Wikinvest Wire

Goodbye Teradyne

Thursday, March 01, 2007

After more than seven years, today is my last day at Teradyne, Inc. (NYSE: TER), a major manufacturer of test equipment for the semiconductor industry.

I'd like to thank all the great people I've worked with over the years and I wish you all the best of luck in the future.

Since joining the company in January of 2000, time spent here has been mostly enjoyable - writing software for a world-class semiconductor test platform has had more than its share of excitement and challenges.

I can't say that the last year or two have been as enjoyable as some of the earlier ones. Maybe it was because I was distracted by other interests.

Maybe too it was because "perpetual fire drill" is no way to live and there's been a steady stream of talented engineers out the front door. Despite assurances heard by employees, the attrition rate doesn't look normal to me.

Yes, I know things are changing - good luck with that.

I really can't complain - Teradyne has been pretty good to me. I'm just tired of software and tired of Southern California - it's time to move on.

No, Not Alan Greenspan

Retirement in 2007 had been planned for many years. Sometime early last year I started counting down the days. I think the countdown started after we were shown a presentation from Broadcom (NYSE: BRCM) about how we software engineers need to be more productive. This would enable Broadcom to be more productive and the bottom line for both companies would swell and some of the profits would trickle down and the stock price would go up and we'd all live happily ever after.

With more irony than could be appreciated at the time, Alan Greenspan's picture was on the opening and closing slides and at first I was waiting for everyone to say, "Surprise!", but it never came.

Everyone was so serious.

Alan Greenspan's mug was there alongside a quote extolling the virtues of increased productivity and how we could play a larger role. That's when I started crossing off days on a calendar.

It seems that, along with many other engineers, I've been just a little cog in a big wheel that has contributed to the great borrow-and-spend consumption binge that characterizes our era. Being more productive to enable more businesses to profit from the manufacturing and sale of more consumer electronics that most people don't really need and have to borrow money to pay for, well, this just doesn't sound as good as it did a couple years ago.

And if I'd learned that Teradyne equipment tested chips that go into those ridiculous BlueTooth ear dongles that people wear like they're on the set of a Star Trek movie, I may have been long gone by now.

Stock Options, Stock Purchase, Stock Grants, Stock Buybacks

Coming from a mostly staid aerospace company in 1999, I was at first taken aback by all the stock trading that went on in cubicles up and down the aisles of the engineering department. That changed rather quickly as 2000 drew to a close.

Not surprisingly, the stock options I received when joining the company expired worthless, however, there were a few other opportunities to profit in company stock during my stay. But not too many.

A big part of the reason why my wife and I are able to retire now is shown in the chart below. The natural resource sector is the new bull market, though I continue to be surprised at how few people realize this. It's been going on for five years now and shows little sign of slowing down, though the ride can get pretty bumpy from time to time.


The stock purchase plan was pretty good at Teradyne in 2003, but aside from that, it's been many disappointing years in a row. I can't believe some people got laid off a few years back and had never sold any of their stock - rode it all the way up and all the way back down.

Technology is so last century.

No More SoCal, No More Software

We will be leaving the crowded environs of Southern California this spring, not likely to return soon or often. I can't imagine what driving on these freeways will be like in five or ten years - so many angry young drivers that seem to get more reckless every year. The young men in big pickup trucks are sure to get angrier as their career prospects dim along with the housing industry.

We'll be settling in an area where a quick mid-day break might result in a view such as this, rather than the sights and sounds of the 101 freeway with cars buzzing by at 80 miles an hour.

We'll be renting for a year. There's no hurry to buy any real estate anywhere in California this year.

My software programming career officially ends today. I'd complain about having to train Rammohan, Rajasekar, and Vijayakannan last year, but I'm mostly over that now.

That last thousand lines of code I wrote might require a little attention in the year ahead. I can't say that it received my undivided attention as this day drew closer, but it should be pretty good.

I learned a little more about maps (yes, Wikipedia has an entry for this too) and the multi-headed PinInfo hydra. I'm proud to say that I completed my entire career at Teradyne without having to understand what upside-down inheritance is. At yesterday's going-away luncheon, word came that I'm better off for it.

Anyway, this missive has gone on far too long already. I have to make that drive in one last time to do an "exit interview" and then it's official.

Goodbye Teradyne.

Full Disclosure: No position in TER or BRCM at time of writing.

[Note: If you work at Teradyne and this is the first time that you've heard of your now-former co-worker's other interests, be sure to check out my investment website IaconoResearch.com and inquire about a special subscription rate for Teradyne employees.]

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Due to my job contract, I'm stuck in SD, Socal for a while, until I finish school at least. Oh well, still young...

Other areas of the country's coasts aren't so hot either. Seattle's traffic is definitely worse than in SD.

Paul E said...

Wow, good luck and congratulations. You are now where I aspire to be, both career-wise and mindset. Congratulations on being able to concentrate on what you enjoy and aligning your actions with your morals (by not continuing to work for a company supporting a buy and spend economy).

