Engineering as a profession? - supahfly_remix
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cwilbur
Engineering can be a lifelong profession, but the longer you spend trying to
be a good engineer the more likely you are to work for someone who just
Doesn't Get It. Once a company gets to be a certain size, especially if the
people in charge aren't technically skilled, politics and perception trumps
physical laws; an engineer who can't make the case for a solution on technical
grounds (this is the cleanest way to solve the problem) or on business grounds
(this is the cheapest way to solve the problem, and we save $200K a year by
doing it this way over the way we originally thought of) but on political
grounds (this is neither clean nor cheap, but it uses this buzzword-compliant
tech and will increase your budget by $1.5M and require 2 people to support)
is not likely to be a happy engineer.

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sharpshoot
Isn't plan B start another company? Are you sure you want to be an
entrepreneur in the first place or just getting caught up in startups school
hype. Ask yourself if this is what you want to do for the rest of your life
and don't dabble in it if your heart says otherwise..

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supahfly_remix
I prefer the lawfirm model of business: steady growth, repeat business over
the years. Of course, no one becomes a billionaire this way but one can do
pretty well. Would this qualify as a startup, as defined by startup school?

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mattculbreth
Doubtful, this is your traditional consulting model. I've been in consulting
now for 10+ years. It's a good business and definitely beats the pants out of
a corporate job, but it's no software startup. Consulting is essentially a
relationship business, not a technology business.

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supahfly_remix
I'm cool with consulting. As you point out, it's relationship-based, which
means that it probably doesn't obsolete as quickly as a business based solely
on technology.

In your business, have you been able to take the IP you developed and create
your own product?

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mattculbreth
I learned a couple things from a few similar projects, and realized there was
a gap in the market for a particular product. The firm I was with (and some
others who approach it in a similar fashion) all did custom development for
this particular business problem.

Nothing in the world wrong with consulting, that's for sure. It's just not
scalable. I'm still completely amazed at how big the Big 4, Sapient, and a few
others have gotten.

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fireandfury
I'm reminded of the quote that goes something like "don't let your schooling
get in the way of your education."

The reason I think this applies is because engineering isn't really like what
is taught in schools. It's probably the best you can do with 1 professor for
200 students.

But to answer the question, I would definitely be interested in doing
engineering as a profession. Really I want to always be doing what interests
me.

I like how Woz described it in his interview from "Founders at Work". He says
that he loved working at HP and he wanted to work there for life. I'd want to
find something like that.

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supahfly_remix
With all the startup school buzz, everyone seems to want to be an
entrepreneur. The idea is: make a bunch of money, retire and become a VC.

What's the plan 'B' if a startup fails (or multiple ones do)? Does anyone here
view engineering as a lifelong profession?

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pg
I certainly view hacking as a lifelong profession. The reason I started a
startup was not so I didn't have to work, but so I could work on what I
wanted-- particularly unprofitable stuff like programming languages.

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supahfly_remix
No doubt, hacking is a way of life.

What I wonder is if Bell Labs were still in its heyday, would you have been an
entrepreneur? When AT&T; was a monopoly, they provided exactly the kind of
unprofitable environment that geeks love (and they had the spare cash for them
to buy toys, too!). Think of the programming languages you could have
developed!

Google has some of its spirit and has hired some of their best, but I don't
think anything today is the same _sigh_

I believe in their hearts of hearts geeks would prefer a Bell Labs environment
over a startup any day. The kids who are starting web-based companies are only
entrepreneurs due to the misfortune of not having such opportunities.

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2cent
There's nothing that says you can't start a startup to employ yourself as an
engineer.

