Op Ed: A Good Engineer Can Find a Job in an Hour But Building a Career May Take Years

RE: Op Ed: A Good Engineer Can Find a Job in an Hour But Building a Career May Take Years

dougw — Sat, 06 Oct 2018 03:30:30 GMT

How many of us can say that we planned our careers and where we would end up? I suspect not many. We go out and get the best job we can land. When the grass gets green enough somewhere else or the job peters out, we go get another job, always trying to get the best one we can. The jobs dramatically shape our careers, and we do some training to try and influence which jobs we can land, but how often do we even know what we are really going to like 10 years later? In my case when I land a job I always start planning a career around that job or that situation, but then the job implodes and I end up restarting the process in a new job. The job I have now didn't even exist when I was starting out and all of the jobs I used to have no longer exist now either, except the one job I quit from.

RE: Op Ed: A Good Engineer Can Find a Job in an Hour But Building a Career May Take Years

genebren — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 21:13:54 GMT

Never stop learning. That is the number one way to stay relevant and in demand in the job market. Technologies come and go (as pointed out by [mention:193ac2434c814a24b46635a2210baec1:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05] ) but knowledge is always applicable in one way or another. So many times when I am studying a new technology I will reinforce or deepen my understanding in other areas, not directly related to what I am learning.

Do you need to learn everything? No. I tend to limit my understanding of many new technologies to the bare minimum and focus instead on honing my understandings of my 'core' skills. Will this approach work for everyone? No. Trying to increase your usefulness and employability will require you to learn and understand new technologies and skills. Employers tend to look for very broads skill sets and will ask for many more technologies than they are currently using in their current products, as they keep an eye on many near and far horizon trends in technology and product demands.

Keep learning!

Gene

RE: Op Ed: A Good Engineer Can Find a Job in an Hour But Building a Career May Take Years

dougw — Sat, 29 Sep 2018 18:38:01 GMT

The internet did not exist when I graduated and IoT wasn't even a concept - today it is huge.

On the other hand, there are a lot of technologies from that era that are no longer relevant. Does anybody remember core memory? CRTs lasted a little longer - they were everywhere. I bet you have to think a bit just to remember what VCR stands for.

It is useful to understand whether you want or need a job that allows you to grow and adapt and stay current with the evolution of technology, which is exponential.

How long will your current skill set be in demand?