One reason may be the benefits they offer. In the engineering world, health care benefits are virtually universal, with 98 percent of respondents' corporations offering them. The other 2 percent probably are independent consultants and temporaries.

Approaching universality at readers' workplaces is a no-smoking policy throughout the building. Some 87 percent of engineers' workplaces forbid lighting up anything but a Bunsen burner or a soldering iron.

More than half the workplaces offer flex time-a good thing, too, because most readers have to work free overtime. Corporate-backed child care remains a rarity in the electronics engineering world. Only 5.3 percent of companies offer on-site child care, and 2.3 percent assist with off-site care.

Emerging, albeit slowly, is the option for telecommuting. Last year, 12 percent said it was an option; this year, 15 percent say they are allowed to work from home or a remote work site. The technology enabling telecommuting has been in place for a while. Now we find economic justification, along with government regulations, brightening the prospects for off-site work.

In Silicon Valley, the telecommuting option is being driven by demands by the gov ernment to cut down on air pollution caused by the vehicles of daily commuters.

But there is an economic incentive, too. Companies are so eager to land top-level engineers that they are agreeing to set up remote design centers where the engineers are located, instead of trying to relocate them.

More than a year ago, after learning of the impending layoffs at AT&T, Cirrus Logic, the Silicon Valley chip company, went to Greenville, S.C., with the intention of recruiting and bringing back to Silicon Valley as many qualified AT&T engineers as it could.

Instead, when one of the laid-off engineers suggested that Cirrus, not the engineers, do the moving, Cirrus managers took only two weeks to readily agree. Today, Cirrus has a remote design center that is staffed with 20 key engineers that Cirrus spokesman Tom Rigoli says "other companies would have given their eyeteeth to get."

All the tools, all the productivity enhancements, all the new software and team concepts have not been abl e to bring our projects in on time. Of course, management raises the bar by setting ever-tighter deadlines, creating a perpetual White Rabbit Syndrome similar to that of Alice in Wonderland's tardy hare.

The design cycle is shrinking: 72 percent of the Japanese engineers and 67 percent of the Americans perceive shorter cycles.

Half the American engineers work on projects that last up to a year vs. 60 percent of the Japanese. Another 36 percent of Americans work within a one- to two-year time frame compared with 30 percent of Japanese. The remainder-probably in defense-have the luxury of more than two years.

Stubborn delays

Eight of 10 respondents experienced delays in their projects this year. And lest you think that the Japanese engineers do better, seven of 10 say they have hit snags. On average, our American engineers are 58 days behind and the Japanese aren't that much better.

"The whole electronics world is on back order," complains a communications project engineer.

The reasons for the hangups come as little surprise to both samples: technical problems. But Americans are far more likely to blame management for making changes than the Japanese do. While 40 percent of our U.S. sample said managers made changes along the way, only 9 percent of the Japanese complained about midproject changes.

"We did not know how to use the new software," a California design engineer notes. "The instant we know how to use it, management drags in something else: Can't use Spice; gotta use Mentor. Then next year it's Daisy; then Viewlogic."

A complaint is that upper management sets unattainable goals. "Management refused to accept a realistic schedule and forced one upon us," a project engineer writes. "We slipped. New corporate owners are slowly replacing the entire upper-management team."

Examining the numbers a bit closer reveals an interesting tidbit: Roughly the same percentage of design managers (39 perce nt) complain of delays due to "management making changes" as design engineers (38 percent). That suggests that the command to redo the specs or add/subtract a feature is coming from the very top-or, more likely, from other departments, such as marketing or finance. Indeed, 28 percent of Americans blame "other departments" for holding up their projects. Only 7 percent of Japanese engineers see that happening.

It appears that more American engineers and managers are subject to, or do more, second-guessing than their Japanese counterparts when it comes to carrying out a project. The Japanese practice of up-front consensus building probably contributes to a smoother development path.

More than half the respondents work either exclusively in software or along with hardware. Most of this software work is being applied to embedded systems, followed by standalone end-user applications.

Usage patterns

We asked those who use at least some software in their work what languages and o perating systems they use now, and what they anticipate using two years from now.

C and C++ reign as the top languages of our software users. No surprise there: just read the job requirements listed in the classifieds. Assembly languages retain a strong 50 percent of our readers' the command to redo the specs or add/subtract a feature is coming from the very top-or, more likely, from other departments, such as marketing or finance. Indeed, 28 percent of Americans blame "other departments" for holding up their projects. Only 7 percent of Japanese engineers see that happening.

It appears that more American engineers and managers are subject to, or do more, second-guessing than their Japanese counterparts when it comes to carrying out a project. The Japanese practice of up-front consensus building probably contributes to a smoother development path.

More than half the respondents work either exclusively in software or along with hardware. Most of this software work is being applied to embedded systems, followed by standalone end-user applications.

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