I have worked at a few start-ups over the years, and it seems that universally they are all either just a few steps from a big success or a bad crash. All it takes is one error, and crash! The last fatal error that I saw was in having an outside design house create a design based on a sales person's inadequate understanding of the project's requirements. That was due to not having engineering involved to determine the actual requirements. An MBA does not qualify anybody as an engineer!!!!!

Similarly, I've seen businesses crash because they were run by engineers with no business experience.

A BSEE does not qualify anybody as a CFO.

 

Similarly, I've seen businesses crash because they were run by engineers with no business experience.

A BSEE does not qualify anybody as a CFO.

I've seen both types crash businesses but the engineers usually crash it for wanting perfection for ROI while the MBA's crash it for wanting bigger returns for ROI.

My old boss (the principle engineer manager) is now the VP of the local site, now that the MBA suit is retiring (after damn near crashing the business). Talked to him (the new boss) yesterday. He's taken the last few years to get an MBA so the suits would give him the job. How many MBA's have taken the time to be a EE after the fact? I would think, not many.

 

I've seen both types crash businesses but the engineers usually crash it for wanting perfection for ROI while the MBA's crash it for wanting bigger returns for ROI.

My old boss (the principle engineer manager) is now the VP of the local site, now that the MBA suit is retiring (after damn near crashing the business). Talked to him (the new boss) yesterday. He's taken the last few years to get an MBA so the suits would give him the job. How many MBA's have taken the time to be a EE after the fact? I would think, not many.

Drawing general conclusions as to what/who makes businesses fail is a misguided exercise.

Here is what makes most businesses fail: starting up.

90% of all startups fail in the first year.

And you can't succeed if you don't first start up. It's kind of a catch-22.

 

Drawing general conclusions as to what/who makes businesses fail is a misguided exercise.

Here is what makes most businesses fail: starting up.

90% of all startups fail in the first year.

And you can't succeed if you don't first start up. It's kind of a catch-22.

I'm not, as I know little about the actual details of running the show, not my bag man. I've just have been around both types, at the same place for more than 30 years and know what I can get signed on a PO.

With the EE VP, it's that cool, show me how it improves the product. With the MBA VP, that's cool, show my how it makes the shareholders money.

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/23/google-teams-are-including-remote-workers-in-their-cuts.html

Google forcing some remote workers to come back 3 days a week or lose their jobs

Five years removed from the onset of the Covid pandemic, Google
is demanding that some remote employees return to the office if they want to keep their jobs and avoid being part of broader cost cuts at the company.

Several units within Google
have told remote staffers that their roles may be at risk if they don’t start showing up at the closest office for a hybrid work schedule, according to internal documents viewed by CNBC. Some of those employees were previously approved for remote work.

As the pandemic slips further into the rearview mirror, more companies are tightening their restrictions on remote work, forcing some staffers who moved to distant locations to reconsider their priorities if they want to maintain their employment. The change in tone is particularly acute in the tech industry, which jumped so aggressively into flexible work arrangements in 2020 that San Francisco’s commercial real estate market is still struggling to recover.

Google began offering some U.S. full-time employees voluntary buyouts at the beginning of 2025, and some remote staffers were told that would be their only option if they didn’t return to the nearest office at least three days a week.

 

In the case I referenced, the MBA was not the CFO or the CEO, he was a sales guy who thought that engineering must be simple because we always just did the job without complaining that it was hard or difficult. Not everybody understands that a job can be both challenging and fun, so why complain??? It can be really satisfying to pull off a project quite well and under budget, and have a happy customer.
So that means that it must have been easy??? And anyone could do it??? Maybe NOT!!!

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/car...s-too-high-for-today-s-job-market/ar-AA1EIE6B
What if Your Salary Is Too High for Today’s Job Market?

I spoke recently with more than two dozen people who job hopped during the pandemic-era talent war. For a lot of them, a sense of dread taints the satisfaction of having gotten raises while the gettin’ was good. They fear they wouldn’t be able to match their pay packages if they were looking for work today.

The thought of a pay cut is especially unnerving for those who bought homes and built comfortable lifestyles around their high earnings. Some worry their salaries could put bull’s-eyes on their backs if their employers decide to cut costs.
...
Others confess to thinking their paychecks were on a rocket ship bound for ever-greater heights. If that’s you, it could be wise to prepare for a time when the projectile falls back to Earth.

Cash that paycheck and be glad you have one.

 

Cash that paycheck and be glad you have one.

And never forget where much of that money came from -- including from wages your children (and their children) haven't even earned yet.

 

And never forget where much of that money came from -- including from wages your children (and their children) haven't even earned yet.

Crazy. Shutting down the entire nation for the pandemic will likely go down in history as one of the most stupid things ever done.

 

Crazy. Shutting down the entire nation for the pandemic will likely go down in history as one of the most stupid things ever done.

It was practically the whole world that got shut down ... and history will judge, eventually

 

It was practically the whole world that got shut down ... and history will judge, eventually

Very harshly I hope and written by the kids there were screwed by that stupidity.

 

Very harshly I hope and written by the kids there were screwed by that stupidity.

who, or what could you blame it on? ... collective panic?

 

who, or what could you blame it on? ... collective panic?

Mainly. Good intentions gone wild with a lot of greed but this is OT for the jobs affected.

