In the US, tech sucks all the oxygen out of the room (no pun intended).
When so much top talent is locked up by big tech, who's left to design planes at Boeing, write software for GM, run for office?
When so much top talent is locked up by big tech, who's left to design planes at Boeing, write software for GM, run for office?
The problem isn't the engineers but the management. There are plenty of smart and hard working people in the US.
Its ridiculous to believe that GM is fundamentally unable to recruit software people. Tesla did it just fine, as a small company with less money. Its rather management that systematically for 30+ years has considered software to be unnecessary and pushed it as far down the supply chain as they could.
Tesla is big tech (today). SpaceX isn't only because it is niche, and hasn't gone public. Both are 20 years old, and have for the last two decades been the most exciting companies in their respective segments, by far. This allows them to compete very favorably.
GM is boring, slow and makes many public mistakes. GM filed for bankruptcy in 2009. It has to pay a significant premium to hire equivalent talent and offers significant career risk, especially to young employees.