In his senior year at the University of
California, Electronic Design reader
Thanh Nguyen remembers the chair
of the physics department cancelling
class so students and professors
could watch NASA's firstever
shuttle launch. As Columbia
lifted off on April 12, 1981,
Nguyen's dreams of working for NASA
were just taking flight.
"I remember sitting in the physics
department's conference room and
watching the shuttle lift off flawlessly for
the first time," Nguyen said in a recent reader
survey. "I dreamed someday I could work on
a space program like the shuttle."
Nguyen is now a senior electrical engineer at
NASA's Glenn Research Center, working on the
Constellation space program, which aims to
return man to the moon and eventually reach
Mars. Like many engineers, Nguyen found his
dream job by responding to a national need.
The final frontier has long driven people to pursue
careers in electrical engineering, most
famously during the Space Race and the Cold
War, which sparked a major influx of inspired people
into the profession. Subsequent waves of
inspiration came during the computer hardware,
software, and Internet era. The latest generation
of engineers has a range of innovative fields - like
alternative energy, green engineering, and nanotechnology -
to motivate them.
Some engineers have achieved fame in their
fields, like astronauts Scott J. Kelly and Rick
Mastracchio, Apple star Steve Wozniak, and
"Electric Boy Genius" Ryan Patterson. But
regardless of their renown, personal passion
seems to be the most important motivator for
today's and tomorrow's engineers alike. In fact,
a few Electronic Design readers told us in our
2007 survey that they absolutely love what
they do and shared some glimpses of their
daily routines. And they told us not only what
makes a job a dream for them, they also
explained what doesn't.
Elements of a Dream Job
Mike Collette is his own boss. He gets to
design products that he loves to use, and he
does it as his own pace. He has carved out an
ideal niche for himself engineering digital backs
for regular film cameras via the company he created,
Better Light Inc., about 15 years ago. These
elements alone are enough for Collette to say
that he's living his dream job.
That's also the case for a number of readers.
Maybe they haven't contributed to the launch of a
NASA shuttle or designed the next iPod, but many
Electronic Design readers do get to do cool things
all the time. For example, Spencer Klein tests
sensors for a high-energy "telescope" at the
South Pole. Meanwhile, Ricky Howard engineers
sensors for autonomous docking systems at
NASA's Marshall Spaceflight Center.
Many readers were satisfied calling their job a
"dream job" simply if they enjoyed it or if they
could see the fruits of their labor being used for
the greater good, especially in fields like medical
electronics and defense technologies. (Fig. 1)
"Working on medical electronics is extremely
satisfying knowing that the technology will be applied to healing and improving the
lives of others," said Alan Ritter, an
Engineering Fellow with Bausch &
Lomb.
One reader involved in the defense
industry said "working on a significant
problem with a great deal of potential
impact on human safety" made his a
dream job.
For many readers, feeling challenged
was another vital element of a
dream job, which aligns with those
defining characteristics of engineers:
they're creative and they're problemsolvers.
Ray Dargento's gig with a
satellite operating company, where he
works with technology that will be
deployed in an environment as harsh
as outer space, presents constant
challenges.(Fig. 2)
"Every facet of engineering must be
considered when designing for the
space environment: mechanical, thermal,
packaging, radiation," Dargento
said. "Everything plays a part in the
reliability and functionality picture."