The Noble Profession
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zeeglen
And no, he did not have to progress through the ranks of engineering to get this ...
zeeglen
PS I had the pleasure of your EMC course many years back. Yes, if you can ...
Things that older electronics engineers can do
Pocono Armchair Review
4/4/2012 1:02 PM EDT
In every profession, there is an acknowledged body of stored wisdom and knowledge firmly packed into the noggins of those geezers and codgers still kicking about with a sufficient level of awareness to identify themselves as members in good standing. Electronics engineering is no different. Though there is a myth that age is a disqualifier for service within the EE ranks, in fact the brother- and sisterhood of those devoted to the movements of electrons and their accompanying fields of charge make full use of the experience and random outbursts of their aged members.
For instance, the Institute of Electric and Electronical Engineers (not to be confused with the other IEEE) has created a special division devoted to those older engineers who, contrary to the stereotype of engineers as uncommunicative, introverted and socially inept “nonconformists,” now serve society as gatekeepers of the nation’s large retail establishments, where they cheerily greet customers and welcome them to their shopping experience. This special division, designed primarily to continue extracting dues from older members who otherwise would wonder why they were still funding an organization with which they no longer had any connection, serves a secondary function of making these well hosed-over souls believe they are part of an association that distinguishes them, at least in their minds, from the unwashed rabble.
We interviewed several members of this new division and were impressed when they boasted, without exception, “We love being a part of this effort!” Their smiles as they spoke showed no signs of the fear that some skeptics have claimed to detect; rather, their demeanor suggested only sincere devotion to their employers, their customers and their professional organization (quantifiable, in the last case, at about $90 of true love per year—half of the regular U.S. dues, but still more than what members pay in developing countries for the “e-memberships” available only outside the States).
The experiences and skills of older engineers are tapped in other ways as well. Though obviously the technology of 2012 is beyond the ken of this expiring Civil War generation (or Vietnam War—we're really not sure of the difference), the oldsters do manage somehow to navigate the Internet and routinely check in on social media, where their encouragements to the younger generation are received with gratitude and respectfully studied. Indeed, the open-mindedness of those eager young EE acolytes has been recognized as one of the main engines of the current Golden Age of Engineering Paradise.
These demanding roles are only a small part of the repertoire that “advanced” engineers have at their command. They’re too humble to advertise the fact, but many of these pioneers are experts in daytime television and the Home Shopping Network (not that they can buy much). Even in the summertime, these stalwart engineers remain on task, assembling on park benches to hold professional gatherings where, incidental to their technological deliberations, they debate the relative merits of job offers from Big-Mart and McRonald's.
Yes, there is much that an older engineer can do. From inspiring the younger generation with tales of food stamps and foreclosures to watching their retirement accounts disappear and waiting for social security to blow up, older engineers are our anchor, our source of guidance and our pizza deliverymen. Professionals to the core, they illustrate the engineer’s prototypical versatility as they seamlessly transition from designing multilayer analog and digital printed-circuit boards to asking perhaps the most pressing question of our time: “Will you have fries with that?”
For instance, the Institute of Electric and Electronical Engineers (not to be confused with the other IEEE) has created a special division devoted to those older engineers who, contrary to the stereotype of engineers as uncommunicative, introverted and socially inept “nonconformists,” now serve society as gatekeepers of the nation’s large retail establishments, where they cheerily greet customers and welcome them to their shopping experience. This special division, designed primarily to continue extracting dues from older members who otherwise would wonder why they were still funding an organization with which they no longer had any connection, serves a secondary function of making these well hosed-over souls believe they are part of an association that distinguishes them, at least in their minds, from the unwashed rabble.
We interviewed several members of this new division and were impressed when they boasted, without exception, “We love being a part of this effort!” Their smiles as they spoke showed no signs of the fear that some skeptics have claimed to detect; rather, their demeanor suggested only sincere devotion to their employers, their customers and their professional organization (quantifiable, in the last case, at about $90 of true love per year—half of the regular U.S. dues, but still more than what members pay in developing countries for the “e-memberships” available only outside the States).
The experiences and skills of older engineers are tapped in other ways as well. Though obviously the technology of 2012 is beyond the ken of this expiring Civil War generation (or Vietnam War—we're really not sure of the difference), the oldsters do manage somehow to navigate the Internet and routinely check in on social media, where their encouragements to the younger generation are received with gratitude and respectfully studied. Indeed, the open-mindedness of those eager young EE acolytes has been recognized as one of the main engines of the current Golden Age of Engineering Paradise.
