Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash

Ship 30 for 30

9 insights about engineering careers I’d tell my 20-year-old self

Quite probably, I wouldn’t have listened. Maybe I would have learned them more quickly.

Here are the 9:

1. “Engineering will keep you busy and adequately paid.”

Key word there: adequately

2. “A pension and monthly salary is an addictive drug, without some of the side effects.”

Key word here: addictive

3. “Being good at your job means, you get to keep it.”

So you’ll be a really valuable slave. (Guess the key word here.)

4. “They’ll keep you busy enough to dodge thinking about anything important.”

So you better hope you never ever want to think about anything important.

5. “Including, ‘Why am I such a mess?’ “

ESPECIALLY this!

6. “Just because everybody else seems to know what’s really going on, doesn’t mean they do.”

You think you’re the only one pretending around here?

7. “Take a good look at the faces of the old-timers before starting to work anywhere.”

If you don’t like the sunken look in their eyes, close the door behind you before you run.

8. “They’ll increase your pay you just enough to dissuade you from leaving.”

Unbelievable how long it took me to realize this.

9. “Human Resources is there for the shareholders, not you.”

Same again.

Now, what will my 90-year-old self wish I knew now?

DISCLAIMER: Just because these are lessons, doesn’t Engineering didn’t do anything good for me. It did.