Hans,
I have seen many with career challenges such as what you describe. Early in my
career I even had a dose of that business model. Even with space projects and
other marquee endeavors there were always periodic layoffs to "meet budget".
Even in private industry, most deployments of computer and communications
hardware and software had to be done at nights, weekends and holidays. Not
exactly ideal for a personal and family life.
Having said that, I have been very blessed with a wonderful career at AT&T
since the age of 29 when I started as a Bell Labs consultant for 7+ years. In
1994 I was converted as a full Member of Technical Staff, and now I am a
Principal Systems Engineer. The breadth and depth of opportunities and
experiences has been awesome. These opportunities are partially reflected in a
patent portfolio which touches a wide area of disciplines. Tinkering as a ham
and computer hobbiest, serving as a Scoutmaster and other things in our church
and community have also contributed to a rich collaborative approach to life in
general. Balance that with a wonderful wife and three great sons, you end up
with much to offer.
Currently, the company is systematically offering educational opportunities to
all employees and paying for it. Further, they are mandating it, so that they
can leverage the vast pools of existing domain knowledge as it evolves into an
increasingly software and data-driven world. It is both good for the business
as well as for the employees, but it is, as you inferred, not as pervasive a
personnel approach as we all might like.
Finally, I was once given a compliment by my boss at the time. She said that,
"I was the solution to the problem waiting for the problem to show up." My
advice to everyone is to
"Be that person" in whatever career or avocation you pursue. No one is
indispensible, but it makes it less likely to be downsized if you have proven
value across skillets and it doesn't hurt to be helpful and nice.
73,
Gordon Beattie
Sent from AT&T Mail on Android
From:"Hans Hammarquist via TowerTalk" <towertalk@contesting.com>
Date:Wed, Jul 13, 2016 at 22:30
Subject:[TowerTalk] Fwd: AES SK
Hi Grant,
Let me through in a penny here.
I have been "working" in this country for 30 years. When I went to engineering
school (more than 50 years ago) we were a proud bunch of student that were
going to provide the country (and the world) with the best engineered products
available. Working in this country I found that engineers are commodities that
were used "as efficient as possible". Way too many times have I been offered a
"permanent" position just to be told after I finished a project (frequently
ahead of schedule) that they had no more projects for me and I had to go.
With that in mind I truly understand students that don't want to pursue an
engineering career. They will have student loans to pay plus they want to make
a living beyond barely "getting around". The day these "fast buck artists" that
role our economy today, understand that the USA cannot continue to promote
non-producing industries such as "Wall Streeters", the engineers will be
appreciated and we will get a quality engineering corp again. USA needs a new
"Put-a-man-on-the-Moon" incentive. The Apollo project was just sooo good for
the country.
With a high heart rate for the moment. 73 de,
Hans - N2JFS
-----Original Message-----
From: Grant Saviers <grants2@pacbell.net>
To: Roger (K8RI) on TT <K8RI-on-TowerTalk@tm.net>; towertalk
<towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Wed, Jul 13, 2016 9:30 am
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] AES SK
Engineering as a profession is "too hard" for many US students, PolySci
is easy but then graduates wonder why their jobs are in retail or food
service. A recent major magazine article was about the "crushing
college debt" of many students and their inability to pay. NOT ONCE did
it mention the career choice of the students profiled - DUH.
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