Just to add to this discussion. At the age of 40 I decided that I didnt want the
tiresome drudgery of management and opted for technical excellence. There are
more rewards to life than money. It was a surprise that having invested in the
top of the line software, more for the buzz than the buck, I am more in demand
than ever. So not only do I get a rewarding technical career but the prosperity
flows with it.
So now I use my skills and experience with tools that enable me to the job more thoroughly and quicker. That leaves time to mentor school kids and students.
Whatever happened to the piping drafting schools that Kelloggs and Kaiser Engineers used to run when they didnt have enough draftsmen? Please dont tell me they turned into CAD schools!
Christopher Wright <chrisw@skypoint.com> on 16/05/2001 00:57:14
Please respond to <a href="/group/PipingDesign/post?postID=r3LXSmeP9_uoFfrk86DhfUT-zpbn9GjO1ZiLm_XaqHNALU5MzcfdMkEX5b34qOSk72jofhQBK5NEpICoAVFoD-oUnFDwlkc">PipingDesign@yahoogroups.com</a>
To: "
?" <PipingDesign@yahoogroups.com> cc:
Subject: Re: [PipingDesign] Technical vs. management track
>Why is that so? I think this is very unfortunate. How can this be changed?
Look around you--what attitudes do see on the part of your management? Do
people tell you to provide the very best design or do they say get the
job done cheaper and faster? One thing to remember is that most engineers
and designers work for organizations who aren't in the engineering
business--they're in the construction or manufacturing business and their
prime concern is getting product out the door. Engineering is a necessary
expense, but product is what makes the money. Engineers are generally
expected to aspire to management positions, and the decision is usually
made about age 40. After 5 years working with budgets and marketing
goals, an engineer's technical skills get rusty.
In the legal profession, lawyers work for more experienced lawyers, not MBA's; likewise physicians work for physicians. Mentoring is part of the job. How to change things? I don't know. Philosophically, I think in a organization where engineering is the chief business, it would be different--not that business considerations would ever take a back seat to technical prowess, but the balance would be better. But that isn't the way that mechanical engineering is typiclaly practiced.
>I would like my success
>to be measured in terms of how good I am at that, not by the number of
>people who report to me. What do you think?
I think that's praiseworthy--but keep in mind that your view of success
is likely to differ from that of the people who employ you. I got
lucky--I've been able to stay technical all my career. It's meant
frequent job changes and a few lay-offs. Not counting contract positions,
I'd worked for 7 different companies by the time I was 45. The last
lay-off was a (well-disguised) blessing that got me into private
practice, so my business _is_ engineering. I'll never be rich, and I work
like hell, but I never enjoyed it more. The business of engineering is an
interesting one, and once it isn't muddled up with some manager's pet
projects and a lot of corporate foolishness, it's very refreshing.
Christopher Wright P.E. |"They couldn't hit an elephant from <a href="/group/PipingDesign/post?postID=V4BEEm_2_s2d6Do91lmvgL0XtucQDug_mm4FQwOC0X2QWVMbQ6Za7DGoN91DvYXp11FwrQ8R7YrMUQ">chrisw@skypoint.com</a> | this distance" (last words of Gen.
___________________________| John Sedgwick, Spotsylvania 1864)<a href="http://www.skypoint.com/~chrisw">http://www.skypoint.com/~chrisw</a>
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Received on Tue May 15 18:43:00 2001
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