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Tesla's Engineering Chief Takes Leave of Absence (wsj.com)
Tesla's senior vice president of engineering, Doug Field, is taking a leave of absence from the company (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source) at a crucial moment when the electric-car maker is struggling to boost production of the Model 3 sedan. While Tesla declined to say when he would come back, one person familiar with the matter described the absence as a "six-week sabbatical." The Wall Street Journal reports: Mr. Field has been a key leader at Silicon Valley auto maker since joining in 2013 from Apple. He oversees the engineering of Tesla's vehicles, and last year he was also given oversight of production to better align the two efforts. That changed this spring when Chief Executive Elon Musk acknowledge he retook control of production. The Silicon Valley auto maker is at a critical juncture as it tries to produce enough Model 3 cars to generate cash to fund the business and instill confidence in investors the company can create its first mass-market vehicle.
Tesla has a history of key executives departing on so-called sabbaticals. Jerome Guillen, Tesla's current vice president of truck and programs, for example, took a sabbatical in 2015 from his role as vice president of worldwide sales and service only to return in the new role. He had led development of the Model S sedan. The hiring of Mr. Field from Apple, where he was vice president of Mac hardware engineering, was touted as a win for Mr. Musk who had big ambitions for the electric-car company. Mr. Field had also worked at Ford and Segway, giving him unique experience in both the tech and autos industry.
Tesla has a history of key executives departing on so-called sabbaticals. Jerome Guillen, Tesla's current vice president of truck and programs, for example, took a sabbatical in 2015 from his role as vice president of worldwide sales and service only to return in the new role. He had led development of the Model S sedan. The hiring of Mr. Field from Apple, where he was vice president of Mac hardware engineering, was touted as a win for Mr. Musk who had big ambitions for the electric-car company. Mr. Field had also worked at Ford and Segway, giving him unique experience in both the tech and autos industry.
"six-week sabbatical" is called 'usual summer vacation' over there.
Rats always leave a sinking ship.
Everything went downhill since 2014... is Elon Musk to blame for the lack of useful Mac updates?
#DeleteFacebook
If he can't leave for six weeks then he's failed at his most important job as a division head, staffing with competent staff that you direct. He's either confident the ship has been righted and taking a break or he's throwing in the towel and the sabbatical is just so Mr. Musk doesn't get suspicious why he's taking long lunches and wearing suits to work.
...it's Fash the Nation!
Do you people how many executives, in ICE automotive manufacturing take 6 week sabbaticals? Iâ(TM)m telling you itâ(TM)s millions! Just because one executive at Tesla is taking a sabbatical, we have to hear about it as a world event. Move along, nothing to see here.
Then his seat is sabbatically vacancy.
I live in the good old USA and I get five weeks vacation
If you get less then you are less
that's whole weeks of actual life, pretty much priceless
If only APK would take a 6 week leave of absence from posting to slashdot. We could finally stop hearing about failed security solutions, the effects of soy products, conspiracies involving the pope and george soros, and rants about impersonation and being modded down.
Just sayin.
Surprised that they even had an engineering chief.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I work in the good old US of A for a large techy corporation and my employer gives its employees an 8 week sabbatical every 7 years. It sound like the subject of TFA is taking his.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
writing from Brazil: we, registered workers, have 30 days of vacation after every worked year; i.e. we after working a year we can negotiate 30 days of vacation, at once or split at most in 3 parts during the next work year.
A VP of a major billionaire company having 6 sabbatical weeks doesn't seem that much by our standards.
They are a racial bias company. I tried to get hired there and since I wasn't an Indian, I was turned down on their engineering team for another candidate that was Indian. most of the folks I interviewed with was Indian. they have some real issues at that company and no matter what sugar coat Elon puts on it, they are bias on hiring.
Dr Kwadwo Safo will be joining Tesla. Announced here :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FKeIf9NTQA
Matthew Schwall, director of field performance engineering, has left Tesla to go work for Waymo. He was the contact point for safety regulators. A role that has perhaps more stressful given the multiple investigations going on regarding accidents. Petty soon it'll just be Musk and his cyber dragon.
Free Doug Field! Run Doug run!
I call it mental health and family days. Life is too short to fuck ur life up and lose the plot. Musk needs him if he is willing come back.
For a change.
...?
Maybe he asked for a pay raise like Elon's old assistant.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".