These demanding roles are only a small part of the repertoire that “advanced” engineers have at their command. They’re too humble to advertise the fact, but many of these pioneers are experts in daytime television and the Home Shopping Network (not that they can buy much). Even in the summertime, these stalwart engineers remain on task, assembling on park benches to hold professional gatherings where, incidental to their technological deliberations, they debate the relative merits of job offers from Big-Mart and McRonald's.
Yes, there is much that an older engineer can do. From inspiring the younger generation with tales of food stamps and foreclosures to watching their retirement accounts disappear and waiting for social security to blow up, older engineers are our anchor, our source of guidance and our pizza deliverymen. Professionals to the core, they illustrate the engineer’s prototypical versatility as they seamlessly transition from designing multilayer analog and digital printed-circuit boards to asking perhaps the most pressing question of our time: “Will you have fries with that?”
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Frank Eory
4/4/2012 2:04 PM EDT
Richard, you are the master of bitter sarcasm, and clearly you have reason to be.
This is the most depressing engineering blog I have read in a long time. You are an outstanding writer and I look forward to future blogs -- hopefully ones that are a little less steeped in despair!
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http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/poconoarmchairreview
4/4/2012 2:05 PM EDT
Take a breath. Begin sentence: Originally intended to be part of "The Noble Profession" series, but pried away by the irresistible but unseen forces of editing, this article is now a runaway blog, floating like a rogue planet among the solar systems of other contributors, hoping to one day return, at some unknown time, to be reunited with its brother blogs, there to show off its garment of tasteful editorial changes, all beautiful, but spotted ever so lightly with the blood of the author. Resume breathing.
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http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/poconoarmchairreview
4/4/2012 5:48 PM EDT
I have to express my gratitude to the editors for their patience, as I spoke too soon in my earlier comment. The facts, according to those who know, are that blogs are posted naked at first, without attachment to any particular series, and then attached within minutes after initial publication. My blog is now part of "The Noble Profession," and I am sitting with my hands folded and saying thank you.
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Rick_Hille
4/4/2012 3:34 PM EDT
A brief and clever anthropological study of the EE genus. Bonus that the first sentence evokes the impression of our destiny to become the "Keef Risharzz" (as he's known down at the pub) of technology; still able to lay down a mean riff of opamps and gates, but increasingly devoid of an appreciative, paying audience.
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zeeglen
4/4/2012 8:38 PM EDT
Funny! And close to April first.
Heard a tale of an EEE (Elderly Electronics Engineer) who could do differential equations in his head but could not get a job in his field. So when his employment insurance ran out he became a Wallymart greeter.
On his first day he was doing fine until a rather unpleasant-looking woman came in with two young boys. He greeted with "Wonderful children, ma'am. Are they twins?" She snarled back "Hell no, one's 7 and one's 9, how can you be so (bleeep) stupid?" "Well ma'am, I didn't think anyone would have slept with you twice."
Later the management decided that EEEs are not cut out to be greeters. The EEE changed careers and became a farmer, and was outstanding in his field...
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pyeatte
4/11/2012 9:37 PM EDT
Good line. I will have to remember that for those "special" occasions
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agk
4/5/2012 1:29 AM EDT
Older engineers with their massive experience do consultancy successfully. Also they run many kinds of training divisions. Also those lead their lives calmly do things on the world wide web.Nowadays there is lot of scope for every elderly person provided they have their mind set and kept their physical health also. Need not be idle.
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http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/poconoarmchairreview
4/5/2012 2:28 AM EDT
You have all the makings of a good fiction writer, including the happy endings. I'm looking forward to seeing the screen adaptation of this.
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Jim Thompson
4/5/2012 3:59 PM EDT
What a bunch of baloney. I just turned 72 (actually my 18th real birthday :) and I still design around 4 Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's every year. My present client has no employees as old as my oldest child, yet they certainly like my designs.
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Gary721
4/6/2012 12:59 PM EDT
I'm happy for you that you've had a successful, very long and continuing career. However, YOU ARE FULL OF IT (baloney I guess).
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zeeglen
4/6/2012 9:25 PM EDT
The intent of this article (to me) appears to be a humourous and sarcastic observation of what is unfortunately too true for many older engineers who have had the bad luck to be laid off. The young HR people are not familiar with real technology and look only at the age of prospective employees when making the hiring decision. They do not realize that the fundamental laws of nature and physics have not changed in the last 200 years.
