"N2EY" wrote in message
om...
Mike Coslo wrote in message
...

[snip]
When we have the Bring your daughters (and sons) to work day, for the
last few years, none of the young ladies wanted to be engineers. Most
wanted to be lawyers.

Any ideas why?

Yes, law is much more glamourous than engineering. Even though few
engineers these days "get their hands dirty," this field of endeavor still
has an image of not being an office job even though that is false as far as
actual practice goes.

[snip]
Continue to be an engineer, and continue to be a subordinate.

Guess who makes more money?

Years ago, I needed to make the choice between becoming an engineer, or
becoming an artist (who also had technical duties) Guess what won out?

All valid points. Here are some mo

- In engineering, there's a good chance your particular field may
undergo radical changes in employment levels.


That is certainly true. Fields like law are viewed as being more stable.
While I've always managed to stay in engineering, I've worked in the
aerospace, nuclear, and automotive fields.

- Getting an engineering degree not only requires taking lots of math
and science courses, but also pretty much requires that you have a
good background in those courses from high school.

- The reward system is unbalanced in ways beyond pay compensation. For
example:

Example 1: Suppose an engineer set out to design, say, a system to
turn sewage and garbage into fuel, and do it practically, profitably
and cleanly. Suppose s/he succeeded, and the result solved two
problems at once. And suppose said engineer got patents to protect the
rights to the process.

Those patents would only be good for a limited time (14 or 20 years,
depending on the type of patent) and once they were gone, anyone could
use the process. Improvements to the process could make money for
other people, too. So the engineer had better make his/her money
quick. But the only way to make money from the process is to build
actual functioning recovery systems, or sell/lease the right to do so.


Odds are the engineer will only get his normal salary plus a one time bonus.
In general, it takes time and facilities to develop something and this means
working for a company. In most cases, you have to sign the patent rights
over to them.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE