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Marty Brown
12-17-2013 01:46 AM

Some Thoughts about Planning your Career in Power Conversion.

Many of this group's members are students or young electronics engineers. Obviously, ones goal is to have a job (or jobs) that you absolutely love and you feel you are actually making a difference. It is rare that you will work for one employer for your whole life (by choice or not). So thinking about your own personal preferences and long term life goals.
Here are my thoughts on the subject: (I am sure there are a lot of comments that can be contributed by the more experienced members)
1.) Reflect upon what you would like your life to be 10 -20 years from now. (married, children, income class, location, and especially, what you really love to do). Is travel appealing to you, are you outgoing or like focusing on one task at a time, etc.

2.) Examine the sub-specialties within your field of training with respect to longevity, income, and the amount of creativity needed. Government jobs are at the bottom of my list. I used to pass engineers in the hall who looked at the ground and shuffled when they walked (I nicknamed them "drones" in the insect world). Look at the subfield with respect to government regulations. These fields rely upon the whims of the regulatory agencies and who is in office at the time. Look at the consumer and commercial markets with respect to the growth possibilities of their customers. An example is the smart phone market. Interpersonal connectivity is now very hot and may remain that way for a long time, but look at the evolution of the technologies.
SW/FW is here to stay, but the tools are moving towards cut and paste creation,

3.) Look at the areas of the country or world that have a concentration of opportunities within any sub-specialty. Don't take a job that has you move to a "one horse town", that is one large company for that location. You will change jobs over your career, just make sure you have opportunities available without moving (traumatic to the family).
In the power field the main locations with many opportunities are: NE USA, Upper Midwest US, Silicon Valley, Texas USA, Singapore (Delta mainly), Ireland, Western EU. Also decide where you would like to live, warm or mixed climate, educational institutions, etc.

Then factor these long-term factors when seeking a job change or when you are approached by a new employer. Run the above factors when evaluating a job change.

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