Hi Welcome to the Eev Blog, an Electronics engineering video blog of interest to anyone involved in electronics Design. I'm your host, Dave Jones Hi It's advice time again and this one comes from the forum I read the other day from Dave and Dave's in the Uk. He's a graduate Electronics design engineer and he scored himself a good job at a big aerospace company. He's been there for about nine months, but it turns out he's a bit disillusioned with it all, and possibly with the industry.

What he's found is that about 95 of his work is just boring paperwork and and reports and stuff like that Very little real actual Design Engineering. Electronics Design Engineering which is what he wants to do. You know, take a specification, design it, build it, troubleshoot, it, test it, commission it. Do the software, do the documentation.

the whole thing. A typical designing a product from start to finish and he's not getting that and he wants to know? Is that normal in the industry Is that what a real Electronics Design engineer does Do They just do 95 paperwork Or do those real jobs actually exist where you can do everything? I just mentioned the whole life cycle of product design and he's asking, well, should he change jobs? Should he risk it because the job market's not that great? Should he stick it out? Will it get better? Even some of his colleagues have said that Well, if he wants to do that sort of thing, he should get the hell out of the company. and he should go and join a startup. Is that what He should do and do? I have any advice? Well, you bet I do.

So here's my top five career and life experience tips for graduate engineers. Tip number one: The world of Dilbert is real. I can guarantee you every single cartoon in here happens in the real world. It's not made up.

that can often be what big engineering companies alike, and sometimes you've just got to put up with it. No electronics engineering. No design job is going to be a hundred percent fun with none of the boring. It basically just doesn't happen.

Okay, there's lots of variations. It can be totally opposite as Dave found out. You can do 95 boring, maybe 5 fun stuff, or 10 or 20 or 30 fun stuff. You're not always going to get what you want.

So your typical engineering jobs are just fine for your average engineer graduate engineer Because they typically don't give a toss about electronics design. Really, they're not passionate about it. it's just a job to them. Maybe a career path to some into management or something else that pays better.

But for those of you like who are watching this video who are passionate about electronics, what can you do? Well, often it doesn't matter what the company is. big, small startup, subcontract, whatever. Often you've got to fight for the real cool uh job. the real cool design work because a lot of it if a cool project comes along.

if you, if your boss is a design engineer, he's going to snap it up. he or she is going to snap it up right rather than give it to you. It's really got nothing to do with you being new on the job. It's not going to get any better.

You've just got to fight for it. Sometimes and often it can be like seagulls pecking after the last ship. Mine, Mine mine, mine mine mine. Don't fall into the common misconception that everything you do at work is going to have purpose or value.

It's not uncommon in the least to work your ass off for 6 months, 12 months, whatever on a project, only to have it be canned or change direction or whatever. I've got a dead projects list as long as my arm. Don't let it disillusion you, it's gonna happen. Tip number two and this is a biggie.

Always work on your own projects in your own time. Don't rely on your job to give you design satisfaction. it's just never going to continuously give it to you. A lot of you know, there's lots of ebbs and flows in companies.

You'll be working on something cool one day, boring as batshit the next. So you've got to have your own projects to keep you interested. and some of the most satisfying projects you work on might be your own because you can always do it your way. Often at work, you're not going to be able to get your own way.

You won't be able to make your own decisions, You won't be able to push the product in the direction you think it can go in. You've got to zip your mouth. You know it's just not going to work out, but if you work on your own projects, no worries at all. So if you get some or a lot of your own design satisfaction outside of work on your own projects, then you're more able to tolerate a typical engineering job that you know has its ups and downs.

and there's nothing wrong with settling for a nice, cushy engineering job at a big company that's not perfect. No job is going to be perfect. if the pay is good, the conditions are good, the people are good, and they treat you well, and they got good resources, etc. etc.

