If you were not an engineer, what would you be?

A very interesting question.

After my disability, I had to face that problem a while ago and for me the transition was easy to do.

I became a writer.  Writing enables me to still do some technical research, analyze technology and document my understanding of what I learn.

I also moved into writing historical documents based upon a life long interest and collection of data.  So I can now address both of my two passions, history and engineering, and still enjoy dabbling, without the daily grind of actually doing engineering for a living.

I have seen a lot of engineers reach retirement age and literally have nothing planned.  Sadly some of them did not live very long, because they just missed doing the things they enjoyed.

I was lucky, my work had reached a point where it interfered with my hobbies, so I had a much easier time adjust, though dealing with the disability introduced its own challenges.

I had considered teaching Systems and Software Engineering, but the disability would not let me consider such a demanding task.

So doing mentoring here at Element 14 gives me some of that interest back.

So I am very interested to see what others consider career options.

Who know, I might have missed something important.

DAB

Thanks DAB, great insight as always!

This question always reminds me of Inspector Dim's song from Monty Python.  The lyrics and music are in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan:

If I were not in the CID

Something else I'd like to be

If I were not in the CID

A window cleaner, me!

[mimes window cleaning during the next part]

With a rub-a-dub-dub and a scrub-a-dub-dub

And a rub-a-dub all day long

With a rub-a-dub-dub and a scrub-a-dub-dub

I'd sing this merry song!

[chorus repeats: all join in and mime window cleaning]

In my own case, I'd probably have ended up a computer scientist.  In fact, I started undergrad in CS and after 1.5 semesters I switched over to ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering).  What made up my mind was two courses I took first semester.  CS 436 "Computer Organization" was cross-listed with ECE and used a PDP-11 for programming assignments.  It was the first time I had good personal access to a decent computer and I loved the bit-level control you had over the hardware, without the layers of operating system you have in a shared computer.  Love at first byte!

I also took CS 467 "Data Structures".  I liked the course, but not as much as 436.  For one thing, all the programming assignments were done with punched cards, so you had delayed gratification compared to the immediate response of the PDP-11.  But more importantly, there was an orthodoxy of thinking I found irritating.

So I looked into ECE and found that the courses required for a degree looked a lot more interesting, and that all the CS courses I was interested in could be taken as electives.  So I switched over to ECE and never looked back.

This question always reminds me of Inspector Dim's song from Monty Python.  The lyrics and music are in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan:

If I were not in the CID

Something else I'd like to be

If I were not in the CID

A window cleaner, me!

[mimes window cleaning during the next part]

With a rub-a-dub-dub and a scrub-a-dub-dub

And a rub-a-dub all day long

With a rub-a-dub-dub and a scrub-a-dub-dub

I'd sing this merry song!

[chorus repeats: all join in and mime window cleaning]

In my own case, I'd probably have ended up a computer scientist.  In fact, I started undergrad in CS and after 1.5 semesters I switched over to ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering).  What made up my mind was two courses I took first semester.  CS 436 "Computer Organization" was cross-listed with ECE and used a PDP-11 for programming assignments.  It was the first time I had good personal access to a decent computer and I loved the bit-level control you had over the hardware, without the layers of operating system you have in a shared computer.  Love at first byte!

I also took CS 467 "Data Structures".  I liked the course, but not as much as 436.  For one thing, all the programming assignments were done with punched cards, so you had delayed gratification compared to the immediate response of the PDP-11.  But more importantly, there was an orthodoxy of thinking I found irritating.

So I looked into ECE and found that the courses required for a degree looked a lot more interesting, and that all the CS courses I was interested in could be taken as electives.  So I switched over to ECE and never looked back.