As someone in drug discovery, the news that caught my eye today was that of AstraZeneca’s announcement that they are cutting 8,000 jobs over the next 4 years, including 1,800 in R&D. On top of all the other big pharma jobs that have been put to the sword in the last couple of years, that is a depressing number of people.
Compare and contrast with the local news, which at least has the novelty of being relatively good. First was the list in Fortune of companies that have never laid anyone off, headed by the Triangle’s tech powerhouse, SAS (also named as the best place to work in the country by Fortune, who are clearly fans). Notice a lack of pharmaceutical companies in those lists. British electronic device maker ACW is bringing jobs to Durham county and in general, the Research Triangle had an excellent year of new investment.
Like I said, right place, but not too much happening in the pharmaceutical area. Is it too late to become a tech geek?
Is it too late? I wonder myself, lots of times!