Well, it would be the end of engineering for me. I'm 54 years old, so it might be considered semi-retirement. At least that is a way of looking at it that makes it more palatable.

True. At 54 (in today's world) engineers have to take what they can get. It's not like it will be your life's work, rather something to fill in until you retire.

 

At 54 (plus) you can always hope for a management position.

Worked for me. <grin>

 

True. At 54 (in today's world) engineers have to take what they can get. It's not like it will be your life's work, rather something to fill in until you retire.

That sounds like something I would have said.

 

It's never too late to be your own boss and master of your own destiny.

 

I'm my own boss now. Unfortunately, I'm not taking home a paycheck.

 

I'm my own boss now. Unfortunately, I'm not taking home a paycheck.

Me too. national Semi decided my 20 years of service rated the reward of the boot when I was 55 years old. Luckily, my house is paid for and I saved my money all the time I was working. Now the only work I do is volunteer work at the animal shelter.

I never realized how much better animals are compared to people.....

 

I'm my own boss now. Unfortunately, I'm not taking home a paycheck.

Then your skill as a boss might need improvement?

 

Move UP to marketing?? Yeeks.

Unfortunately, marketing sets most of the constraints of cost or performance that engineering must meet. I always view the people that set the rule or create the frustration as higher on the food chain than those who have to meet the expectations. Even if the pay is the same between marketing and engineering in dollars, the person who goes home with frustrations or thinks about their job at home effectively gets paid less.

 

Unfortunately, marketing sets most of the constraints of cost or performance that engineering must meet. I always view the people that set the rule or create the frustration as higher on the food chain than those who have to meet the expectations. Even if the pay is the same between marketing and engineering in dollars, the person who goes home with frustrations or thinks about their job at home effectively gets paid less.

One of the Marketing directors got into a heated shouting match with the Director of Design and I still remember the mktg guy saying:

"You have to do what I say because I can make the numbers say whatever I want!"

And that's the point. They do the business case models for new products and spin the numbers any way they want to give life or death to any project.

And FYI, the pay is NEVER as much for engineering as it is for marketing.......

 

It's a screwed up world hey?

When a glorified salesman gets more pay and more power than the creator.

 

And FYI, the pay is NEVER as much for engineering as it is for marketing.......

That's it then, I'm definitely going marketing. BTW, the guy who was originally all gung-ho hasn't called back. I'm gonna call him tomorrow. Also have a copuple out of town things in design I'm working on.

In the mean time, I'm all about home improvement.

OH, and tracecom has PM'd me with a very wise recommendation, which I have yet to respond to. I'll be writing back as soon as I can.

 

It's a screwed up world hey?

When a glorified salesman gets more pay and more power than the creator.

Nothing happens until someone sells something.

 

Nothing happens until someone sells something.

The entire Silicon valley..... and the phenomenal landscape of cutting edge electronics the world is now filled with.... owes itself to the arrogance of the "sellers" who invariably see engineers as "replaceable items".

It happened over and over.

The so-called "traitorous eight" who were the original geniuses of the new science of semiconductors left Shockley's lab and founded fairchild Electronics, the first semiconductor company.

Eventually, at each company, the engineers inventing the world altering devices wondered why the MBA's in marketing were becoming millionaires and they were just working 100 hours a week.

And each time, they would then leave and found a new company like national Semiconductor, Intel, Analog Devices, Linear technology..... where it would eventually happen again and more companies would be born.

And here we are....

 

Those who do not know (remember) history are doomed to repeat it.

Bountyhunter provides a prima facia case in the previous post.

 

The so-called "traitorous eight" who were the original geniuses of the new science of semiconductors left Shockley's lab and founded fairchild Electronics, the first semiconductor company.

And later founded Intel.

Eventually, at each company, the engineers inventing the world altering devices wondered why the MBA's in marketing were becoming millionaires and they were just working 100 hours a week.

And each time, they would then leave and found a new company like national Semiconductor, Intel, Analog Devices, Linear technology.....

And become founders and CEO's and then pay their engineers crap wages.

 

Just read itel..not using big plant that was going to bump economy.

 

And become founders and CEO's and then pay their engineers crap wages.

Maybe. What I observe is that the companies are formed "tech heavy" with emphasis on the engineering and innovation but over time gradually are forced to grow a "superstructure" of MBA's in marketing and sales because investors have a preconceived idea of how a company has to be structured. Then the company's earnings are dragged down by financing this non productive growth and eventually the power and ability of the engineering divisions are diminished and the innovation dies a slow death.

One notable exception was Apple where Jobs kept full control and ran it like a start up and the innovation that came from that structure was truly earth changing. Watch what happens now that he's gone.....

The real killer of innovation is the "risk averse" environment where any project that doesn't soar results in executions and blame games. In a tech environment, you have to accept the reality that some things will bomb and others will fly and that's just the way it is. When you require success 100% of the time, all you can do is "me too" projects and spin offs from stuff you already have. Innovation is dead dead dead.....

 

Yes, innovation is dead.

Just look the poor camera companies (Nikon / Canon / Olympus) coming to the end of deminishing returns as they tried to sell more and more megapixels and fearing that their markets would die as iPhone added better and better cameras.

But wait, from nowhere comes the GoPro - real innovation of a camera using all off-the-shelf technology and a new camera segment is born.

Creativity, innovation and motivation to make new products and new applications of existing products do not just come from engineers - they can come from anywhere. Engineers just like to remember engineering examples (eg Fairchild). There are many stories of a man-on-the street with a great experience who converts that experience to a product.

 

I think GoPro made a success out of a ruggedized, small case and awesome marketing.

The shots aren't that great and the software of the first versions was notoriously buggy.

 

Product success comes when one finds a need and fills it. That is the essence of marketing.

In the case of Go-Pro, Nick Woodman did exactly that. By his own admission, the need was much larger than he anticipated, but he responded very skillfully. He could not have succeeded without engineers, but he is not an engineer. Nick Woodman is a marketer.