So You Want To Be An Electrical Engineer? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: tesla500
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 21, 2011, 06:57:43 am
content: Just saw this on Reddit. Luckily the real world doesn't seem to be quite this bad.I had a good laugh at the BS terminology the guy spews near the end.

author: Time
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 21, 2011, 05:06:50 pm
content: Humorous but does not describe my experience as a practicing electrical engineer in the industry at all.

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 21, 2011, 05:59:54 pm
content: Quote from: Time on December 21, 2011, 05:06:50 pma) Like eating grease by the spoon ?b) Like staying awake at nights searching for a solution for your nervously acting customer or Boss?c) Staying next to the most unhealthy machinery and environment ?e) Be out of control when you have to cooperate with engineers or technicians with other skills, and you can not coordinate them efficiently so to have their assistance, and finish the damn project ?Well there is no chance to see all those in a video.

author: wilsoncomputer
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 29, 2011, 03:36:39 pm
content: Could I relate to this video more?!!! I started my own computer repair business after being laid off by IBM because I refused to move to Dubuque, Iowa. Everyone in my department that did not move was laid off. I was not an engineer, but was a mainframe systems programmer for over 30+ years. I did make about $140K a year, but most of the people I know making those salaries have been laid off and the ones that did move to Dubuque IA or Fishkill NY are making about 65K or less. Their job is training rookies stupid enough to take 30-40K a year right out of college. Now I do not make even enough to barely scrape by, but I am building my business and loving it! I am sure everything he says here about engineering is true, because it so accurately describes being a systems programmer.

author: don.r
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2011, 03:05:27 am
content: Well... someone's bitter. A few small home truths there, however.

author: gregariz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2011, 03:37:07 am
content: Pretty Funny.... Its pretty true but is most true in large US based Electronics firms. I didn't see it so much in foreign firms / non design firms but the larger US electronics firms have swallowed the MBA culture at the top of their companies completely. Engineers are not welcome in management as a general rule. Speaking of which the following one I found really true and funny.

author: george graves
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2011, 04:37:30 am
content: I want my 5 mins back. That was really self-serving and annoying.

author: Short Circuit
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2011, 12:57:26 pm
content: @wilconcomputer Don't want to be rude, but if a company can hire a good programmer at $65k, then 140k is plain waste of money. And no, in this line 30+ yrs of work experience is not that usefull, it probably is more like a burden. Also, after leaving the company and your on yourself, you end up in computer repair, making barely enough to scrape your head???Sounds like this company has been extremely generous to your for many years. Actually, I guess the government has been, because this sounds much like cancellation of one of those big bucks - (almost) never ending - waste of money government IT contracts.

author: gregariz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 30, 2011, 07:32:03 pm
content: Quote from: Short Circuit on December 30, 2011, 12:57:26 pm65K is a plain waste of money. If you offshore to indonesia, you can get a good programmer for 12K a year.

author: wilsoncomputer
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: December 31, 2011, 06:04:43 am
content: QuoteActually IBM still has not filled MY position in Dubuque. Very few people (and there were many of us) took them up on their generous offer. Now I have just recently been contacted by 2 different competitors of theirs, because IBM is loosing multiple contracts I used to support for them. Not sure about your business experience, but it is not easy start up your own business and instantly turn enough profits. It takes a while.As far as them getting cheaper help, Do you think paycheck size is the only consideration? What if it takes multiple people to replace me? They wouldn't be loosing accounts if I were still there. 1 single outage to 1 account I used to support would instantly cost them more than my years pay! Maybe Walmart should be the only store open for business since they have lowest prices!