Rapidly changing technology places as many new demands on engineers as it does on the functionality of the products they develop. To provide customers with best-in-class solutions, Mentor Graphics Corp. needs best-in-class engineers-those who possess a robust set of non-technical skills in addition to their technical expertise.

As the EDA industry continues to push the limits of design complexity, the traditional, technically competent development engineer is discovering that non-technical business competence is as important as technical skill. The stereotype of the isolated, Dilbert-like cubicle engineer is being replaced with a new vision of the "whole engineer": a dynamic, informed and approachable individual who can fluently articulate the case for a product from a business standpoint as well as explain the product's functional capabilities.

Three competencies
Mark Klein, Mentor Graphics director of engineering infrastructure, says, "There are three competencies that define an exceptional engineer: technical competence, application-specific competence, and non-technical or business-skill competence."

During the recruitment process, technical and application-specific skills typically dominate the hiring decision. A solid base of technical and application-specific knowledge is of course essential to becoming a successful engineer; technical skills are critical for a high-performing development engineer. To be successful in the future, however, an engineer must have other complementary skills, including those of a non-technical nature.

Don Guiou, vice president and general manager of Mentor Graphics Mixed-Signal IC Design/System-Level Co-Design division, said, "Intellectual-property issues associated with design reuse require that engineers work closely with non-engineering organizations, such as the legal department. To explain complex topics in a manner that is both relevant and understandable to non-technical individuals, engineers must have strong interpersonal and communication skills."

Project management is another business skill that is increasingly important for engineers. A decrease in customer product life cycles means Mentor Graphics must deliver products to the market ever more rapidly. "To improve upon development processes and measure them effectively, you must have exceptional project-management skills," explains Guiou. "This becomes particularly critical when you have interdependencies with other products. Deep-submicron design demands more integration among tools, which creates additional dependencies. And one way to effectively manage dependencies is through strong project-management skills."

Beyond the technical
Competency in non-technical areas, such as interpersonal relations, project management, negotiation, presentation, business understanding and relationship-building, matched with technical expertise, define the Mentor Graphics' "whole engineer." Engineers who exhibit both technical and non-technical prowess will become premium candidates for promotion, and team and technical leadership.

Mentor Graphics expects its engineers to become more involved with customers, to work on multidiscipline teams and to become more influential in the product-development decision-making process. The company promotes many technical experts into management roles, giving them the responsibility of leading product groups, defining team mission and vision, and managing performance issues. They also have to meet product deadlines, carefully manage budgets and resources and understand broad industry issues and Mentor Graphics' role within the industry.

A fluid marketplace demands that our engineers grow beyond their technical proficiency to acquire undeveloped non-technical skills defining the difference between the successful engineer of the past and that of the future.

"The more broad-based a person is, the more productive they are," said Brian Derrick, director, Mentor Graphics physical verification and static timing business units. "The objective is simple: Get the market requirements to the development team and the products back to the market as quickly as possible. Heightened business acumen and communication skills give an engineer the ability to fully understand customer requirements, typically articulated as a business issue, and directly apply technical talents to deliver a solution."

The need for engineers to possess strong non-technical skills is already being recognized by many educational institutions. Some colleges and universities are adjusting their engineer-ing programs to reflect this. Today, students are being asked to participate in real-world project-development experiences, including working on teams and employing project-management, decision-making, communication and problem-solving skills.

"We support management development, performance development and technical-development resources to ensure engineers have the opportunities they need to keep their skills up-to-date," said Walden C. Rhines, Mentor Graphics president and chief executive officer.

Vera Cuevas is professional development coordinator at Mentor Graphics Corp. (Beaverton, Ore.).

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