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BOOK 4
Electrical and
Computer
Engineering:
A Path to a
Rewarding
Career

SHAPING
AN ENGINEERING CAREER
Dr. Joseph (Joe) R. Bumblis
IEEE Senior Member, Systems Chair, IEEE Computer Society
Technical Committee on Computer Communications (TCCC),
Associate Professor Computer Engineering, Retired

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to thank all those people who have influenced my career over these
many years. My wife, Mary Kay, has been one of my strongest supporters
and continues to help guide me through my current endeavors. I also wish
to thank Gerard H. (Gus) Gaynor for his writings, including the introduction (Book 1) to IEEE-USAs Shaping an Engineering Career series, and his
Perspectives on the Management of Technology IEEE-USA E-Book, published
in 2008. Both publications served as a model, as I wrote this first IEEE-USA
E-Book Electrical and Computer Engineering: A Path to a Rewarding Career.
~Dr. Joseph (Joe) R. Bumblis

SHAPING AN ENGINEERING CAREER BOOK 4

Copyright 2016 by IEEE-USA and by Dr. Joseph (Joe) R. Bumblis. All rights reserved.
Published and Hosted by IEEE-USA.
Copying this material in any form is not permitted without prior written approval from IEEE/
IEEE-USA.
Final Editing, Review, Production and Publishing by Georgia C. Stelluto,
IEEE-USA Publishing Manager
Cover design and layout by Spark Design
This IEEE-USA publication is made possible through funding by a special dues assessment
of IEEE members residing in the United States.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Begin where you are right now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Consider career growth assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Identify skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Identify field of interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Identify important work values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Keep current technically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Keep current professionally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Keep personal history up-to-date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

1. Y
 our resume is your written list of accomplishments
and career goals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

2. With the 21st century came the era of social media. . . . . . . 18

3. Everything is important. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Have fun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

SHAPING AN ENGINEERING CAREER BOOK 4

INTRODUCTION

he progression of time and your career have two very tightly coupled
attributes: they are both continuous, and ever changing. Since they
are so intertwined, you may as well do whatever possible to grow your
career before time and change radically alters your perspective of what a
career is, or could be. Change is inevitable, so be sure to have some fun
along the way. Confucius said: Do something you love, and you will never
work a day in your life. The alternate quote, from Harvey MacKay, is: Find
something you love to do, and youll never work a day in your life.(1)
Throughout my career, I tried to find things that were:

1. interesting,
2. challenging, and
3. allowed me to learn something new.

I dont wish to suggest I was always successful, but I believe I always did
my best to secure assignments that fulfilled the three criteria above. If work
tasks were interesting, challenging, and taught me something new, then
I considered the activity worthwhile and fun. I realize fun is a subjective
word, and can mean different things to different people. However, since you
have to spend at least one third of your life working, you may as well have
some fun while you mitigate corporate bureaucracy, and plow a career path
through the technological thicket.
The aim of this IEEE-USA E-Book is to use suggested IEEE-USA career principals (2), and to annotate each principal with some anecdotal data and my
personal experiences to help readers guide the development of their own
careers. The nine IEEE-USA career principals are:
1. Begin where you are right now
2. Consider career growth assignments
3. Identify skills
4. Identify field of interest

SHAPING AN ENGINEERING CAREER BOOK 4

5. Identify important work values

6. Keep current technically
7. Keep current professionally
8. Keep personal history up-to-date
9. Network
10. Have fun

The tenth principal is my addition. My hope is by the time you finish reading
this e-book, the tenth principal will be obvious. Enjoy the read.