 

Mainly. Good intentions gone wild with a lot of greed but this is OT for the jobs affected.

"Good Intentions", alone, lacking both the insight and the resources to get it right, is mostly a route to damage, if not disaster. I can still hear the lament of "But it seemed like such a good idea"from the fool that created one particular disaster. And that is without greed or malice. Just plain ignorance and stupidity.

Usually it is worse when it is politicians or government hacks able to waste other people's money on dumb ideas.

 

Kohl's and Walmart living together...

https://www.themirror.com/news/us-news/married-kohls-ceo-fired-after-1164699

Married Kohl’s CEO fired after secret fling with Walmart exec leads to shady $2.5M deals
Kohl's CEO Ashley Buchanan was fired after it emerged that he had struck business deals with his mistress, Chandra Holt, who founded the coffee brand, Incredibrew.

 

"Good intentions", coupled with inadequate insight and a lack of knowledge, are often the elements leading to wrong choices. AND, Certainly, greed and stupidity can make things worse.

Sometimes, what we think we see as "a light at the end of the tunnel", is actually a fast freight train headed our way.

Seldom is a situation so awful that wrong choices are not able to make it even worse.

 

https://time.com/6980458/powin/
Powin
Really big batteries

One of Powin’s utility-scale battery systems helped make this possible by storing solar energy for use after sundown. The Oregon-based firm, which saw $740 million in revenues last year, works with power companies around the world to smooth the transition to clean energy sources. Its Waratah Super Battery, being built near Sydney on the grounds of a decommissioned coal-burning plant, will be one of the world’s largest battery systems when it comes online next year

https://www.energy-storage.news/cat...-from-powin-for-battery-shipments-in-2022-23/
CATL seeking US$44 million in overdue payments from Powin for battery shipments in 2022/23

CATL has filed a complaint in a US court against system integrator Powin for alleged non-payment for shipments of battery cells for BESS.
China-headquartered lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery manufacturer CATL has submitted a ‘petition for provisional measures in aid of arbitration’ against Powin in the Circuit Court of Oregon, dated 17 December, 2024.
The complaint relates to payment for lithium-ion batteries CATL provided to Powin during 2023, and CATL claims that Powin owes it around CNY310 million (US$44 million).

https://ccwd.hecc.oregon.gov/Layoff/uploads/LOT9249/WARN 9249 Powin LLC - Oregon.pdf

Re: Notice of Potential Cessation of Business Operations
Dear Sirs:
Due to unforeseen business circumstances, Powin LLC’s situation, as well as the economy
generally, remain dynamic and fluid.
This letter serves as notice regarding the potential cessation of business operations of Powin LLC
at all locations, including 1414 NW Northrup St., Suite 900, Portland, OR 97209 and 20550 SW
115th Ave, Tualatin, Oregon 97062. (Please note that this letter does not create any rights or
obligations on the part of you or Powin LLC. Those rights and obligations, if any, remain as
prescribed by law.) If such cessation of business operations occurs, it is presently contemplated
that the affected employees will be permanently terminated.
If Powin LLC’s present business circumstances do not improve, it is currently anticipated that a
layoff will occur on or before July 28, 2025.

https://www.oregonlive.com/business...pany-warns-of-layoffs-potential-shutdown.html

Another Oregon battery company warns of layoffs, potential shutdown

Tualatin clean-energy storage company Powin warned Oregon officials this week that the company may shut down by the end of July, citing “unforeseen business circumstances.”

These guys were in trouble long before the current tariffs with China.

 

"Big Batteries" does seem like a possibly useful option, since electrical energy does not have much of a shelf life. Hydro-electric power seems like the only no-emissions source that can run on stored energy. (upstream water head). Wind power spinning hydraulic pumps with huge accumulator farms would be another scheme, but possibly not cost effective. The big plus is that a hydraulic accumulator can go thru many thousands of charge/discharge flat cycles with no loss of capacity. The big negative is size and cost. BUT they do not use any rare elements and really don't wear out. But hydraulic motors and pumps do wear out.

 

"Big Batteries" does seem like a possibly useful option, since electrical energy does not have much of a shelf life. Hydro-electric power seems like the only no-emissions source that can run on stored energy. (upstream water head). Wind power spinning hydraulic pumps with huge accumulator farms would be another scheme, but possibly not cost effective. The big plus is that a hydraulic accumulator can go thru many thousands of charge/discharge flat cycles with no loss of capacity. The big negative is size and cost. BUT they do not use any rare elements and really don't wear out. But hydraulic motors and pumps do wear out.

Hydraulic accumulators wear, too. When working aircraft systems, we would see quite a few accumulators that had to be overhauled for each motor or pump that would come through the shop.

 

Back to the original question in post#1: Do I ever regret leaving one job for another one?? Not that I can recall. The jobs that I left, except for one, were where I was not being paid to use most of my skill and insights. An audio equipment service tech because a massive auto company layoff flooded the engineering market locally, and I had neither the desire nor the means to go elsewhere. That was a no-brainer to leave it for an engineering position. The other was leaving a sort-of-solid senior engineer position during a business lull year, when another company offered an increase of about 30% along with a chief engineer position. That company was a startup and those were heady times for two years, until products were sold for prices less than their cost. Sales department goof. An immediate $20K increase can affect ones judgement sometimes.