Editor’s Turn
First I would like to thank all those with the news: Marsha Tickman, Paul Wesling, Ralph Russell, Merrill Palmer, Kanji Otsuka, Tony Mak, Rao Tummala, James Morris, Jack Balde, Connie Swager, and John Stafford. Special thanks for the ECTC pictures from Ron Gedney and Paul Wesling.
I do not have to take a turn as columnist very often, because your Society officers communicate clearly and frequently. Their news more than fills the newsletter each issue, without need for any pithy comments from me. However, in this issue we were short 2 cents worth of "Pith." This Pith that has been pondered before.
Second, will you read news on the web? I notice among my fellow engineers, no one reads more than one paragraph at one time on their computer monitor; if it is a long message like a newsletter, they print it out first so they can caress it, crease it, and quickly lose it in a stack of papers. Unfortunately, Internet hardware and software technology brought us quickly to an easy "web-only" newsletter capability. Web news presentation requires no buying of paper, contracting a printer, and arranging for address label and mailing; my editorial life would be a lot easier and would save your Society about $16,000/year ($4/member). That is, we can now quickly put each newsletter on the web (www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/cpmt/newsletter) with a bonus of many color pictures and hyperlinks to conference sites. In addition, you can find your back issues without looking through stacks of papers on your desk. However, some members have mentioned that the wonders of the CPMT Society are rekindled in their heart only when their mailbox has a glossy fresh Newsletter. Would the thrill be the same if they printed out selected articles from our Society website? How many years before engineers read most of their literature over the Internet?
Third, what career advice do you share with students and children? For example, ten years ago all packaging engineers were in demand, but now the wireless engineers receive the most job offers. Similarly the computer engineer has seen the windows of opportunity go from Artificial Intelligence, to computer CD-ROM games, to networking, to networked computer security. Is the BSEE still a general enough degree to launch many career options as the student slowly finds their passion?
A large percentage of professionals in their 50s would not repeat their career path if given the choice: Medical Doctors think their kids should become engineers, engineers think their kids should start businesses, business officers send their kids to medical schools. And of course many kids just want you to recommend a high paying job that doesn’t take a lot of training. (As if they wouldn’t be filled already)
Feedback: These are vague questions meant to spark each person’s own particular nagging concerns. If you have any thoughts, share them with our readers. [d.palmer@ieee.org]