SHAPING AN ENGINEERING CAREER BOOK 4

BEGIN WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW

here is really no sense in dwelling on the past, and continually going

through the shoulda-woulda-coulda cycle of past decisions. The bottom
line is you are where you are, and what isis. So, begin by looking
forward from this point, and only look back if you can learn something. My
career started many years ago, when I joined the United States Air Force
(USAF). I knew I wanted to do something in the electronics field, but with
the Viet Nam war raging on, I felt that carrying a tool box instead of an
M-16 was probably a good career choice. After a few aptitude tests, the
USAF decided to send me for training in Ground Control Approach (GCA)
RADAR maintenance. I spent the next several years working on mobile
and fixed position RADAR systems. I was also exposed to other navigational equipment like Instrument Landing Systems (ILS) and the Tactical
Air Navigation System (usually called TACAN). Although I never received
formal training in ILS or TACAN, the exposure through interaction to
other maintenance personnel was enlightening, and it sparked my further
interest in electronic systems.
After my stay with the USAF, I was hired as an electrical technician and
spent several years working on a variety of tasks, including control circuit
construction and testing, electrical noise sensing and reduction, and
even some simple electrical wiring. It was a good job, but I always felt I
needed to grow my educational credentialsas well as my experiencesto
expand my career horizons. I decided to pursue three courses of action.
While keeping my current job, I enrolled in an Associate Degree program
in Electronics Technology (ADET), where I earned my Associates Degree
in about two years. Second, after completing my ADET, I took the Federal
Communications Commissions (FCC) radiotelephony exams that concluded
with a First Class Radiotelephony License with Ship RADAR endorsement.
Finally, during this time I also accepted a part time job repairing televisions, radios and Citizen Band (CB) transceivers. (3) So, here I was
working full time, going to school, studying for and taking FCC exams, and
repairing consumer electronics several evenings per week. A good start
toward securing whatever opportunities may await.
I wanted to stress this very early part of my career to demonstrate that
career growth can take many turns before finally presenting some focused
activity that you can become passionate about and truly enjoy. A large
part of career decision-making is education; albeit degree-based or training-based. In my early career, a bachelors degree was not required for

SHAPING AN ENGINEERING CAREER BOOK 4

an individual to find a well-paying job with employment security. In many

cases, military training or other skills training could supply a person with
the necessary tools for a long and rewarding career. Many companies would
offer their employees training in specific areas to help keep them current
as technology changed. Unfortunately, this educational benefit is one of
the first to be cut, when a company starts experiencing financial issues. In
2009, the South Florida Business Journal published an article defending the
need for corporations to continue funding employee education, even during
economic downturns. Moreover, Philip Schwartz wrote continuing education programs involve professional development for employees looking to
improve their skills or learn new ones. This more informal training may not
be a professional requirement, but thats no reason for companies to cut
back on it in tough times... Take a field like information technology. Its
constantly evolving. Employers in such an industry could offer continuing
education as a way to stay competitive. (4)
My technical growth options were very limited as an electrical technician.
The industry was changing, and I had to find a way to keep up. With my
knowledge capital (Ill discuss knowledge capital later in this section) a
bit more valuable with an ADET degree, a First Class FCC license, and
hands-on experience repairing consumer electronics, I felt I was prepared
for a new chapter in my career. So, I resigned from the electrical technician position, and secured a position as an engineering technician working
on projects that incorporated Transistor-Transistor-Logic (TTL) and the first
commercial 8-bit microprocessor; Intels 8080. It was here that I took my
first steps toward a computer engineering career.
During my stay as an engineering technician, I soon realized that the real
action was occurring within the electrical engineering ranks. Armed with
lots of youthful energy and determination, I enrolled in an electrical engineering program at a nearby university, where I earned my Bachelor of
Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering (BSEE). As with
my ADET effort, I earned most of the BSEE required course credits while
working full time. I earned the remainder after I married, and returned to
campus for one year, to complete the degree. Fortunately, my wifes degree
was in mathematics and computer science, allowing her to gain employment with the universitys information technology department, while I
completed my BSEE degree.
While working full time, and working on my BSEE part time, I always
tried to obtain assignments on projects that enhanced my knowledge
capitalespecially those that directed me toward a computer engineering
career. During this time, I was involved with projects that developed

SHAPING AN ENGINEERING CAREER BOOK 4

computer-to-computer interface systems supporting software design and

development, microprocessor systems, and assembly language systems
programming. I sought out assignments that allowed me to explore skill
sets in engineering and support activities. For example, I volunteered
to create a printed circuit board (PCB), using red-blue transparent tape
to represent circuit traces on a two-sided PCB. Red-blue taping was a
very tedious way of creating a printed circuit board; however, it was one
more thing I could add to my skills tool box. Today PCBs are designed
using Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools, like that by Cypress, Linear
Technology, and National Instruments supply, to name just a few.
Regardless of your current situation, investing in your education, experiences, and expanding your knowledge capital will serve as your foundations
to a rewarding and fun career. As you gain work experience and continue
some form of education, you can realize your goal of a rewarding career.

SHAPING AN ENGINEERING CAREER BOOK 4

CONSIDER CAREER GROWTH

ASSIGNMENTS

areer growth assignments can take many forms. They can support
growth technically, politically, and/or managerially. I always tried to
consider what I call my knowledge capital; i.e., know-how that results
from experience, transformation of information into knowledge, learning,
and current skills. Ones knowledge capital can create a competitive advantage during most career growth.