Anonymous said...

Tim,

Best of luck to you. I am a fellow SoCal engineer and had a friend working and later laid off from Teradyne.

I really admire the productivity and work ethic that allowed you to hold an obviously demanding job and do this on the side.

A little sad at the same time, that smart Americans find it more profitable and secure to become "asset shufflers" rather than value creators.

Technology might be last century, and bluetooth headsets are obviously not a necessity but the same technological advances also lead to applications that save lives and ultimately move humanity forward (although our direction might be questioned). I suppose that future will belong to "Rammohan, Rajasekar, and Vijayakannan."

Bill said...

Congrats, as a faithful reader of your blog (which I hope continues) I bid you God speed and a long and prosperous life.

Anonymous said...

Wow, congrautlations and good luck!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the retirement and well put regarding the corporate and economic environment.

I have a mind towards doing much the same as you (retirement, or at least, becoming totally independent) even at this early stage (I am 27). Why? I don't work in the corporate world. But I'm trapped in the other hamster wheel of this great national jalopy: the grant-funding complex.

Not healthy, let me tell you.

donna said...

Enjoy your retirement, Tim! I'm sure you'll have lots to keep you busy with your company and will do well. Hope there will be more good reads here, too.

I'm stuck in SoCal for a while yet myself. Sigh. Soooo sick of the suburbs.... the freeways.... the mindless suburbanites...

Anonymous said...

Hi Tim,
Glad to have you join me in semi retirement! Can we expect more mid day comments from you now that you are not wasting the day in meetings and code reviews? Like you we have not missed southern California for even a minute, even to the point that when I fly I go through SF instead. The only thing I miss about Ter is the auto deposit on the 15th, I sure don’t miss company meeting with pep talks like “I am not getting any return on investment, if I could I would fire you all”, or “If your not writing patents your days are numbered”, or “The Asian/Costa Rican/Far East employees are only here to help you with the old projects, you get to focus on the interesting new tasks”.

Erik

Anonymous said...

Congratulations!

Best of luck to you in your escape from the SoCal suburbs. Enjoy and keep us posted!

Anonymous said...

Tim,
Congratulations and good luck.
Erik, hope all is well with you in NZ.
Ian

Anonymous said...

That's awesome. Congrats.

MelechRic said...

Two things:

1. A working definition of people who insist on wearing a bluetooth phone dongle all day long:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lobot

2. You'll be missed at work. I always enjoyed reading your code because it looked so much like my own. A strange form of narcissism I guess.

Take care and enjoy your retirment.

-Anthony

Greyhair said...

Tim,

Congratulations on retirement. There a fewer places that are better suited for retirement than the California gold country. I personally live in the wine country, but visit goldville often. It's a wonderful area. And now that you have so much time :) I look forward to further guidance on investing in this new area (to me), commodities.

Thanks for your great work in the past and I know we'll get more/better now that you're not dragged down by that day-job.

On another front, I'd be interested in your thoughts about gold not doing so well as a "flight to quality" during the current correction. The speculators being weeded out or what?

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Tim !! We go way back, yes all the way back to starting our first real jobs in the Defense Industry. I think we started within a week or two of each other. Even more amazing, after many years in the Defense Industry, we both wound up at TER. Its been a long ride, but a mostly enjoyable one. We were both fortunate enough to have what our managers viewed as "valuable talent", and we have been worthy of our keep over the years. You are right about the corporate attitude to drive everyone harder, using fasad's like "improved efficiency" to hide behind. If there is a reward, the big dogs reap it 100X more than the "little cogs" do. Well, thats what it means to work for "The Man".

Its been a pleasure working with you all those years, and look forward to our continuing friendship. Good Luck to you and Linda. I will catch up with you soon. Yes, someday I too will NOT be working for "The Man"

Unknown said...

I saw some fat slob with one of those phones sitting at a restaurant eating with his family. I was very temped to go up to him and tell him how stupid he looked.

Tim said...

Thanks for all the well wishes everybody.

I just got home - I'll be back with something more in a little while.

Re: Gold as a safe haven - there will be more on this subject over the weekend at the website, but for now, the short answer is that gold was already overbought going in to Tuesdays equity selloff.

For those of you who didn't copy and past Anthony's link, here's the pertinent info (ear dongle is my own creation):

Lobot

Anyone who walks around with one of those stupid bluetooth thingies on their ear.

Corey:
"Hey dad, why is that lobot here? Who is going to be calling him here at Denny's at 6:00 in the morning?"

Dad:
"Son you don't understand. Lobot's just want to give everyone else in the room the impression that they're important."

Anonymous said...

Tim,

Software was just something you did until you could find your true calling. You have found it and I wish you well.

Anonymous said...

Good luck, buddy! You write really well and your blog is always fun to read.

--Vega

jmf said...

congratulations also from germany

TJandTheBear said...

Congrats, Tim!

BTW, every time I see one of those BT earpieces I think yet another person has been "assimilated". Drones everywhere!!! Heaven help us.

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