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DickH
4/12/2012 6:17 PM EDT
what? they changed 200 years ago??
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zeeglen
4/14/2012 3:51 PM EDT
You got me! Rephrase: Have not changed since human understanding within the last 200 years.
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John.Fields
4/5/2012 7:00 PM EDT
Ah, I see...
We have here just another midget critic who can't help but fall off of the shoulders of the giants he rails against, yet wants to impugn them in order to make his own ineptitude seem unimportant.
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FredB1912
4/6/2012 3:04 PM EDT
Buck up -- its been a long string of bad years to be an engineer period, but the job market is recovering and increasingly accepting older engineers as companies learn there are not nearly enough 3-4-5-6 year people they can hire cheaply who DNA match their bloated requirements, and also that such people (including offshore engineers with 3-4-5-6 years experience) are more quick than ever to hop away from dead end jobs and badly companies. Good luck to all!
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SimulinkJocky
4/6/2012 3:16 PM EDT
You posted this 3 days too late. It's more appropriate for April 1.
At 59, I see myself as quite productive still.
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WKetel
4/6/2012 6:00 PM EDT
I am one of those older engineers and the big difference is that not only can I design the instrumentation package for an industrial machine, but I can also design the controls, and then write the PLC control program, and correctly size the motor overload protection. Not just one of those who is an expert on one particular model of microcontroller. Or only able to design a digital ASIC, but unable to design the circuits that link it to reality.
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http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/poconoarmchairreview
4/6/2012 9:22 PM EDT
I wondered what had happened to all those Soviet writers at Pravda: http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2012/04/05/job-hunters-gaining-the-upper-hand.html?ana=lnk
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http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/poconoarmchairreview
4/6/2012 9:30 PM EDT
At the EE Times page on LinkedIn, someone wrote with regard to this blog: "With the double-time pace of the march of technology it is very difficult for engineers to keep abreast, and many have gone from engineering to management...." I replied that "It is everyone's privilege to perpetuate the myth that engineers find it difficult to keep up with 'the double-time pace of the march of technology,' as if the technology were streaming from some source on high, to the confusion of the poor mortals below. These myths do not serve engineers or the engineering profession. They are, in fact, dangerous to the progress of society itself, because they waste, for all time, the potential that we have in our hands right now. These myths serve only very petty interests, and the sooner we stop supporting these petty interests, the better off we will all be."
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zeeglen
4/6/2012 9:36 PM EDT
Well stated!
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TFCSD
4/6/2012 9:57 PM EDT
Again employers are shooting themselves in both feet using a shotgun and then ask why they cannot run a marathon. One foot is older engineers (i.e. experienced engineers who evolved with the technology) who know how things really function despite what non-engineers say and can produce results that others really need but do not want to feel grateful (i.e. compensation) to the engineers for saving them. On the other foot are the new inexperienced engineers who are eager to please (i.e. have large student loans), subservient, and produce results that are possibly usable with the “newest techniques”, but know their proper place on the food chain no matter how many times they save the day.
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TFCSD
4/6/2012 9:58 PM EDT
Continued: It comes down to numbers and supply/demand. Why keep, as some managers think, an old person who has one year’s experience 20 times over (actually said by a young management trainee to an experienced engineer) when there are hoards of fresh new engineers lined up outside the door eager to grab the oars and row ramming speed as the norm only to be tossed overboard even before meals are served? Why train engineers when you have a zero training mentality (like a fast food place that will not be named) that believes any job but management are “plug and play” then whine when it’s really “plug and pray”? Engineers are now being seen as little plastic gears that are disposable and need replaced periodically as a rule. In the past these little gears may had been made to last since the “machine” would grind to a halt till a replacement was found if it broke, but today it is a throw away workplace. Gee, I wonder why engineering is not the hot career as in the past for new college students? Now if you are the few mutant uber engineers (9 and 10 level) in college that create the inventions that will make the others billions and getting just a paycheck, you will obviously be in great demand (if you have not already started your own company). If you are instead an average US engineer (5-7) coming out of college then why hire you when there are 19 new level 4-8 engineers in the world lined up at the door? Young people smart enough to be engineers are smart enough to see that after 4+ years of school and possibly 5-10 years of actual work, you are now considered old and need scraped (like an athlete), why would you then want to avoid that career? With people living longer (80+) this attitude that you are toast by your 30’s (Logan’s Run) will not bode well for those who want to have a career (or family). Yep, myopic man-agers to save on shoes blow off one foot and thus are reduced to hopping, only then realizing a person needs two feet to run.