Career growth assignment opportunities can also take several forms. In

large corporations that produce a wide breadth of products, one may have
the ability to transfer between departments, and work with teams developing
the next generation of products. However, if you are in a smaller company,
these transfers may not be possible. I dont wish to advocate job-hopping
or company-hopping as the only way to gain growth assignments; however,
sometimes these hopping strategies may have to be part of your portfolio to
reach your goals. The danger is that your resume may become very unattractive to your next employer, if you move around too quickly, or too often.
The balance is always tricky: you dont want to fall behind the technology
curve (and limit future opportunities); but your company is small, and cant
offer challenging assignments. However, if you change jobs (departments
or companies), your resume may become your own worst enemy. One ruleof-thumb that may help is if you accept a new job, you have to stay at least
two years, or resign within six months. You can explain a resignation within
six months as a momentary lapse in judgment when you accepted the position. After two or more years, you are either growing, or facing stagnation.
During the later years of my career, the corporate attitude toward employees
was changing. We (technology workers) went from being an asset to a
liability. Companies still expected employee loyalty, but at the same time the
practice of layoffs became ingrained in the corporate business model.
It was during this time that many technical workers engaged in company-hopping as a way to stay ahead of the layoff curve, but still find positions
that enhanced their careers. In just a few short years, outsourcing (both
offshore and domestic) joined layoffs as a quick fix to corporate financial
troubles, when corporate executives failed to respond to quickly changing
business environments and technological migration. Both layoffs and
outsourcing remain in the corporate toolbox of business management.
Unfortunately, two additional obstacles to career growth have been added

SHAPING AN ENGINEERING CAREER BOOK 4

to the 21st Century corporate business model: simply dont hire, and/or the
H1-B Guest Worker strategy. (5), (6), (7)
Although it is beyond the scope of this e-book to elaborate on current
corporate business strategies, your career growth activities may require
several unique adjustments that align with changing corporate (and perhaps
academic) workforce models. Some in the public sector have even suggested
holding off on college in favor of working at a skill. I guess plumbers in New
York City can easily secure six figure salaries. Their argument is a bachelors degree (if completed in four years, at a state school) may exceed about
$75,000 (tuition, books and living expenses), depending on the school and
location. After graduation, the odds of the graduate obtaining a job in their
field of study is currently about 60 percent (this is an estimate based on
degree, area of the country, and health of local industries). Regardless, I still
believe that the more valuable your knowledge capital, the better your possibility of achieving your career goals.
After earning my BSEE degree, I changed companies three times in six
years. During this time I actually enjoyed each position; but I knew they
were temporary, since the positions for which I was hired were very specific,
and had no real growth potential. Still, I enhanced my computer engineering
skills, as well as my project management skills, with each new position. I
also found the need to write more often than in previous jobs. I was a senior
engineer, where written documentation as well as positional, research, and
white papers were expected; writing well was a new skill that would serve
me well later in my career.
My sights were set on a position that could offer further growth in technology; specifically, computer engineering. A large computer manufacturer
offered me a role as a senior consultant (some companies may have called
this position a Senior Member of Technical Staff). This position required not
only changing companies, but state of residence. My wife and I had a very
young family, and decided to accept the offer; in part, due to the excellent
educational system of the target state. It was here that I was part of a team
that designed very early Ethernet and wide-area network front-end systems
to mainframe computers1. I was the systems architect for the project; a
role that would add to my knowledge capital through data communications
standards dissemination, firmware design, bit-slice processor design, PAL2
with early FPGA3 designs, and implementation of ISO and TCP/IP computer
communications protocols.
These assignments were the keys to my continued growth as a computer
engineer. During this time, I witnessed the rise and decline of the

SHAPING AN ENGINEERING CAREER BOOK 4

mini-computer industry (e.g. the Digital Equipment Corporations PDP-11,

and Data General Corporations Nova), the introduction of the IBM Personal
Computer, and the accelerated growth of microprocessor, memory, and integrated circuit integration that gave us the power of a mainframe computer
on our desktops. This technological growth spurt was very fast compared to
the growth curve of the computer industry to this point. It was a bit challenging to keep up. I found the need to read research papers, professional
periodicals (e.g., IEEE4, and trade publications like EDN5), and conference
proceedings to remain current with quickly changing technology. I became
involved with the IEEE, and several of the technical conferences sponsored
by the IEEE Computer Society. I found that professional society memberships like the IEEE offered many educational and peer bonding opportunities;
and all of them contributed to my knowledge capital.
1. S
 ee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainframe_computer for a good overview of mainframe computers.
2. P
 rogrammable Array Logic. Good overview at http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/~jayar/pubs/brown/survey.pdf
3. Field Programmable Gate Array. Good overview at http://www.xilinx.com/fpga/
4. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. See http://www.ieee.org
5. Electronic Design News. Online at: http://electronics-magazine.com/edn-electronic-design-news.html

SHAPING AN ENGINEERING CAREER BOOK 4

IDENTIFY SKILLS

our skill set is simply the set of skills you have developed throughout
your career that support accomplishing some task or activity. Skill sets
are part of our knowledge capital.

