Why Should I Be an Engineer?
Entrepreneurship or Escaping the Rat Race
While many of my posts on engineering have been negative, I thought I should step back and explain to someone why they should not only major in engineering but accept a job in engineering.
Engineering provides you with a very unique and useful skill in some area, whether it is web design, antenna design, IC fabrication, or any one of a multitude of areas. It has likely taken you years to become an expert in this one field, and your breadth of knowledge and experience are impossible to quickly duplicate. Your knowledge is comprehensive in all areas in knowing how to build products, troubleshoot products, support production, support customer complaints, and design the next generation of products.
Now there are two very different ways to take advantage of having this powerful knowledge base. The first is to become an entrepreneur.
Becoming an entrepreneur does not necessarily mean that you are starting your own business. What it does mean is that you are at least taking a job at a startup or very small company, likely with a small salary but with some sort of equity position. You are essentially taking a risk for a very large payoff. Now why should someone hire you or invest in your business? It is because you are the expert! You worked in this field for years and had a great insight that you chose to explore outside of your company.
Entrepreneurship is a great path for an engineer. Many household names like Hewlett-Packard, Google, or Microsoft were founded by engineers. There are countless more examples of engineers in Silicon Vally that got small equity positions that are now worth millions. You get challenging work, great experience, and potentially a great payoff.
However, it is a risky path. Very few companies are successful. Additionally, these paths can be very difficult for people with families as you are working 60+ hours a week with no guarantee it will payoff. It is really up to the individual if, when given the opportunity, would pursue entrepreneurship. Personally speaking, I would always advise the person to go for it if the business plan seemed sound. Even if the business fails you are likely to easily find employment shortly afterwards. Failure (at least in the United States) is viewed by almost all companies as a great experience.
The second path is essentially the exact opposite of the first. Engineering allows you to escape the rat race. If you top out as an engineer at a company, you can essentially become a “consultant”, “fellow”, “distinguished engineer”, or any variety of terms. It is a very stable job with a very nice paycheck. Going this route ensures high job security (after all, you are the expert), normal working hours (40 a week), and a good salary (probably making as much as a 2nd level manager). You will never be rich, but you are definitely not poor.
I think this path can be very attractive for someone that wants a strong work-life balance. It is great for people with kids. You get to work on challenging problems everyday. The downsides are minimal.
I think the one risk you get, and this is becoming more of a risk every year, is technological obsolescence. What do I mean? Think about the technology life cycle for any type of technology. Technology is changing faster than it ever has. Look at what happened to Blackberry with the changes in the smartphone market. Or Microsoft with tablets. Or Kodak with digital cameras. Once stable companies are seeing massive disruption happening faster than ever! See Crossing the Chasm or The Innovator’s Dilemma for more insights on these trends.
By becoming a “fellow” at a corporation, you have essentially achieved tenure. However, the one risk is that if your expertise and your company will remain relevant for the rest of your career. While in the past that was less of a risk, it is becoming more of one as technology changes accelerate.
What I want people to take away from this argument is that there are two very different reasons to become an engineer:
- Become an entrepreneur or work at a startup. It has high risk with high rewards.
- Become an in house expert and escape the rat race. It has low risk with medium rewards, though the risk seems to increase as technology changes increase.
Both paths shown here are attractive paths for engineers that can lead to a successful life and career.