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RDentonSr
4/6/2012 10:15 PM EDT
Another myth I was told when I entered engineering in the late 60's was that the half-life of an EE was 5 years. If that were true, I would never get past three questions playing "Are you smarter than a 5th-grader?" today.
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Expat Canuck
4/7/2012 2:34 PM EDT
Some of the older engineers I've met have actually progressed into a career as a fly fishing or hunting "pro" at this nations largest outdoor retailer. Now if they could only afford to buy what they themselves are selling, then it would be a just end to a long and remarkable career.
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zeeglen
4/7/2012 4:24 PM EDT
Long ago an ex-brother-in-law actually did have a job as a sales rep for fishing tackle. He traveled throughout the northern Canadian fishing camps demonstrating fishing gear. What an enviable job!
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zeeglen
4/14/2012 4:23 PM EDT
And no, he did not have to progress through the ranks of engineering to get this job. He was just a bum who knew somebody.
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cdhmanning
4/7/2012 7:13 PM EDT
This is an industry of change. If you can change with it then you're OK. If you can't then you're road kill.
Wisdom has a shelf life too and it is important for older engineers to be realistic about which of their skills and knowledge are still useful and relevant.
I know and work with some highly competent aging engineers (some much older than me and I'm 50). They keep current, They experiment with robotics, they design FPGA boards for fun. While they can still use cvs, they'll prefer to use more modern source control tools.
I have also worked with the opposite extreme too. The curmudgeonly old salt who still designs with through hole transistors from his private stash that he saved from the dumpster 10 years ago. The guy who refuses to use FETs. The guy who designs a new board using a 8051 because he still has the DOS-based development tools and wanted the challenge of running it up under DOSBOX.
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DickH
4/12/2012 6:34 PM EDT
"This is an industry of change. If you can change with it then you're OK. If you can't then you're road kill."
This is an industry of change. If you can change with it then you *might* just avoid being road kill, but it depends more on luck than judgement. If you can't change with it, may I suggest management?
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jnade
4/9/2012 6:57 AM EDT
I am an Electrical Engineer with experience in micro-controller hardware design, ASM, PLM, C/C++, C#, Android, Embedded Linux, and Java. My first program was in FORTRAN on punch cards. My first radio design burst into flames during a high school show and tell class. I have worked as a Engineer (Electrical and Software) in Fort Lauderdale FL, Chicago IL, Vancouver WA, Fargo ND, Camden NJ, and Alexandria VA. I typically read several books simultaneously. I just started learning C#, Java, and Android (a Java syntax language) on the fly at my most recent company. My retirement plan at my previous company (L3, a descendant of RCA) was to get a PHd in computer engineering on the company dime and eventually, a university teaching position. I figured this would take about 10 years, 1 class at a time. Unfortunately, half the projects at this L3 division were losing money and you know the rest. It was November, after about 3 years mandatory overtime, and a couple dozen of us were in a 'separation benefits' Q&A meeting, so I asked about the Christmas Party and was 'no.' Made me sad. Then, an HR big shot asked me to talk to Drexel about getting a refund on the tuition for the company. I said sure--why not? (I was lying.) I found a new job in the DC area quick enough, and it looks like this one will last forever, just like the others. But just in case, I'm learning to play poker.
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prabhakar_deosthali
4/9/2012 7:20 AM EDT
Remaining young in mind is more important to stay with the current generation and be in demand rather than expecting others to respect you just because of your age.
If one wants to remain as an engineer even after being laid-off or retired, one should find new avenues in his area of profession instead of just finding some odd job
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Daryl Gerke
4/11/2012 9:46 PM EDT
After seeing the writing on the wall 25 years ago, went into full time consulting. The irony is that as a consultant, age can actually work to your advantage. Here is a link from my blog on consulting:
http://jumptoconsulting.com/geezer-alert-age-can-be-your-friend/
Really enjoyed your post and its great humor. The alternate IEEE, indeed!
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zeeglen
4/14/2012 3:53 PM EDT
Good point, but when applying for a position much has to do with whether or not some HR flunky who barely made it through high school is the one who initially evaluates resumes, and trashes those which he/she cannot understand...
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zeeglen
4/14/2012 3:59 PM EDT
PS I had the pleasure of your EMC course many years back. Yes, if you can establish a reputation as an expert consultant then you are no longer at the mercy of HR flunkies.
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