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Myth of the Technical Track
Management Migration of Engineering Talent
Those of us who go through engineering training arrive and depart with a wide range of expectations and purposes. Some of us were just good at math and science as kids, and we followed that inertia into an engineering program with little thought of long-range lifestyle implications. We simply chose the college program that most closely mimicked our favorite subjects in high-school and… voila – we popped out with an engineering degree. During our last year of college, of course, the recruiters invaded the campus with well-rehearsed and elaborate spiels setting our salivary glands on edge with detailed descriptions of generous benefits packages, big starting bonuses, on-site basketball gyms, and company cafeterias.
Our work would be challenging and interesting, and we’d get to play with some of the coolest gadgets on the planet while developing new and innovative technology that most of the world couldn’t even yet conceive. Our new billion-dollar benefactor would watch over us and care for our careers with the patience and nurturing instincts of our own mothers, and we’d likely grow old and retire singing the anthem of our company while our stock options multiplied into magnificent fortunes.
Three years and two layoffs later, we woke up in a six-foot gray cubicle staring at an obsolete monitor, working our way through a batch of bug reports on a product that was about to be discontinued – backed by a pyramid of Mountain Dew cans we’d created as an effigy to late night lab sessions fighting feverishly to get the product out the door only a few months late with what we all pretended was an acceptable level of quality.
At some point during this journey, we probably began to realize that we should start trying to take our futures into our own hands, and engaged in some form of ill-informed career planning. This might have even involved a sit-down meeting with an HR professional at our employer-du-jour (not the old HR professional that just got fired, but the new one that’s working closely with management to re-vamp our career ladder and improve morale among the engineering staff). [more]
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