Hi Mike,


I must admit I'd missed that this was an old thread resurrected! Whoops. But always a pertinent subject anyway.


I really like your point about "the same year repeated 20 times". Which of course applies to all engineers regardless of their background. It's always interesting watching engineers change industry, there's some sort of standard progress of:











Sadly all too often the engineer leaves at the second step and returns to their old industry, where they can feel terribly pleased with themselves for solving the same problem the same way over and over again - whether anyone wants that problem solved or not!


Not just a random Sunday afternoon thought, because you've raised a point here which is a serious problem in many, possibly most or all, engineering industries - how do you get engineers out of their comfort zone and into new areas, when you also want them to keep being productive in the day job? And equally, how do you encourage employers to take a risk on recruiting such engineers if they decide to make a radical change? Personally I've made some huge sideways leaps in my career, but it was really really tough each time finding new employers prepared to take a chance on me - and yet once I was in they were delighted (once we'd sorted ourselves out as above) that I was bringing a different perspective.


Simply solve that and we can revolutionise the world of engineering ? In the meantime, I'd better get back to the wallpapering...


Cheers,


Andy

Hi Mike,


I must admit I'd missed that this was an old thread resurrected! Whoops. But always a pertinent subject anyway.


I really like your point about "the same year repeated 20 times". Which of course applies to all engineers regardless of their background. It's always interesting watching engineers change industry, there's some sort of standard progress of:











Sadly all too often the engineer leaves at the second step and returns to their old industry, where they can feel terribly pleased with themselves for solving the same problem the same way over and over again - whether anyone wants that problem solved or not!


Not just a random Sunday afternoon thought, because you've raised a point here which is a serious problem in many, possibly most or all, engineering industries - how do you get engineers out of their comfort zone and into new areas, when you also want them to keep being productive in the day job? And equally, how do you encourage employers to take a risk on recruiting such engineers if they decide to make a radical change? Personally I've made some huge sideways leaps in my career, but it was really really tough each time finding new employers prepared to take a chance on me - and yet once I was in they were delighted (once we'd sorted ourselves out as above) that I was bringing a different perspective.


Simply solve that and we can revolutionise the world of engineering ? In the meantime, I'd better get back to the wallpapering...


Cheers,


Andy