The Team At Cruise Automation

The Team At Cruise Automation Below is an article originally written by Kyle Vogt, the Co-Founder, President the other might take thousands of engineer-years of effort to carefully develop, test, and validate.Think about reliability and failure modes. Your dorm room project will crash if more than a handful of users click on links or if you accidentally kick the power adapter out of the wall socket. The other website will support millions of concurrent users, survive earthquakes and other natural disasters, resist hacking attempts, and stay online even if servers fail or fiber lines are cut. Our product is a car that interacts with real people, so weve got to be even more diligent. It takes a small army of some of the worlds best engineers to do it right.So on that note, Im pleased to announce an expansion of the Cruise and GM family we recently invited the team from Zippy.ai to join us. The quality of our technologies and the time it takes to develop them is a function of the peop le who build them. Identifying, attracting, and retaining the right mix of people who work well together, share the saatkorn values, and are truly passionate about the work is actually one of the hardest things to do.Gabe Sibley, Alex Flint, and Chris Broaddus co-founded Zippy.ai last year to develop robots for last-mile grocery and package delivery. Their expertise in machine learning, computer vision, and simulation is among the best in the industry. But perhaps more importantly, their commitment to working on a team and doing things the right way strengthens our ability to safely test, validate, and deploy our self-driving technology at scale.When the time comes for you to request your first ride in a Cruise AV, please think of the hundreds of people who worked to make your ride a reality and make it safe. Because at the end of the day, youre not being driven by a robot. Youre being driven by us. One of the biggest challenges in almost all industries today is a chieving gender parity. Gender diversity provides huge benefits in the workplace. pWhile some industries have made significant advancements in gender diversity, some industries lag further behind... and the construction industry is well-known for being in the latter category. If someone says, construction workers, youll likely picture a group of men in yellow hard hats analyzing an architects plans or laying bricks on top of a scaffold. And men at work signs only help to reinforce this image.pThis stereotype is rooted in reality. When was the last time you actually spotted a woman on a construction site? Or hired a female plumber or carpenter? Your answer is most likely never. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statisticsreports that only 3.4% of the total of 8.3 million construction employees are women.pBut the construction industry has a lot more to offer than steel-toed boots and hard hats, and it needs women to help advance the industry in this era of rapid change. Here are 5 reasons why women joining the workforce or looking to make a pivot should consider a career in construction.h21. Fuel Innovation/h2pNot only is diversity the socially and morally right thing to do, but it is also actually an excellent business strategy. pResearch presented in the Harvard Business Reviewshows that diverse teams develop more innovative ideas. This is further supported by a study conducted by Gallupon the wertmiger zuwachs of gender-diverse teams versus single-gender teams, which found that the difference in backgrounds and perspectives led to better business performance and problem-solving. h22. Capitalize on Demand/h2pThe construction industry is currently experiencing a labor shortage. The industry itself is booming and projected to be one of the fastest-growing industries, with total spending projected to exceed $1.45 trillion in 2023/a. However, most construction companies are unable to meet the rising demand. pAccording to the Associated Gener al Contractors of America/a, more than 80% of contractors are experiencing difficulties filling hourly craft positions that represent the bulk of the construction workforce.pAnd demand isnt limited to individual contributor roles. Given the industry boom, there are a number of open stable and high-paying roles (any project managers out there?) waiting for the right candidateh23. Leadership Opportunities/h2pAccording to the Bureau of Labor Statistics/a, women compose only 7.7% of the total 1 million managerial positions in construction.br/pBut given the highly collaborative nature of construction work, more women in leadership roles would help drive innovation and enhance productivity.Furthermore, as a woman in construction in a leadership position, youd have the unique opportunity to drive change for the industry and make it a more attractive option for other women.h24. High-Income Potential/h2pSalaries for many skilled positions in construction are on the rise, making a constructio n career a prime choice for women looking for a high-paying job,pThe 2018 Construction Craft Salary Surveyconducted by the National Center for Construction Education and Research revealed that salaries for many skilled craft areas are increasing. Project managers and project supervisors topped the list at $92,523 and $88,355, respectively. The next set of highest-paying jobs include those of combo welders ($71,067), instrumentation technicians ($70,080), pipe welders ($69,222), power line workers ($68,262) and industrial electricians ($67,269). Of the 32 categories of workers in the survey, 19 positions earned an average salary of $60,000 or higher.h25. Sense of accomplishment/h2p The construction industry can give employees a unique sense of achievement. Yes, the job is stressful and the work can be demanding, but nothing beats the feeling of being able to build something from the ground up. pHow many professionals in other industries can point at a school, a hospital, or a skyscra per and say I helped build that?pThe construction industry has a long way to go in combating gender bias and supporting women in the workforce, but given the current demand for workers, theres no better time to pick up a sledgehammer (figurative or literal) and smash the gender stereotypes plaguing the construction industry.