When I Get to my Gulch...They Suck Me Back In...
Have had an interesting development in my career. I've been trying to quit. But...I enjoy engineering. And, I like making money. A year ago I was picked up by a very large firm to focus on a kind of engineering I love, something I've specialized in for many years. Several months in, after enduring the chaos of taking on a bunch of screwed up work that needed to be fixed, it hit me. There's a massive shortage of capable engineers. Those who should be in their prime don't exist. It's me, two or three guys at my level in the western US, and a bunch of greenhorns. And, we're burning out the greenhorns. There's a ton of work to be done...to be paid for. Spoke to my boss today and he, and others, are pushing me up in the organization. He's a great guy but is trying to obtain my level of credentials. I'm helping him with that. I've grown much more humble in my old age and even told him today, "I have no pride". He laughed. But, this massive shortage of knowledgeable engineers has created a void and I'm getting sucked into position to try to fill it. On the good side we agreed today that things are going to have to come off my plate to make time for the bigger things, things like high-level meetings with high-level clients, etc. Have never been in a position to completely call my shots, never really even strived for that. Just always wanted to geek out. Now, it feels like they're handing me the keys to the train. I'm going to have to set my Gulch departure date...the date when I disappear. Otherwise they might find me dead at my desk. I feel very fortunate - a good problem to have, I guess.
Anybody else experience this kind of thing? Delaying your complete retirement long enough to get recognized for your value?
Anybody else experience this kind of thing? Delaying your complete retirement long enough to get recognized for your value?
I took the chance (side gig at a local university).
And then I realized my lack of a clear statement.
Turns out...
I always wanted to teach students that WANTED to learn...
Only get a FEW of those per class. LOL.
I actively recruit future Galts, d'Anconias, and Reardens.
https://fit.instructure.com/courses/6...
See my maker textbook in the first link or the course activities in the 2nd link. The Kern Family Foundation paid for it and asked me to make it publicly available. What I teach is open source, and then what I make is open source unless a customer pays for it to not be so or unless I plan to make money off of it (which is most of the time).
The customer is NOT looking for 100% honesty. To a degree he is looking for competence, basic honesty, AND "comfort". He needs to feel it is okay to choose you. (Even if you cannot already solve his problem, just that you are confident you COULD if the details are not impossible).
I mention this, because I've been so honest, I've said things like:
"We have NOT done this kind of work before, but we don't see any problems doing it!"
or worse
"I cannot guarantee ... Until we have the final details"
I would not be able to close those deals, Eventually I just partnered with a sales guy (who will LIE through his teeth.. In mostly responsible ways). He educated me. The Customer must feel COMFORTABLE with choosing you. "So, once I get that, I then salt the water with discomforts they could run into while choosing other companies... Often including questions that YOU would fail to answer in a way that gives them comfort!"...
LOL. Years later, it still works, and we have not failed any of the customers. Even though we keep saying YES to things we have NO IDEA how we are going to make it work. But we do.
Neat trick. Our analysis process uncovers these issues. We HAVE on a couple of occasions discovered huge red flags or ultra complex issues. We wrap a few assumptions, and then give them the quote required for us to do a good job (which might look inflated, but it gives us room to react). WHEN the customer sees the cost, it's on them. There were 2 cases where the customers realized "it's simply not worth going this route".
Being an engineer, we are used to just spitting FACTS. A sales related job needs to spit comfort with less hard facts. Because it's about the RELATIONSHIP... And not any one request.
That was the most valuable advice I learned.
He could chop wood but could not stack it. That is where I and my team came in.
I sold that company in 2009 right after I saw what Obama’s fundamental change to America was going to accomplish, bought my gulch ranch in the hill country of Texas, and retired for about 1 year building my utopia. Until a friend of mine, T Boone Pickens, sought me out to be chief engineer over the largest wind turbine facility in the US. I told him I didn’t know squat about that tech, but he told me it didn’t matter, he needed an azz kicker.
Finally escaped from that appt. and started up an energetic material distribution company for war fighters, (Lockheed, Mesko, China Lake, even Space X). Tried to retire from that last year, they begged me not too. At 69 I’m making more self employed than ever. I wished I didn’t enjoy it such, don’t need the money, and I have a butt load of interesting hobbies (hi power rocketry, fishing, hunting, etc). My wife, a retired pharm d, is about to ready to hurt me with a large object aside my noggin. Need to find a qualified self starter engineer to take over, but easier said than done.
