Local grads ponder options in tough job market

By Clyde Noel, Town Crier Staff Writer

Paul Lowchareonkul was living in la-la land a year ago. He was getting ready to graduate from University of California, Irvine (UCI) and was looking forward to a hot Silicon Valley job at a startup company with a fat salary and free lunches.

David Haung, a 1999 Homestead High School graduate said, “All through high school I kept hearing how working was fun and how easy it was to get a decent-paying job. By my senior year, I had a couple of older friends who were already working and obtained those “oh-so- precious” stock options of a perspective IPO (initial public offering). Lured by computer administration jobs that even a trained monkey could do, I chose to work instead of going to college.”

The company didn’t do well and laid off everyone, so David went to college while he waited for the market correction.

Something happened along the way, and the unemployment rate in Santa Clara County soared to 8.9 percent. Initial public offerings were few, venture capital was down 89 percent from previous years and many paper billionaires became millionaires and even “thousandaires.” Cash-starved companies were dumping employees with no thought of hiring new personnel.

While college graduation is typically a cause for celebration among departing students, this year’s job market did not turn out that way. Tougher economic times were taking a toll on job seekers. Lowchareonkul of Los Altos Hills was ready to join the job market after graduating from UCI.

“I wanted to be covered, so I graduated with a double degree in computer and electrical engineering,” Lowchareonkul said. “I wanted both so I could cover design and computer hardware and software.”

At 22, Lowchareonkul enjoys creating and designing, and he invents his own electronics. It’s a childhood interest he picked up from his father.

“I would sit next to him in my elementary school days,” he said. “My dad was working for National Semiconductor doing analog semiconductors and he did some work at home.”

Since his junior year in high school, Lowchareonkul has interned for high-tech companies. He worked with Xilinx Inc. and 3DFX Interactive Inc., among others to gain industrial experience and to complement his college studies. He wanted to build his industrial experience for an engineering position in Silicon Valley after college.

“I always had an inspiration to own my own company after watching a PBS special on TV called ‘Triumph of the Nerds.’ It’s about how Silicon Valley nerds made it big from starting their own business,” Lowchareonkul said. “Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple Computer Inc. from their R & D (research and development) in their garage. I decided at a young age that’s what I wanted to do when I grew up.”

After graduating from UCI, he e-mailed more than a 100 resumes to Silicon Valley corporations. To his surprise, few companies were hiring, most resumes were never acknowledged and those companies that did respond said no positions were available.

In a report from the University of Texas, Austin, Engineering Career Assistance Center, all but one of their December 2002 engineering graduates are working or attending graduate school. Civil engineering graduates are doing well, but electrical engineering and mechanical engineering graduates are struggling.

“Being frustrated, I wanted control of where I want to be in the future, and with no jobs available, I began to look at the consumer market to see if I could build or create a device consumers needed,” he said. “I enjoy fast cars and electronics, so I designed a circuit that is able to interface with an automobile-oxygen sensor.”

When car enthusiasts need to boost their power, they need to know the air/fuel ratio of the exhaust gasses. The device allows the owner to accurately measure that ratio. Lowchareonkul said his device is cheaper, better and smaller than anything on the market; also, he said, it is more advanced than other products available. Companies in the business have endorsed the product and are interested in large quantities for resale.

“This is a tough market to look for a job. You need a special skill,” Lowchareonkul said. “You don’t want to be like everybody else in college. You need to develop a special skill that makes you more desirable when you get out of school. You can’t stand still, you keep active and explore all opportunities.”

Haung said, “Looking at how some of my friends are doing currently after graduating, I tend to believe that I shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a job. “I returned to DeVry University in Fremont to make up for lost time, only it’s just that I won’t be able to expect as much pay or the same type of environment.”

Many of Lowchareonkul’s friends haven’t been able to find employment and are returning for graduate studies this fall. “You have to be determined to want to succeed in this market,” Lowchareonkul said. “Right now, I am trying to help my friends who do not have a job by hiring them as subcontractors. Until the recession hits, people don’t believe it is happening. Once it happens it takes longer to shake than you think. It could be the worst of times for recent graduates, but the engine of innovation is still humming.”

The name of his company is PLX Devices and the Web site is: www.plxdevices.com. His business is two months old and it is bringing in about $10,000 per month.

“At the rate the company is growing, my business profits will surpass what I would be making at a full-time job in six months,” he said. “So there is hope for new college grads in this tough economy after all. There is more than one route to get to the same destination.”

Lowchareonkul puts in more than 10 hours a day, six days a week, continuing to expand new product ideas and “create new jobs for my friends.”

On the other hand, Haung refers to his girlfriend who graduated from University of California at San Diego with a degree in molecular biology and is currently working at a biotechnology firm in San Diego.

“I don’t think many of my friends and peers from high school had ever expected to be paid anything less than $40,000 upon finishing four years of college,” Haung said. “She now gets paid much less than that, and our hopes for a significant raise anytime soon are dim. I look forward to the future with optimism, but it’s still sad for a person my age to be able to say I miss the good old days.”