A recent BusinessWeek article states that an increasing number of engineering and com-sci graduates are entering other fields. I’ve been tempted to ask some of the brighter interns we see over the summer what they think of the prospect of being stuck in a drab cubicle, listening to slamming doors, for the next 35-45 years.

When I entered the field (early 80s), I was treated well – decent pay, an office, equipment of my choosing, and, most importantly, I drove most of the product design… and I loved it. I couldn’t wait to get to work and, if I say so myself, I turned out some cool stuff (industrial automation). Starting in the early 90s, things started downhill. More and more, working environments began to resemble little more than warehouses and, for some reason, managers began to make more key technical decisions (of course they remained immune from the consequences when these decisions were wrong).

It’s false economy… I work with some really sharp people. Left on their own, they (like me) could be spectacularly productive. Managed by pointy-haired bosses – we’re lucky to get anything to work very well. Management (in our case) is too arrogant to think we have anything useful to offer.

As a working engineer (too old to change now), I can tell you what the problem is: too few people smart enough to make exceptional exceptional engineers are interested in spending the remainder of their working lives sitting in a Dilbertesque box (complete with cheap, squeaky, and uncomfortable chairs) working for clueless managers.

When times are good, people outside of engineering (the ones in private offices) collect large bonuses and accolades; when times are bad, the people on the technical staff are the first to go.

I work for a well-known STEM company. Technical staff with advanced degrees sit in little boxes next to clerical workers. We can’t so much as buy a book without pushing paperwork through a ponderous process – kissing admin rears to get it in less than a month. We have no say on our computers (locked down by I.T.)… computers that spend more and more of their time running surveillance software and less and less time running our work. Our QA-test people were considered redundant and, so, were let go in a layoff (that happened a week or so after learning that our division had yet another profitable quarter).

We are pushed to ship deficient products with significant known defects out the door so that quarterly goals can be met. The sales/marketing types who set the dates then collect their bonuses while the engineers work unpaid overtime with irate customers who got their “not read for prime time” system. More than once have I finished up a project sitting on a camp stool with a laptop (in one case under a sheet of plywood due to the amount of poop coming from all the seagulls – a project that a cursory review by competent engineers would not have even been bid).

Our “promotion path” is usually to “project manager” where you are now responsible for multi-million dollar projects. You still sit in a cube and spend your days being the buffer between unhappy and frustrated engineers and unhappy and frustrated customers.

Electronics and programming are exceedingly interesting – as a hobby. As far as a career – it sucks.

If we need to spread the net looking for talent – we need to look for managers who know what in hell they’re doing.

I’m curious as to how much this lack of talent is a consequence of the “It’s not WHAT you know, but WHO you know” syndrome. I don’t think I have participated in any networking event or website that does not generously sprinkle this IMHO confusing philosophy about. I understand the importance of networking and branding yourself, but it seems unbalanced by technical competence and creativity. I see the effects of this attitude becoming more evident in future generations where great advancements will be imagined, but the current lack of emphasis on and enthusiasm for math and science based pursuits will make them more difficult to execute.