It is always important to enhance your skill set, to reduce the possibility of

becoming obsolete, and possibly ending career growth. My skill set growth
started in the USAF repairing GCA RADAR systems. It grew to include electrical and electronics design, development, and deployment. However, I
always knew there was more to learn.
This topic may be a good place to inject some perspective. My RADAR experience included vacuum tube and early transistor circuits. I progressed to
early integrated circuit technologies including resistor-transistor-logic (RTL),
diode-transistor-logic (DTL), and transistor-transistor-logic (TTL). After
leaving my position as an engineering technician (I did receive one promotion
to Electrical Engineer 1 before completing my BSEE degree), I felt that the
more advance technologies were probably emerging in other industries. So, I
decided on a new position as a Research Engineer, where I believed my skill
set would be further enhanced.
As a research engineer, I realized technology was beginning to make rapid
advances. Several semiconductor manufacturers were already realizing
predictions, like those made by Gordon E. Mooreexpecting the number of
transistors per device to double every 18 months. Digital design was migrating
from TTL to metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) logic like n-channel MOS
(N-MOS), p-channel MOS (P-MOS), and finally Complementary MOS (CMOS).
Transistor size was shrinking. Intels 8080 8-bit microprocessor contained
about 4,500 N-MOS transistors, compared to Intels Core i7 (Quad), which
contains about 731,000,000 CMOS transistors. Digital logic engineering was
also changing from TTL to Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology.
TTL medium-scale-integration (MSI) digital implementations (e.g., ALUs and
complex encoders) contained several hundred bipolar transistors, compared to
the current Xilinxs Virtex-7 FPGA, which contains about 6.8 Billion CMOS transistors, in about the same package size. These changes were happening very
quickly, and required significant energy to keep up.
To ensure my skills did not fall too far behind, I proposed and was funded to
create several embedded systems projects that employed the most recent
microprocessor, memory and peripheral products available on the market.

SHAPING AN ENGINEERING CAREER BOOK 4

10

I not only designed the computer systems, I programmed them as well. To

enhance my skill set further, I started teaching electronics and programming
classes at several local technical colleges (while working full time creating embedded systems). Later, I would become an Adjunct Professor at several large
universities, where I developed and taught classes in Software Engineering
and Computer Networks. At this point, I discovered a passion for teaching.
As computer technology changed from big expensive machines to desk
top computers, companies reliance on technology also changed. The old
Management Information Systems (MIS) staff quickly became Information
Technology and Information Systems (IT&IS) departments. As the older
mainframe computer and mini-computer industries began their descent into
history, I discovered this emerging world of new technological growth in the
information technology (IT) industry. I decided to enter this expanding field
by accepting a position as an IT Architect. During this part of my career, I
designed and deployed systems that incorporated technologies I helped create
several years prior, as a research engineer.
I soon realized that, in addition to my expanded skill set, I should pursue
an advanced degree to further my career growth. While working full time, I
earned my Master of Science degree in Management of Technology. I decided
on this path, since traditional engineering had now seemed to have become
a commodity. It appeared to me as if anyone with electricity, a moderately
powerful computer, and some software knowledge, and a development board
could easily design and test hardware systems and write operating software.
Unfortunately, the same thought is still true today; just take a look at the
number of applications (apps) created for Apples iPhone and Googles Android
OS. The business community wanted self-configuring systems; and the technology community eventually supplied them. Apple Computers, Microsoft, and
Sun Systems produced business operating systems and applications that were
almost self-configuring, requiring minimal interaction with support staff. Today,
these same systems have become extremely complex, due to the increased
features businesses require, as well as a complex network of servers and
back-end data storage interconnects (e.g. iSCSI, Fibre Channel, and RAID).
Fueled by the need and demand for information, developers for such technologies must employ ever-changing technical skills, and continue to produce new
opportunities for career growth.
Many of the emerging technologies developed to address business needs
were offshoots of earlier technology development efforts. For example, iSCSI
was the standardization of the Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI)
command set and protocol for use across the TCP/ IP Internet. Shugart
Associates initially developed SCSI, a block transport command protocol with

