Why I’m Glad to Be an Engineer
Megan McCardle is lamenting the impending doom of B-school grads. Here’s how she sees their future:
Banking needs to be much smaller, which means a lot of overeducated people, many of them with crushing student loan bills, are going to have to radically downsize their expectations. Having gone through it, I can testify that it’s not fun. But it’s not the end of the world, either. The denial, the need to play along, is the hardest time for everyone.
Meh…
When I left my less than lucrative career in theatre, part of the reason I went into software engineering was the knowledge that when all else failed, I would still be able to write code. It’s not like there are a lot of freelance banking jobs to be found in this world. Still and all, I hope that these people recover and do well in their new fields.
I’m eternally glad that I took calculus instead of finance.
10 Responses to “Why I’m Glad to Be an Engineer”
Just wanted to drop in from TC’s spot and bless your site. This is a good look, keep doing your thing!
No worries about up and comers from Bangalore? With code (unlike theater) no one can tell you’re phoning it in!
And yeah, TNC sent me!
Being a Bangladeshi-style code-monkey is a fall-back if you have a real engineering degree. It could also be a fall-back for those B-school dorks if they had picked up a programming class. Actual engineering, with the math and physics and stuff, is different. Better. And yes, it’s nice to have one.
As someone who is currently halfway through a theater degree… uh oh. I don’t know how to code…
Tony/Heather,
The Bangalore/Mumbai connection isn’t a big a worry to me down here among the weeds. I do have the math/physics stuff with my degree, which is indeed a big help. I also try to specialize in areas which need good English skills, like requirements gathering and project management. Hard to fake that, though some try.
Guy,
My main problem with theater is that I sucked. Work hard, make connections, just like anything else. Also, to quote David Mamet, having a fall back plan is a plan to fall back.
I’m on the outer edges of academia, working as a poet and a full-time instructor, but I’ve long said that I can always go back to driving a forklift or silk-screening t-shirts if the choice is between that or adjuncting. Even tending bar again would be an option. But you’ve got to have a backup.
I also came over from TNC’s place, and if you’d like to trade links, I’m glad to do it. Good work on getting into the blog game.
@Guy There’s still time. I did the physics w/calculus sequence my BFA year. And Kev and Mamot are right. The only people who make it are the ones who go 100%. There’s no room in the game for a fall back plan.
I followed the key light for you at TNC. Always enjoyed your comments there so I will be visiting BF daily.
In reply to Tony at #2’s Bangalore comment, I’m a software developer and this used to be a real concern of mine. But in the last few years the limits of the ability to farm development work out have become really apparent.
In short: Writing software that actually does what the customer wants is really difficult when everybody is in the same building and communicates really well. When they’re half a world away it’s almost impossible.
On the ground outsourcing doesn’t have nearly the return people thought it would. And the market for good developers is still (even as the economy tanks) really strong as a result. I personally think it’s likely the Indian economy will become strong enough to provide a market for home grown companies to move from trying to get US business to servicing Indian clients. No data there, just some anecdotes from Indians I know.
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