What I wish I new as a new graduate Engineer

1. What I wish I knew at 22:
Engineering Graduates:
Employment does not last
There are two classes of Engineering Disciplines:
 Traditional
o Where Engineering consulting firms exist, owned and run by Engineers
o Civil, Power Electrical, Mechanical, etc.
Get into one of these Engineering consulting firms in your 40’s. Experience will be
valued more than youth. Do good work and you’ll have employment to 65 or more.
Or start your own consulting firm, of course.
 High-Tech
o Electronics, Computer, Bio, etc.
o New Graduates are valued because their knowledge is recent, and salaries are
lower than experienced Engineers
o Employers mostly Entrepreneurs, often under 30, almost all under 40
 Rely on their own cleverness, believe rather than experience of others.
 Suspicious of anyone older than themselves (at least until they’re old too)
o Employers are usually not Engineers and see you as a trade, not a profession.
 Current tech skills paramount – value to Theses and projects at University
 Management potential is a bonus, but not part of the hiring criteria
 You probably get ½ the salary of Engineers 10 years older
 Your hire (or two of you) is often displacing an Engineer in his 30’s or 40’s
o Once you age out (older than execs), you’re expendable
o By 30, you need a peer network.
o By 40, you need to have started your own business
o By 50, your business has to give you secure employment
 You’re no longer hireable in the open job market.