SHAPING AN ENGINEERING CAREER BOOK 4

11

specific electrical interface attributes, in 1978, and publicly disclosed it in 1981

to ANSI committee X3T9-3. The IETF ratified iSCSI in February 2003 and
standardized it as RFC-3720 in April 2004.
As with SCSI, Fibre Channel (FC) standardization activities started near the
end of the mini-computer area. FC design activities started in 1988, with
ANSIs T11 Technical Committee standard approval in 1994. Since then, FC
product developments have yielded full-duplex storage transfer speeds of
3.2Gb/S as Storage Area Networks (SAN), connecting storage devices (i.e.
disks, RAID, and SCSI disks) to multiple hosts and servers. The Redundant
Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) standard, developed in the 1980s, was a
way of connecting several small disks to a host computer. The initial speed
was 40Mb/s, which was extremely fast in 1988. Later enhancements (Ultra640 SCSI) now support up to 5.1Gb/s data transfer between disk clusters and
host (server) clusters.
Although these technologies were challenging, I wanted to move to an
academic setting, where I could apply my technical expertise to teaching and
research activities; a logical migration of my career. Although I developed
and taught undergraduate and graduate classes at several major universities (including two Big 10 schools), I knew that adding a research arm to
my knowledge capital would require doctorial credentials. So again, while
working full time as a Systems Engineering Project Manager and IT Architect,
I earned my Doctorate in Information Technology at a private university, in
just over three years. After completing my Doctorate, I continued my work
as a Systems Architect for several years. I secured a position as an Associate
Professor of Computer Engineering at a mid-western university, where I
helped design, develop and deploy an Electrical Engineering program, with
a primary focus on Computer Engineering and Embedded Systems. The
embedded systems projects I led many years previous, were now integrated
into a single development board connected to a host computer via USB-2
or USB-3, and driven by web-based integrated design environments (IDE).
These advances became the new world of computer engineering; a far cry
from 8-bit microprocessors and discrete digital logic gates. The changes
are fascinating and exciting, now allowing computer engineers to create
analog and digital designs capable of incorporating onboard 32-bit microprocessors, and a variety of standard I/O interfaces. One such example is
the Cypress PSoC-5 development environment (see http://www.cypress.
com/?rID=51577 for details).

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12

IDENTIFY FIELD OF INTEREST

any of you may have already narrowed your field of interest; but it
doesnt necessarily mean it wont change. Change is the only constant
in the universe (except for the speed of light, which is well beyond
the scope of this IEEE-USA E-Book). Although it may sound a bit obvious,
change within a field of interest is expected. My field of interest was (and
is) electronics. When I first started my career,electronics meant vacuum
tubes, transistors, resistors, capacitors and inductors. Today, even when
using the most advanced commercially available technologies (like multicore processors and FPGAs) the fundamentals of vacuum tubes, transistors,
resistors, capacitors, and inductors are still present; but within a highly integrated form, incorporating software-driven, integrated design environments.
As an example, my later career took me in a management direction. Im still
in computer engineering, but now I lead teams of engineers like myself. I
must admit my focus has changed a bit from technology to project management, resource allocations and budgets. But even at this point in my career,
I could not leave technologywhich caused a bit of a tiff between my boss
and me. My manager believed once you accept a management role, technology becomes something that is managednot practiced. As you may
have guessed, I disagreed. So, while continuing to manage full time, I
made up for my loss in day-to-day engineering activities by securing a parttime position at a community college, where I developed and taught courses
in solid state electronics design, microprocessor design and instrumentation.

SHAPING AN ENGINEERING CAREER BOOK 4

13

IDENTIFY IMPORTANT WORK VALUES

ork values are often difficult to identify. We have heard of work

ethics, loyalty and family values. But how does one identify work
values? I suppose showing up on time, performing your assignments
to the best of your ability, and giving a little extra to learn something new
(or to impress your boss) are all work values. But how are these values tied
to your career growth?
In my own career growth, I found that my important work values often
changed with my assignments and company. During the managerial part of
my career, I found it somewhat difficult to distinguish between work values
and the proverbial butt-covering that managers often face. This differentiation was one of the primary motivators that supported my transition
back to computer engineering. Changing companies opens doors that are
otherwise unobtainable. I discovered a new set of work values that my
new employer supported. Continuing education supported developing new
skills, like designing with programmable logic devices and FPGAs, learning
new programming languages (Pascal, C, JAVA, VHDL, etc.), and exposure to high-end computers (sometimes called HPCs for high-performance
computing/computers), including the latest in VLSI design and manufacturing. My values included a thirst for knowledge, helping my new company
to succeed, performing tasks before they were assigned (anticipating what
needed to be done), and helping others to succeed (mentoring).
Computer engineering in the 21st century is a bit different, compared to my
early career. With respect to work values, the requirement to look beyond
hardware and software paradigms is imperative. Gone are the days of
designing a microprocessor-based product, throwing it over the wall to the
software engineers for programming, and throwing it over the wall again to
manufacturing; all occurring in silos of development and engineering. The
work values of those days were very focused on the success of the silo
the engineering team. Today, we work in cross-functional teams, where the
lines between hardware, software, systems and production are skewed, at
best. As an example, the Apple iPhone 5 required embedded engineering
(hardware and software), data communications expertise, and artistic and
creative design. According to Apple:
iPhone 5 is just 7.6 millimeters thin. To make that happen, Apple
engineers had to think small, component by component. They
created a nano-SIM card, which is 44 percent smaller than a

