Non - job engineering - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: smashedProton
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 20, 2013, 05:41:11 pm
content: What do you guys think about this? Is it possible for me to apply this philosophy into my future in electrical engineering?

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2013, 04:56:08 pm
content: That's sorta what i did and do. ( without al the philosophical mumbo jumbo. )I love electronics. It's fun to help people trying to get in , and it teaches you a lot as well. And eventually you get where you want to be: happy.But , and there is a BIG but , you will have to FIGHT the 'establishment'... the 'you need a blue ribbon' people , the 'old crufts', 'the management', the 'Human resources' people. It takes a bit of luck , a lot of perseverence and falling on a 'mentor' that can pull you in. Or, you start yourself. that's what a lot of people do. Jobs and Wozniak did ti. Paige and Brin did it. Hewlett and Packard did it... Gates and Allen did it and there's a truckload more out there that did it and became very successfull and happy people. And it does not need to be at the scale of those guys i just mentioned. You can have a small company producing something that sells enough to live comfortably. It's not always the push for 'bigger,faster' (in the sense of bigger company , faster moneymaking) that matters. The most important bit is 'better'. Better quality of life, better product)Setting out in a field of study with the mindset 'i'm doing it for the money' gets you nowhere... you will be too focused on the money that there is no time to really understand what you are doing. so you'll never get to be good. So they'll never come get you. Unless you are after a man-agement career. and when you hit 40 it's over. you're too old , burnt out and shoved aside. While someone who truly enjoys what he is doing will still be happy.

author: ee851
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 21, 2013, 07:25:03 pm
content: I guess this is what I must do. I studied electrical engineering. I love electrical engineering. I had a job in electrical engineering. I no longer do. I am another of the tens of millions of discouraged Americans.I have been groping around in the dark--well, not really, as I have internet access--for a rung on the proverbial ladder. After looking and searching and asking for years and years and years, I have given up wasting my time looking for that rung.I am chronologically older than the age range of people Eliot imagined his video was for. But I have witnessed another engineer in another time make this 3-step process succeed. So I know success is possible by following this 3-step process.I hope the easy 3-step process works for me as it did for Eliot.I have yet to identify my special something.

author: smashedProton
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 22, 2013, 08:13:26 pm
content: Well good luck to you ee851. I am honestly very scared for what my future will bring. I know that engineering jobs were not hit as hard as most jobs, but our society now does not reward hard work like it used to. I may create a website portfolio for my projects. The whole Jeremy Blum routine.I have my first step already donethanks to the eevblog, amp hour, jeri ellsworth, fran, and sparkfun.I don't know how to do step 2 as the community for electronics is already saturated with newcomers. I will keep creating unique projects, and maybe someone will show interest. Maybe not.i hope you find your passion soon ee851

author: IvoS
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2013, 02:24:28 am
content: hallelujah

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2013, 02:34:42 am
content: Here is the first thing you need to understand to be happy : FORGET THE LADDER. There is no ladder. The ladder is perceived item for people obesessed with measuring themselves against others. Don't let the measurement becomes an obession. Only look at yourself and try to take the next step."I don't know how to do step 2 as the community for electronics is already saturated with newcomers. I will keep creating unique projects, and maybe someone will show interest. Maybe not. "Again a false pretext. Make your projects, but make them for yourself. make them as good as you can and as you would want them to be. then throw them out there. Don;t make them as someone else would want them to be. You can take into account things that interest you or that you feel would make the project better. But in the first place : make them for yourself. You will learn from it and get better. Be creative . Don't cut corners.

author: smashedProton
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2013, 03:50:10 am
content: Thank you very much free - electron. I will definitely take your advice to heart. Now to read your book frame by frame while dave rants on about it!The bit on pcb design is really interesting. I wonder if I can make a stencil from a flattened can, resist, and some h2so4. Thanks-Garrett Baldwin

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 23, 2013, 08:58:07 am
content: I really like this way of thinking but it has one EXTREME flaw. Ok, doing what you love and not caring about the ladder will eventually result in money. But it won't happen soon and you (and you family if you happen to have one) has to eat. Very nice to be able to afford to sit on your ass doing what you like (as the guy in the video says he did) but that won't work unless you have rich parents or something. And since you have to make some money, you don't have much time - if any - to 'go to workshops and seminars' and all the other stuff that guy says he did. And i think one doesn't have to live in 2.5th world country like i do(Poland - much like third world in many aspects, but in the middle of Europe) for that to be true. I guess in most cases you HAVE TO work, not necessarily doing what you love to be able to develop your passion.That's kind of what i do: working in a corporation ('team effort', 'meetings', 'presentations', 'workflows', 'creating value', 'approvals', 'central procurement', 1300 sq.m. offices and all that ). Ok, it's electronics so theoretically my thing, but it's like 5-10% engineering work and the rest is paperwork. And I develop my passion at home, for the money I earned doing something that i don't like most of the time.