I don’t know whether it’s genetic predisposition, but engineers are very predictable. Think about other people for a minute. Someone with newfound artistic talents paints a masterpiece and what does he do? Open a studio or an art gallery? Nope. He hangs it on the wall. Another person aspiring to be a gourmet cook creates the piece de resistance at a dinner party and what is their next thought? Start a restaurant? Nope. They just want everyone to dig in and eat it. An accomplished administrator refinishes and converts an old bureau into a magnum opus by night. Is his next thought to open a restoration shop? Nope. It’s how to finish the meeting and find the next old piece of furniture.

The business crowd likes to refer to us as a bunch of geeks, but I think it’s quite the opposite. An engineer designs a widget and publishes it in Circuit Cellar or is among the winners in our design contests and what is his next thought? Go to work tomorrow and do the same old job? Nope. He’s trying to figure out how to start a company to manufacture it.

More than any other subject, the question of what should engineers do in the long term fills my in-basket. Perhaps it is the realization that all of our technical training is aimed at designing widgets that someone else makes money manufacturing, or maybe it’s the insecurity of knowing that we become dispensable when we can no longer create great widgets for an employer, that makes us feel more like a traded commodity than a tenured professional. Longevity in this business isn’t assured, and this isn’t a union job.

The typical career path that most engineers take only adds to the dilemma. While there are some companies that still have a promotion and salary structure that rewards engineers who stay “technical,” the majority of companies reserve high-paying jobs strictly for business-side management. After a few years of designing widgets, the only way to raise your salary is to become a project manager or otherwise “oversee” others doing the real design work. This only adds to fears of obsolescence. Are you a real engineer who can get another job, or are you now a project manager (whatever that is)?

I got an e-mail this week from a Luminary Micro contest contestant. Like many of our readers, he is entering a contest project specifically because of engineering career anxiety. After 11 years of working for a big company in Silicon Valley, he now finds himself worrying about being outsourced or merged. His logic is that the contest serves a dual purpose. Knowing Stellaris ARM refreshes his engineering credentials with leading-edge design knowledge for his resume and being able to reference a winning or Distinctive Excellence design posted on Circuit Cellar and Luminary Micro adds instant credibility. His title may be a project manager, but this proves he is still an engineer.

The second and loftier goal is using the contest as an incentive to invent the perfect widget. Deep down, most engineers know that the only hedge to the corporate rat race is being top dog instead of one of the minions. Of course, not everyone is cut out for self-employment, and getting there has great risks. The goal for many engineers is to bootstrap the process by designing something on the side that hopefully receives royalties or attracts manufacturing investment money from others. This happens more often to our contest project entrants than you might think.

I’m not sure why anyone would want to ask my opinion, but perhaps it’s because I seem to have followed the career path they seek. A long time ago, I was one of those engineers in corporate America wondering about the future. It took five different jobs, but ultimately I could see the handwriting on the wall all too clearly. As you know, I designed a bunch of widgets on the side and my publicity was BYTE. Ultimately, the interest in the designs was enough that they were manufactured. Like the fantasy, I got to play top dog at the company for a number of years and start a magazine too.

I guess I’ve followed the course that most engineers seek and had a good time. Before you quit your day job to go for the brass ring, however, I should caution you about taking it in steps. If you start a company and work at it for a reasonable length of time, you join the club. Club benefits include a good income, no office politics, freedom to do what you want, and as many company perks as you and the IRS can negotiate. The downside “benefit” is that you can’t go back. Once you have a taste of real business freedom, you become non-corporate (no longer a committee person). At that point, you either have to make it really big and retire early or stay in the club because you can never be happy working in big-company America again (and all the crap that goes with big-company jobs).

So, it’s safe to continue renewing your subscription for quite a while. I may be an engineer who still knows a thing or two technically and could get a job. But, I’ve definitely determined that present club membership precludes it.