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14

micro-SIM. They also developed a unique cellular solution for iPhone

5. The conventional approach to building LTE into a world phone
uses two chipsone for voice, one for data. On iPhone 5, both are
on a single chip. The intelligent, reversible Lightning connector is 80
percent smaller than the 30-pin connector. The 8MP iSight camera
has even more features like panorama and dynamic low-light
modeyet its 25 percent smaller. And the new A6 chip is up to 2x
faster than the A5 chip, but 22 percent smaller. Even with so much
inside, iPhone 5 is 20 percent lighter and 18 percent thinner than
iPhone 4S. (8)
It is beyond the scope of this IEEE-USA E-Book to explore the work values of
Apples engineering staff. However, I believe we can draw a few conclusions
based on the success of the iPhone that may translate to your own work
value system. A few possibilities are:
1. The engineering staff believed the technological improvements were

possible, and pursued ways to achieve the operational goals of the iPhone.

2. There appears to be a high degree of interaction between engineers

and artists (design of package and display characteristics), suggesting a

mutual respect of each talent, and the importance to product success.

3. The freedom to think outside the box gives individuals a certain sense

of autonomy, while being part of a close-knit team.

As product demands continue to change, the skills of the teams that design
and produce those products also change. My work values underwent several
metamorphoses before arriving at my current level. Each of you will probably experience changes in your work values, as you progress through your
careers. Based on my own career, I can offer only this: always be comfortable with who you are. Failure awaits those who make every attempt to be
something they are not. Curiosity, a thirst for knowledge, and having questions that need answering all serve those seeking higher values in all aspects
of their livesdont give up.

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15

KEEP CURRENT TECHNICALLY

Throughout this IEEE-USA E-Book, I took you through the rapid changes that
formed my career path and growth. I obtained a significant part of my knowledge capital through research, vendor courses, advanced degrees, and finding
the right projects. Today, I see changes in the way technical professionals
keep current. With product development cycles shortening, interfacing at all
hours of the day and night with teams dispersed throughout the globe, and
the ever-changing business model that no longer values employee training,
the need to keep current has fallen on the employees shoulders; albeit in
industry or academia. Several bright lights shine, however, in this maze of
hedges and thorns. Vendors still offer training with their productsboth
instructor-led and web-based courseslike webinars and online tutorials.
Universities that partner with manufacturers are also offering continuing
educational opportunities, through short courses and MOOCs (9). Many excellent periodicals offer articles and papers on topics of technology research,
expansion and migration. All of these tools should be part of your arsenal of
learning weaponry, as you maintain your technical skills.
Vendor visits are also a good way to maintain technical currency. Vendors
will often invite customer staff to their location for tours, presentations, and
even technical papers. Vendors will often make visits to customer locations
to give short training sessions on the theory and application of their products. Although most are probably sales pitches in disguise, you can gain
new insights into new technologies and applications that could utilize more
mature technologies.

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KEEP CURRENT PROFESSIONALLY

aintaining technical knowledge and skills is important for continued

career growth; but what about professional currency? In my own
experience, keeping current within my profession was one of the
easier things I did for my career growth; but was also an activity that
required the most amount of time. My profession was (and is) electrical
engineering.6 My solution for professional currency included professional
memberships in the IEEE, IEEE Computer Society, IEEE Communications
Society, and the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE). In
addition to reading articles in the society periodicals, I attended as many
conferences as possible. I also volunteered for both IEEE and ASEE activities, serving on technical committees and boards.
Professional society memberships were almost a requirement in my early
career. Many companies paid membership fees for employees wishing
to become active in these societies. Unfortunately, this benefit is not as
common in todays environment. Many companies have drifted away from
professional society memberships, in favor of vendor sponsored groups. Most
engineering professionals are tied to short development schedules, making
free time almost a luxury. And for the little time permitted for professional
growth, corporate executives see more value in vendor training, than in
research-centric professional societies; especially when the vendor product
is being used within the company.

