Meetings are indispensable when you don’t want to do anything.
I like to think that John Kenneth Galbraith was a bit on the cynical side. Still I’ve never been particularly fond of meetings (who is?). Despite trying to learn more about running effective meetings, I’ve lately been developing a list of pet peeves about meetings. Failing to realize that not everyone wants to listen to you hash out details There is nothing more annoying than listening to someone conduct a meeting within a meeting. Honestly, meetings should, for the most part, cover higher level issues on a project, such as progress or difficulties. They are meant to keep everyone on the same page as far as progress goes. They are not a good time to bring up this niggling little issue that’s been giving a person problems but that person failed to ask their coworkers about until they’re sitting down across from them. And double curses on people who carry…
Salary Case Study
This week’s theme at Engineer Blogs is all about salaries. Chris gave us some excellent big picture view for those starting out in engineering; FrauTech provided insight to the current conditions and future outlook for engineers in the United States; while for Cherish, the temporary-engineer and cash-poor grad student, she isn’t in it for the money. Bless Cherish for still being able to hold on to her ideals. Still, if you’re in engineering for the money, you’re in the wrong industry. But that doesn’t mean that as a practising engineer, one shouldn’t try to milk as much out of your employer as possible. At the very least, one should be able to get paid more than an academic. Given the big picture has already been covered, I will focus my attention on a specific case study and what lessons we can draw from this case. Let me start by saying…
Cynicism and Engineering Salaries
If there’s anything I’ve gained from corporate America it’s realism and bitterness in abundance. Chris just wrote an excellent post on the expectations for starting salaries in electrical engineering. His curve for how an engineer’s salary might start out comparitively high but then flatten out over time is spot on. Chris gives some good numbers that are fairly reasonable for a mechanical engineer as well. Back before this recession the average graduate with a BS from my institution (which ranks fairly well, but not in the top 10 or anything crazy) was about 55k. Most of these graduates would be taking jobs in high cost metropolitan areas so this might run a bit high compared to other places. And there are several great comments on the post. An old engineer discusses the importance of training in the latest technology and how companies often try to squeeze employees out if they…
Expectations And Starting Electrical Engineer Salaries
It’s been a few weeks now, but I was advising a few younger friends about starting salaries and thought it’d be interesting to write about. They are entering the work force for the first time. And while there are often career services available at a lot of schools, they often don’t provide the perspectives that other engineers might be able to offer. So yeah…I guess that other perspective is…me! At least one of the many perspectives you can get. You can ask just about anyone. So what do I have to say about it? Only what I know so far. First, you might be surprised at what you’re making when coming out of school. Unless you have a badass co-op or internship while you are in school, you’ll be earning a lot more money than you’d be used to. But here’s the part you might not realize: Your salary might…
Plumber Envy
A Computer Science Professor from Harvard who had recently gotten tenure was working a sabbatical at Google when he decided to stay on full time at Google and leave his academic position. He writes a somewhat tongue in cheek comparison of his day over at his blog. What’s this have to do with plumbers? I’m getting there. And Mario is a plumber for those of you not up on your video game history. Computer Scientist David Lemire responds with a post about why you might not like your job but people envy it in his post citing famous cases like the guy with the PhD in Philosophy who left his job to go start his own shop. Lemire seems to think the disparity is in the day-to-day coding as compared to big picture meetings, mentoring and grant writing at Harvard. However, I think this misses the mark. The former Harvard…
Working on an interdisciplinary team
Chris hates working alone. Fluxor has suggestions for interview questions. And some people wonder why you should bother with a behavioral interview. My perspective on some of these this is different because I am working with an interdisciplinary team. In a lot of companies, electrical engineers are separated from mechanical engineers, even when working on the same project. They may approach projects in stages, or maybe they work on completely different things. The wonderful thing about where I work is that I inhabit a world full of electrical engineers, each of whom have a different specialization. There are also a smaller number of mechanical engineers and sometimes we deal with chemists and/or material scientists. Because of the nature of the projects we are working on, we work together relatively closely, probably far more than if we were working at a regular business. Interdisciplinary research has a lot of advantages, but…
Virtual Meetings, Virtual Results
It’s been two years since I first posted this on my own blog. Things haven’t changed a bit since. Netmeeting, LiveMeeting, WebEx, and a host of other online meeting tools are great. They allow people separated across vast geographic distances to collaborate and share information. Sitting at one’s desk staring at poorly prepared presentations with too much information while the presenter reads it verbatim off the slides may seem torturous boredom more fitting for breaking down interrogation suspects, but this style of virtual meetings present an opportunity that simply cannot be matched by the good old gather-in-a-big-room face-to-face meeting. First, there’s the mute button. Sing, curse, snore. No one will be of the wiser. (Make sure the mute button works.) Second, the PC that’s streaming all those wonderful slides over the ‘net also allows you to surf-while-you-meet. Check stock prices, read my blog, download MP3s. (Make sure to lay off…
Do You Prefer To Work On Projects On Your Own?
I don’t! I know I’m not the most stereotypical engineer out there. I’m social (somewhat). I’m talkative (on my radio show at least). I don’t wear a pocket protector (sometimes). I haven’t whispered sweet nothings to my calculator (lately). But this whole idea of working on your own? Without being able to bounce ideas off of friends and c0-workers? Holy hell! That’s a nightmare! I recently started consulting for electronics work. It’s always outside the scope of my day-job (and sanctioned by my company) but still involves being an analog electrical engineer. The people/companies that need work done though often need one engineer, not an entire department! So the struggle I face, and one that many before me have likely also faced, is that of solitude! “But Chris! I thought engineers loved solitude!” Well, a lot of us do. I mean, I do too. But not when going over a…