Dr. Ken Washington leaving Ford in July 2021

[rperez817]

Jim Farley once said that the biggest competitors that Ford must address are Tesla, Amazon, Apple, and Baidu. Of course, he was right. Now this reality is an even bigger deal because Ford's CTO, Dr. Ken Washington, has been hired away by Amazon. Dr. Washington is famous for his work as an engineer, not only at Ford where he worked on several next generation technologies including EV, AV, and connected cars, but also at Lockheed Martin and Sandia National Labs. He just got inducted to the National Academy of Engineering last year. Ford loses chief technology officer to Amazon in industry battle over talent | OKUN NEWS MAG

 

Ford Motor is losing its chief technology officer to Amazon, marking an ongoing talent battle between the automotive and technology industries. 

The automotive and technology industries are increasingly battling for talent with the emergence of connected vehicles and companies from both sides researching and developing autonomous vehicles. Automotive start-up companies such as Lucid and Rivian are also vying for top talent from both sectors.

Tech companies have been winning in recent years. Ford lost two marketing executives to Google and Facebook in 2020. General Motors last year also lost CFO Dhivya Suryadevara to digital payments company Stripe. Before that, Alicia Boler Davis – who led GM’s global manufacturing – left for Amazon.

[theoldwizard1]

A fancy new famous in the Midwest is NOT going to attract and keep the best and the brightest.

 

Especially since 99% of engineering management has no clue about computers.  Most think programming is just like making a spreadsheet !

[slemke]

On 6/25/2021 at 8:34 PM, theoldwizard1 said:

A fancy new famous in the Midwest is NOT going to attract and keep the best and the brightest.

 

Especially since 99% of engineering management has no clue about computers.  Most think programming is just like making a spreadsheet !

Considering how many folks business address matches their home address, Ford’s location in Dearborn should not be a big issue.  All depends on whether management is content to let them work from wherever they want or require them to be local.  Ford likely has a presence in all states so it is doable.

 

We had someone move to SD without telling anyone since he was working from home.  HR wasn’t too happy since the company didn’t have an office in the state and wasn’t properly withholding taxes.  Otherwise, if we have an office in the state you are looking to live in, there is a good chance it will be approved.  It is a nice perk.