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Re: Why is the Automation market declining?
Sep 21, 2000 3:22 pm, by Willy Smith
Text :
At 11:25 AM 9/15/00 -0500, Craig M. Borel, P.E. wrote:
"It is my opinion........ What I see now by my clients is that automation engineering is no more a specialty than mechanical engineering, it is starting to be treated like a commodity engineering service and billing rates are beginning to suffer from the premium billings we once enjoyed."
It seems to me that there is always truth in this type of observation; the mentality that embraces new developments and wants to get involved during
the early stages of a new technology is quite different from the mentality that wants the job descriptions firmly established from years of experience.
That being said, there are always niches present in any field which will allow pioneer-types to have fun at their job. For example, in mechanical
engineering, it may be fairly easy to find people who can run AutoCAD and get a drawing out--not like in 1985. But it is still hard to find people
who know mechanical engineering AND materials or electronics well enough to make the cutting-edge products required by the marketplace. People with
multiple skills are rare and valuable in today's specialized workplace.
When there is a transition period, people whose jobs are threatened by the shift can react by:
1) Ignoring the situation totally, eventually getting a job at McDonalds.
2) Increasing their contributions to their 401K and waiting it out until retirement, hoping to miss having to learn anything new (I've heard this a lot!).
3) Leave their field right now and totally change their area of expertise (I've heard of several automation engineers becoming stock brokers, for
example). Note that their expertise still may be valuable (e. g. evaluating technology companies).
4) Get expertise in a related field that makes their specialty more valuable, for example learning about some exotic chemical process for the xyz industry, or learning a foreign language well enough to be able to shift to liaiason engineering/tech support...
Personally, I don't feel threatened by any of this; although I have spent most of my adult life wearing different hats in the automation field, there are plenty of other fun sandboxes out there to play in. Remember also, <> ("life is short, art is long"). Years of
experience are not gained overnight, and can be very valuable if you find the right employer who recognizes it.
One last comment--
Mark Blunier said:
".......For example Murphy Farms came up with a system to mass produce hogs. They are no longer farmers, but a corporation. Or farmers selling seed come up with better seed varieties, become more successful, then (their) focus becomes more on producing seed, that business grows into a seed company. Thus many farmers with successful innovations become non-farmers, ie, not in the 2% any more."
Someone recently told me that 50% of all the lawyers are located in the US, and there are 400,000 students in US schools waiting to become lawyers. I haven't verified these numbers, but I know that these people are all going to need something to do when they get out. Wouldn't it be great if someone could figure out a profitable way for lawyers to innovate and become non-lawyers? This would truly be a contribution to US society, and would warrant a Nobel prize of some sort! ;^)
Cheers,
Willy Smith
Numatics Inc.
Costa Rica
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Re: Why is the Automation market declining?
Sep 25, 2000 1:14 pm, by Mark Ramey
Willy Smith said,
"Someone recently told me that 50% of all the lawyers are located in the US, and there are 400,000 students in US schools waiting to become lawyers. I haven't verified these numbers, but I know that these people are all going to need something to do when they get out. Wouldn't it be great if someone could figure out a profitable way for lawyers to innovate and become non-lawyers? This would truly be a contribution to US society, and would warrant a Nobel prize of some sort! ;^)"
Mr. Smith,
Here is the answer...
We need a legal-ease compiler so we can put these people to work writing automation code. I'm thinking "outside the box" of ways to put some people back in the box. So anyway, where's my prize?
I'll get right on it.
... joking of course.
Mark R.
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Re: Why is the Automation market declining?
Sep 22, 2000 9:13 am, by Kirk S. Hegwood
I agree. Is it the automation manufacturing that is declining or system integration?
Kirk S. Hegwood
President
Signing for Hegwood Electric Service, Inc.
Kirk.Hegwood@HegwoodElectric.com
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