Similarly, you enjoy researching potential design solutions as well as the opportunity to design products that can benefit society. In the open-ended portion of the survey, you emphasized these points:
- "Creating designs that will stand the test of time."
- "General enjoyment of technological work."
- "Having fun doing what I love—design/engineering/hardware/software."
- "Seeing one of my products in my local drug store being used by the public."
- "Engineers like to kick butt; companies need to let them."
At the end of the day, it's all about the technology. You play with it, conquer it, create new things with it, and see it used. That's where you get your true satisfaction. And even though you're in the world and making a living, you're not stopping there. Your thirst for knowledge hasn't been quenched.
See asociated figure
Again, dozens of you used the open-ended portion to tell us that you derive satisfaction from learning new things. Even after decades in the industry, you cherish the opportunities that engineering gives you to learn, exercise creativity, and branch out into new fields:
- "Continued education opportunities."
- "Continually learning new things."
- "Demands to continually keep ahead of the technology curve, learn new tools."
- "Learning and mastering technologies that are new to me."
- "The satisfaction of advancing in my skills and ability."
See asociated figure
Fortunately for the next generation, you're not keeping all of this hard-earned knowledge to yourself. Almost as many of you took the time to describe how you get your satisfaction from teaching the next crop of engineers, whether you're in academia or just showing the new guy in the office around. One of you said that satisfaction comes from the "mentoring, teaching, training of others," while another similarly singled out the "mentoring of younger engineers." A third said he enjoyed the "Opportunity to pass on 35+ years of experience." Looking at this pedagogical attitude, we won't have to worry about the engineers of the future.
Then there's perhaps the most important component of your jobs, the one that keeps you employed: customer satisfaction. Basically, you take pride when the customer is satisfied with your work. This was a common theme in the open responses, too. One engineer said that "customer satisfaction is highest." Another said he felt satisfied by "being able to deliver product/results to both internal and external customers." Other responses that spoke well of a strong sense of ethics and dependability were "quality and customer satisfaction"; "satisfying both the customer and the bottom line"; and "satisfaction of creating a new device to address a customer's problem."
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While engineers are caught between balancing responsibilities on the job and external pressures in the world at large, they still enjoy their work. Despite the negativity surrounding the economy and the common "us versus them" mentality between engineers and management, the work—the technology itself—provides the challenge that keeps you going. It's not about the pay, although in most cases that's pretty nice. Rather, it's about learning something new, creating something wonderful, providing that something to your customers, and sharing what you've done with others. And that's a truly noble calling.
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EEs at Home
Electronic Design's reader survey shows that collectively, engineering professionals comprise a rather eclectic group—versatile in their skills, well-rounded in their interests, resourceful in their activities, discriminating in their tastes. The figures here (see associated figure 1, 2, 3 and 4) show a snapshot summary of how you spend your time away from the job.