During the later years of my career, I met with severe push-back from my
manager, if I wanted to attend an IEEE conference; very little push-back if
I requested time for a webinar, or a local training day at a location within
driving distance of my home or office. Im sure travel costs (airfare, hotel,
transportation, etc.) played a role in supporting local vendor training vs. a
three-day conference at some distant location. I hope this attitude changes,
as companies realize the importance of keeping staff both technically and
professionally current. Until then, you will need to find ways of keeping technically and professionally current that fits both your work and your personal
life. You can find some suggestions at: http://www.techrepublic.
com/article/ keeping-your-skills-current-will-keep-you-in-demand/1031101 and at http://ieeesmc.org/ membership/Benefits of
IEEE Membership.pdf.
6. I use the term electrical engineering to mean any aspect of engineering typically included in the academic
definition of electrical engineering including solid state devices, logic/digital engineering, computer engineering,
embedded systems, and power engineering, to name a few.

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KEEP PERSONAL HISTORY UP-TO-DATE

ve elected not to spend too much time on this topic. Many of you have
had training or instructional advice on writing a resume or C.V. If not,
explore the excellent resource at: http://career.ucsd.edu/undergraduates/prepar-resume-covlet/writing-effective-resume.html.
Those on your second or third job since graduation probably have extensive
experiencing updating personal documentation. From my own experience, I
believe I may be able to modernize what it means to keep personal history
updated.

1. Your resume is your written list of accomplishments and

career goals.

Resumes take four typical forms:

B. A Chronological Resume lists your work history at the top in reverse

chronological order. Many employers like this format, because they can
see your work history at a glance. A good format, if you have a stable
work history.

C. A Functional Resume focuses on skills and experience. A good

format, if you have large gaps in your work history like those who are
Consultants, Contract Employees, or part-time workers. Make sure you
clearly list your positions and responsibilities, to avoid any misconception that you may be hiding something.

D. A Combination (Hybrid) Resume is a flexible format. Your skills

and experience are listed first, but you also include your work history
below that, so employers can see it at a glance.

E. A Targeted Resume format should be used if you are applying for a

job and want to highlight the skills and experience relevant to that job.

2. With the 21st century came the era of social media. Many people

are placing large amounts of personal information and history on these

social media web sites. Doing so can create an awkward situation when
seeking new career opportunities. Be aware that anything can be hacked,
and no information placed in a public setting will stay private forever.
The same holds true for e-mail. If you want to share your professional

SHAPING AN ENGINEERING CAREER BOOK 4

18

experiences with friends and prospective employees, create a web site

designed strictly for that purpose; to grow your career.
3. Everything is important. Your accomplishments and skills change over

time. In my early career, I listed my USAF RADAR training, and my First

Class FCC Radiotelephony license. Today, you will not find these items on
most of my personal history documentation; they are no longer relevant,
in most situations. However, they are still important. They represent my
early work in forging my knowledge capital. The same is true for you and
your career. Always keep the latest and most relevant information current
on all documentation; written and electronic. As you gain experience and
knowledge capital value, store the early stuff somewhere those who may
want to know can easily retrieve it. New positions are typically won with
who you know (your network), what you know, and how you tell your
story (your resume, C.V., or personal website).

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19

NETWORK

etworking is the art of meeting, greeting, and talking to people. Your

network consists of family, friends, professional acquaintances, people
you work for and with, and people you are introduced to, through
others in your network. Never underestimate the power of your network.
Throughout my career, I acquired my most influential postions with the
direct or indirect help of someone that knew me; someone who would vouch
for my character, work ethics and skills. Ones network is built over time, and
it changes as interests and career goals change. However, maintaining your
network, regardless of your current career path, is an absolute necessity in
an ever-changing world.
According to Wendy S. Enelow at Monster.Com: Creating a structured plan
and process is vital to any successful venture, whether launching a new
business, orchestrating an organizational turnaround, or managing your
job search networking campaign. It is critical that you clearly identify your
network contacts, develop a personalized networking plan, and build an
administrative process to manage it all. (10) In essence, Wendy S. Enelow
is proposing a process of building a personal network through contacts and
follow-up. I often failed in this area. I am definitely not an extrovert (Type
A personality), but I dont believe I am an introvert (Type B personality),
either. I have had problems with follow-up, especially when cold-calling
a new person. As my career was taking shape, I often joined networking
clubswhere people who were looking for new career opportunities would
meet for breakfastand spend most of the time chatting, exchanging business cards and/or resumes, and on occasion, discussing jobs (contract
and/or full-time). Although I dont consider myself as having the so called
gift of gab, I could usually hold my own in a conversation with other job
seekers. The contact afterward is where I had most of my problems. The
first follow-up should probably be made via a telephone call, since e-mail
is considered cold and impersonal. To this day, I am still a bit shy with cold
calls. However, by todays standards, a telephone call may be considered
rude, and an E-mail or text message much more efficient.
I am neither a psychologist, nor trained in the psychoanalytic discipline, so
I really cant guide you through the gut-wrenching feelings that may haunt
you as you try to build your personal network. I can only offer a little advice
that may help: 1. Networking is probably the single most important thing
you can do to grow your career; and 2. Dont go it alone. People all around
you are also making every effort to have a rewarding and fulfilling career.

