Expert: cleggsan - 9/15/2009

Question
im in an egineering class in high school and we were assigned to do an interview with a professional in our desired field. i was wondering if you could answer a few questions.

what do you do everyday
what do you like
what do you hate
what are some of the benifits of your job
where did you go to school
how long did you go to school for
did that school prepare you well
what classes do you recomend me taking
do you work with a team
do you work weekends
do you work "hands-on" or at a desk

i appreciate your time in reading and hopefully answering this interview

thanks
Jake Ostergaard  

Answer
Please see my web page at cleggsan.com

I am now a semi-retired consultant so I will answer you based upon my typical activities while I was working full time as an engineer doing design, development and manufacturing work.

what do you do everyday
Designing circuitry for board layouts; testing prototypes for heat/temperature in environmental chamber; testing critical incoming parts for conformance to engineering specifications; collaborate with drafting/design department for documentation and Bill of Materials.

what do you like
Engineering is very intense and there are many things that must be done in preparing a product for actual mass production. It requires coordination with factory staff, marketing staff and top management in order to meet deadlines in the progress of getting out to the marketplace.

what do you hate
It is all very stimulating and there is nothing to dislike.

what are some of the benifits of your job
Seeing the end result of your work; and that of your project team; seeing the product become successful in the marketplace; awards that are given; visiting shows and sales meetings to further the project and product success.

where did you go to school
Four different universities and graduate classes.

how long did you go to school for
Total of over 6 years in engineering and technical areas; another 2 years in MBA and business areas.  

did that school prepare you well
Schools don't prepare you for anything; none of them.  You do it by yourself.  The best a college or university can do is guide you to what is important and offer some inspiration.  But the work is up to the student.

what classes do you recomend me taking
All of them.  Take every course you can enroll in and use them to satisfy your curiosity of the subject. Spend lots of extra time in the library reading and studying similar topics to get a wide scope of the engineering and tech fields; especially those of your main personal interests.

do you work with a team
Of course, all engineering work is done in team groups.  In my case it was engineering, marketing and finance professionals. In other cases it can be research, testing, software and so on.

do you work weekends
You work when the obligation comes.  Most engineers travel extensively; week ends or nights and holidays as may be required. If you go to Asia to coordinate with the factory you have to be there for a week, or even a month.  In my case many projects are based in USA for design, Japan for hardware implementation, Bangalore, INDIA for embedding into DSP developments.

do you work "hands-on" or at a desk
Yes, and on airplanes and in airports and at shows and conferences and seminars.  In the lab, out of the lab, in conference rooms and in hotel rooms.

Let me suggest you look at becoming a student member of the IEEE.  You can find the engineering fields that are represented by this largest professional society in the world at:

http://ieee.org/web/societies/home/index.html

I am interested in the Consumer Electronics, Broadcasting, Computer, Power, Management and Semiconductor Societies.  There are over 350,000 members of the IEEE among the 38 societies within the organization.

You must start deciding on which field you want to focus on soon if you want to become a successful technologist.  Once you have decided where to aim, join one of the societies that fits your area and start to focus your goals and ambitions and interests.  It will help you decide on the career and university that will be best for you in the long run, but stay general and broad so you can comfortably fit in to whatever may come along among the range of your general interests in life.

Cleggsan