A good time to take a risk?

If you listen to the news reports, the economy is in for some very rough times. In early April, the overall unemployment index grew to 4.3 percent. The stock market has been taking a beating, with many of the dot-com companies going down the proverbial tubes and their millionaire employee-owners losing their millionaire status.

The year 2000 was the first one that individual real wealth, as measured by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, went down in nearly a decade. What does all this mean to engineers of all persuasions?

A big shakeout of engineers took place back in 1993. I know: I was one of the "overeducated, overexperienced" and underemployed engineers during that spring. I used that opportunity to find out what it was like to be an independent consultant. I made it a successful business, have learned a lot and am a much better engineer for the experience and challenge.

I am sure that events like that will happen again, but right now it does not look like this economic turndown is directed at the college-educated segments of the workforce.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Employment opportunities in engineering are expected to be good through 2008. Overall engineering employment is expected to increase about as fast as the average for all occupations, while the number of engineering degrees granted has remained fairly constant over the past several years."

This translates to a 10 to 20 percent increase in the demand for engineers.

But, this doesn't mean that if you are actively employed as an engineer that you need not worry about continued employment in your personal situation. It does mean that you're in position to take your career in your own hands and determine your own destiny.

The starting point for this is to ensure that you are keeping up with your education. The basic principles of engineering do not change, but how they are applied to real-word challenges changes rapidly. If you plan to continue as a practicing engineer, you have to keep up with the latest trends, standards and requirements.

The negative overall job market and business climate suggest that companies will continue to look for ways of reducing costs. For many, that may mean outsourcing some of their business functions, including engineering. If you're interested in becoming an independent consultant, this may be an opportunity to do just that. However, before you make the leap, be sure that you are willing and able to handle the uncertain and unstructured life of a consultant.

You may also be able to take the project you are working on within your company and move it outside. In the past, companies have decided that a particular project is no longer a part of their overall business strategy.

If you believe in the project, you may want to consider this as an option instead of having it die a painful death. This takes serious entrepreneurial spirit and a willingness to go for broke. But, many an engineer has made his or her way in the world by taking this risk.

— Niel Leon
Committee on Engineering
Entrepreneurship
leonn@asme.org

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