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Dont be afraid to team-up with someone, as you take on the challenge of

new faces and the occasional rejection. As Red Green often states: We are
all in this together. (11)

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21

HAVE FUN

hope for those of you who stayed with me through this IEEE-USA E-Book
have come to understand that your career can truly be rewarding and
fun. The person that coined the phrase: the journey is more important
than the destination, must have been an engineer; or at least an engineer at heart. Throughout my career, I have made choices that helped me
in my quest for career growth, and some that set me back a few years.
I started as a RADAR repairman in the USAF, and retired as an Associate
Professor of Computer Engineering at a Big 10 university. I was part of the
microprocessor and personal computing explosion of the latter part of the
20th century, and helped shape the next generation of computer engineers.
Ive been a technician, engineer, IT architect, program manager, project
manager, software development manager, an academic; and continue to
have a great family through it all. Fun is like beautyit is in the eye of the
beholder. For me, its been a great ride. I wish all of you the very best in
your career and personal growth. Dont be afraid to take a chance now and
then; you never know where a new path may lead.

SHAPING AN ENGINEERING CAREER BOOK 4

22

REFERENCES
1. Confucius quote; Downloaded from http://wiki.answers.com/Q/

Who_wrote_this_quote_ do_something_you_love_and_you_will_never_
work_a_day_in_your_life on April 3, 2013.

2. IEEE-USA Career Guidelines; Downloaded from http://www.ieeeusa.org/

careers/help/Presentations/CareerPlanning.ppt on April 2, 2013.

3. Citizen Band Transceivers. Good overview located at http://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Citizens%27_band_radio

4. Philip Schwartz. Even in a recession, continuing education programs

make sense; South Florida Business Journal; 2009. Downloaded from

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2009/12/07/focus4.html
?b=1260162000%255e2527741&ana=e_vert on April 10, 2013.

5. The Future Of Outsourcing, BloombergBusinessweek; http://

www.businessweek.com/ stories/2006-01-29/the-future-of-outsourcing . CHART: Top U.S. Corporations Outsourced More Than

2.4 Million American Jobs Over The Last Decade, ThinkProgress;
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/04/19/159555/us-corporations-outsourced-americans/. Additional data located at
http://www.bing.com/news/search?q=American+corporat
e+outsourcing&qpvt=American+corporate+outsourcing&FORM=EWRE

6. Schouten, F. Tech firms fight hiring rules in immigration bill; USA

TODAY, 1:21 a.m. EDT May 7, 2013. IEEE-USA SmartBrief, May 9, 2013.
Located at http://www.usatoday. com/story/news/politics/2013/05/06/
tech-firms-lobbying-against-labor-immigration-measure/2137837/

And: Gomez, A. Senate Judiciary Committee approves immigration overhaul. Located on May 25, 2013 at http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/
politics/2013/05/21/senate-committee-passes-immigration-bill/2348905/
USA Today. IEEE-USA SmartBrief, May 23, 2013.
7. Drew, A. Has an Adequate Supply of STEM Workers, We Just Wont Hire

Them; Downloaded from http://politic365.com/2013/04/29/americahas-an-adequate-supply-of-stem-workers-we-just-wont-hire-them/ on

May 2, 2013

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23

8. Apple Computers. iPhone Design. Located on May 20, 2013 at http://

www.apple.com/ iphone/design/

9. MOOC-CA. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Located at http://

www.mooc.ca/ index.html And; MOOC Course Listing. Located at http://

mooc-courses.com/

10. Enelow, W. S. Create a Personal Networking Plan. Located May 24, 2013

at http://career-advice.monster.com/job-search/Professional-Networking/
Create-a-Personal-Networking-Plan/article.aspx

11. The Red Green Show. Located on May 25, 2013 at http://www.

redgreen.com/

SHAPING AN ENGINEERING CAREER BOOK 4

24

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