firm we were consulting for. The UK is even better, but more on that later.
There were some really neat realty brochures that you could pick up from stands outside grocery stores. Armed with one of those, I managed to define the criteria for the search and narrowed it down to three options. What finally decided the match was Kennedy Junior High in Lisle and this really neat rental complex of serviced apartments nearby.
Next challenge - a car! We had some cash to spare coming from Singapore so I scoured the used car lots until I located a late model Mitsubishi Gallant. I may have overpaid a bit, but then, what the hell! You can't do without a car if you live in the suburbs. Even for a carton of milk, you had to pull out the car and head for the nearest grocery store. Ours was Jewel Osco, a few kilometers away.
And so John Deere, Coca-Cola, Walmart, Beech Aviation, Kulicke & Soffa, Fujitsu marched into the conference room every Monday morning and all I had to do was to push them out to the sales team as quickly as I could wrap my head around the business model and come up with the estimates.
It was a fun-time.
That is, till the offshore model reached the US mainland! The pace at which the consulting rates began to drop was unbelievable! What was $450 per hour at a time, fell to 200, then to 150, then 100, 90... and we knew the game was over. If clients preferred the offshore model, then we had no chance and the shutdowns began. What once was a 17 office operation across the continental US, was soon reduced to three regional offices and the head office.
My turn came just prior to a memorial day weekend!
We tried to make the best of it. It was when we drove through the mid-west to the Rockies, and all the way to the Grand Canyon only to have Nick remark:
"You mean you drove all this way to see this hole in the ground??"
That was an all-time classic Nick question! Even today, and 20 years on and picturing the absolute incredulous expression on his face, hands firmly thrust into his jeans, it brings a smile to our faces!
It was only by around 10 AM central that we really understood the full import of what we witnessed that morning. We stepped outside to see the last of the big airline jets being escorted to O'Hare. Those were terrible, mind-numbing days and I remember being glued to the TV set for 3 days.
Somehow, I knew that it was over for us.
I was by then, flying quite regularly to the US mainland as many companies had set up shop in China. After working in Asia for a few years, the scale of industry in the US was a real eye-opener. Even items as small as electronic watches were shipped in tractor-trailer loads.
We learned of "ship-or-kill", a practice probably unique to Walmart vendors, item coding systems, batch numbering. We learned the difference between discrete manufacturing and process manufacturing. And of the need for one item to have multiple measurements and how these were used by different business functions for different purposes - units for inventory, length to ship, weight to invoice. We learned of the volume of gold consumed in electronic manufacturing, of chip-on-board, Kanban, and two-bin systems.
We learned to distinguish between what the Americans considered important from what the Japanese considered important. We learned to live with the concept of multiple books of account, one for each of many purposes - statutory, regulatory, tax, stakeholder, accounting and internal - because what was okay for Jack was crap for Peter.And we ate as the locals ate - dim sums in Hong Kong, Mei Goreng in Singapore, Fish'nÇhips near the Gap in Sydney, Otak-Otak in Penang, Ful Mudammas and Koushari in Cairo.
And then - trouble!
It started with an innocuous piece of news. The technology that I was specialized in - Baan - made by the Dutch firm Baan, was being investigated for some "accounting irregularities". We didn't think much of it. We knew there was some trouble between the Dutch head office and their US partners about the distribution of software licenses, which, according to the grapevine, was the exclusive right of the US partner. That is until Baan decided that they needed to open offices in the US themselves.
In the meantime, this whole new game of Indian firms coming into the Asia Pacific to implement ERP solutions meant that the consulting rates crashed to such a point that business in AP became unviable. And so the layoffs started. Some of us who were given the choice of moving to the US until they could decide what to do with Singapore took the offer and I found myself in San Jose, right at the heart of Silicon Valley.
The US was a very different ball game. Of course, the big advantage was that everyone spoke English (or American as they prefer to call it). What hit us most was the scale of operations. Even things as small as watches were shipped in tractor-trailer loads. The US also provided a nice balance between work and personal life. Unlike the Asia Pacific, we were required to work only 40 hours a week. Then we headed home. It meant that if you were putting in 10 hours a day, which was quite frequent during peak workload periods, you were done by Thursday.
Of course, there was no difference in flight durations. Flying between US cities took as long as flying between major capitals of the Asia Pacific. However, unlike the AsiaPac, we took rental cars in the cities we worked and kept the car until the weekend. I was probably driving a different car each week of the year, even models that I had heard very little of earlier.
Coming from AsiaPac, another thing you notice is the level of freedom, the autonomy, and trust that clients had in us as contractors. We literally had the keys to the treasure house and every privilege that their own employees had. So much so, it often felt that we were regular employees of the firm we were consulting for. The UK is even better, but more on that later.
Finding a place
I thought the biggest problem would lie in finding a suitable city to live in, and then a locality in that city. I had moved from San Jose to the Oakbrook Terrace office, a Chicago burb so the city was more or less settled. But where in the thousands of suburban towns?There were some really neat realty brochures that you could pick up from stands outside grocery stores. Armed with one of those, I managed to define the criteria for the search and narrowed it down to three options. What finally decided the match was Kennedy Junior High in Lisle and this really neat rental complex of serviced apartments nearby.
Next challenge - a car! We had some cash to spare coming from Singapore so I scoured the used car lots until I located a late model Mitsubishi Gallant. I may have overpaid a bit, but then, what the hell! You can't do without a car if you live in the suburbs. Even for a carton of milk, you had to pull out the car and head for the nearest grocery store. Ours was Jewel Osco, a few kilometers away.
Work schedule
Work was hectic Mondays through Fridays. I was doing more presales in those days so it was a different city every day of the week, or back in the office preparing the Statement of Work that would accompany the next proposal. And somehow, it appeared pretty normal to have about seven proposals at any time, so much so, I preferred to work in a conference room rather than at my desk!And so John Deere, Coca-Cola, Walmart, Beech Aviation, Kulicke & Soffa, Fujitsu marched into the conference room every Monday morning and all I had to do was to push them out to the sales team as quickly as I could wrap my head around the business model and come up with the estimates.
It was a fun-time.
That is, till the offshore model reached the US mainland! The pace at which the consulting rates began to drop was unbelievable! What was $450 per hour at a time, fell to 200, then to 150, then 100, 90... and we knew the game was over. If clients preferred the offshore model, then we had no chance and the shutdowns began. What once was a 17 office operation across the continental US, was soon reduced to three regional offices and the head office.
My turn came just prior to a memorial day weekend!
We tried to make the best of it. It was when we drove through the mid-west to the Rockies, and all the way to the Grand Canyon only to have Nick remark:
"You mean you drove all this way to see this hole in the ground??"
That was an all-time classic Nick question! Even today, and 20 years on and picturing the absolute incredulous expression on his face, hands firmly thrust into his jeans, it brings a smile to our faces!
9/11
We were still in Lisle. Don't remember much of that day except that I was in the gym working out when I saw this smoke coming out of the North Tower and I remember thinking, wow, the fire department is going to have some work to do. The TV set facing the treadmills was on mute. Time was around 7:20 AM central.
It was only by around 10 AM central that we really understood the full import of what we witnessed that morning. We stepped outside to see the last of the big airline jets being escorted to O'Hare. Those were terrible, mind-numbing days and I remember being glued to the TV set for 3 days.
Somehow, I knew that it was over for us.
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