I may have mentioned this before, but 9 years ago, Raytheon flew my husband, an engineer, to Tucson for an interview. They did not hire him, but he noticed that many other applicants were young enough to have been JUST graduated from college. OK, no issues - he got an offer with another company that sent us to Tulsa, and we spent SIX YEARS congratulating ourselves on staying close enough to Dallas to drive frequently. We were thrilled about "dodging that bullet."
Next thing you know, Covid hit and we came back to Dallas, as the aviation industry wasn't doing too well right then. He didn't get laid off, but he figured he was next. He always prefers to quit under his own terms, and so he did. He worked a few contracts, including a great one with Scott Parazynski (Astronaut in NASA Hall of Fame), but Scott eventually ran out of money (more's the pity - he did some good stuff.)
Anyway, a notice soon appeared in engineering circles that Raytheon in Dallas was interviewing and I almost literally kicked his butt until he went (he was convinced they'd not care about him at all), and before the sun was up next morning, the offer came in. Not just "the offer," but a GREAT offer. We literally couldn't turn it down.
So here we are in Tucson, husband just turned 73, and he is by far not the oldest engineer there. He eventually asked his group leader what happened. Turned out all those kindergarten kiddies simply could not handle the work. They needed a lot more knowledge than they graduated college with.
So....yes he is delaying his retirement and definitely being rewarded for doing so. Given his personality, I'm afraid he'll die within six months once he does actually retire. Yes, going to work is hard on him every day, but it's not as hard as sitting there wishing he was making a difference. And I take every tiny bit of stress off him that's possible for me to do.
I do believe that he has already told them he would quit ON THE SPOT if they even made noises about him becoming any sort of manager, but he is definitely willing to teach. His main focus, though, is to get in there in the trenches and make the antennas wiggle, the lights flash, and the toe brakes work.
God Bless you. You are every mans dream!
That's all I want. I am hard wired to work. When I come home, I would like some peace and respect. A side of appreciation... And I am recharged to do it again the next day!
His eyes got SO round and his wife sitting there was horrified! The really funny part was when my hubby then said "And every evening before we go to bed, I rub her feet!" Oh, how the looks on their faces changed. HER eyes got SO round, and HIS expression was horrified!
We still laugh about that one.
Both of you "Serving" the other... In ways the other appreciates.
God Bless You Both!
Sounds like your husband is still greatly contributing. That is awesome. I have lots of hobbies to work on when I retire (soccer, tennis, guns, cars, electronics, programming, etc.) I hope your husband works as long as he wants to, and has a productive retirement after!
Getting new engineers who are competent and have good technical judgement is very difficult. Many just run FEA/CFD/etc and worship the results. No interpretation or critical thinking.
I accomplish one goal in getting electric drive on a modern submarine class. I want to get electric drive in use across our Navy, and then I think I'll retire. This is not for CO2, although it has a positive effect. It is for war fighting capability. If I get those goals accomplished, I think I'll be good in retirement.
Don't give up. Your firm may have to implement an apprenticeship program that grooms them upon completion of their diplomas. That's what my employer does. Every year, we hire 4..8 new graduates and don't really give them full field duties until they've done a rotation in every month and try all future possible openings.
Setting a date is a good idea, If you don't, you will, as you said, be found at your desk and not get to enjoy retirement. I've been considering a career change, because I'm past the point where I care about the IT crap I've been doing for the past 25 years. Unfortunately I started as a consultant, which degraded to 'contractor' due to the influx of marginally qualified H1B foreigners who get weaseled in to replace qualified American workers, for ~slightly~ less money. As a result, I'm 67 and still, and always, the bottom guy on the totem pole. I started my Socialist Insecurity two months ago at 66yr 8mo, but had not set a 'retirement date'. To my surprise, a week ago, my manager cautiously approached me and said they didn't need me anymore (restructuring, not anything that I did), and seemed nervous that I didn't get upset about it. My feeling was sheer relief. "Don't throw me in that there briar patch!" So I'm going to catch up projects, finally write my book, and then start working again, doing something different from IT.
Meanwhile, though, the wife is alarmed about the cash flow situation. She'll get over it, even if it means not having her yearly big vacation trips.
I can empathize with much of what's conveyed here as I see the same mistakes made over and over by the junior crowd.
If anyone with the Rand ethos is looking for "seasoning" on their team, let me know.
-Andrew
I am an ME, but have migrated to EE-power electronics, machines, systems, due to my ME focus in controls and modeling. It is all applications of math. I really enjoy coding, but never made a career of it, just dabble.