Then there's no reason why you shouldn't stay there. If it's if you know you'll get not getting your ideal fix of design work and remember a really crap job almost never gets better. There's an intrinsic reason why it's crap. Tip number three: While you're young, try and get a design job.

That's what's called a one-man band job. That means you get to do the entire product design from start to finish the whole life cycle just like Dave wanted to do. You get to do often. The concept, the spec, the the design, the board layout, the software firmware.

You get to do troubleshooting, repair, installation, commissioning, documentation, the whole gamut of stuff. because that's a very valuable skill to have. But be careful what you wish for, because often those jobs can be a real pain in the ass and you get stuck. If anything fails, you're the one that's responsible for it.

So if you design and do everything with this product goes out in the field and there's a big screw up that cost millions of dollars, Well, guess whose fault it is? Okay, just be careful what you wish for. Now to get one of these jobs. Uh, often you'll find them at these, uh, contract design engineering companies. These are some big companies will hire these smaller contract firms to do what's called a turnkey solution.

They'll get to design everything, they'll give them the spec, and then they go away and do everything. and typically, but not always, they'll assign it to one engineer. So just be careful if you're going for a job like that, to make sure you find out that it truly is a one-man band job and you'll pretty soon. you'll pretty much learn whether or not you like the responsibility of being able to do the whole thing because it is a lot of responsibility and sometimes it can be more reassuring just to design your little bit and throw it over the wall to somebody else.

So if something screws up, it's not entirely your fault. And just be careful because those jobs can involve really tight deadlines and you can be working your ass off for the man. And trust me, that can often be worse than sitting in a 90 boring job. So yes, those companies where you get to do everything do exist.

Not just in small contract design companies, they can be in large companies. Small companies. Whatever, you've just got to seek them out. There's plenty of them out there.

Tip Number four: Move around a lot. Change jobs. Don't be afraid to have five jobs in ten years or even more. Typically, you want to spend more than a year at a job, because if you spend less than a year, it's typically frowned upon that you're not committed and all that sort of stuff.

and that's a general industry conception. Might even be a misconception. I don't know. but just watch out for it.

But don't be afraid to get experience. Don't just settle for one big job for the first 10 years it's You could be missing out on a lot of stuff. And get, if you're interested in travel while you're young and single, get a job that pays for your travel and sends you around the world. There can be nothing better in terms of life experience than traveling the world at somebody else's expense.

And finally, tip Number five. Never, ever be afraid of losing your job. That's quite simply no way to live. It's terrible.

So don't be afraid to take that risky job at the startup or the small company or whatever. Take a risk, go for it. If you've got talent and enthusiasm, you'll always be able to find a job in the electronics. In this industry, networking is a huge thing.

It's not just what jobs are advertised out there, you'll always be able to get a job. It might take a little while, but that's not a problem. now. when I started out I was poor.

I didn't have any money. But when I got my first professional job at 17, I started saving money. and I started doing it seriously. And it gave me what I call screw you money.

It meant that I had the freedom to not fear about losing my job. If you've got money behind you that you've saved up, then you don't have to put up with a bad manager you don't have to put up with. You don't have to put up with anything. If you don't like your job, you can say screw you, I'm leaving or you can just find another one you don't have to put up with it.

or you can take six months off. You can travel. you know, travel the world, do whatever. You can take six months off.

Start designing your own products, start your own business, do whatever. Spend six months looking for work. Not a problem. You don't have to fear losing your job.

So save your money and give yourself some screw you money. You won't regret it, I promise you. So, if you're going to work hard at something, don't work hard for the man because that's typically not going to get you very far at all and it's not going to be very satisfying. Work hard to put yourself in a position of freedom, freedom to choose what you want to do in your career and your life.

Don't just spend your life working for the man. You'll regret it. Do what you enjoy and follow. Take some risks and follow what you want to do.

And remember, if you don't like the job, then get the hell out. and finally, just ensure that you never end up being a kiss ass. And no matter what you do in your career, don't take it too seriously. Remember to have some fun.

you.