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To those who think they "Made It" in Engeneering: What was your path?

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tmadness:
So you think you have #Made-It TM 8). You have reached the upper echelons of not only technical capability, but you bring in bank, serious bank, putting you in the same class as the "I make money from thin air" crowd (investment bankers, real estate ppl, people who bought bitcoin in 2010, drug dealers etc).

I have a few question for you:
1. Is your job really engineering based, i.e did you really do engineering work? if yes,
2. What was your path to success?  were you an engineer through in and through out? did you get into management?
3. What is it that you do specifically?
4. Do you think your path is reproducible? if yes, what do you believe were the "right" moves that got you to where you are?

sandalcandal:
I wonder if EE legends like Jim William, Bob Pease and Bob Widlar actually even ever "made bank". The love and passion for their art seemed to be their overwhelming drive.

Certainly the only thing I see discussed is their engineering contributions and not their "bank accounts".

I know of at least one engineer that "made it" quite well financially by being early stage in a start-up that was acquired.

mawyatt:
First off I think those that "made it" knew what they wanted to do at a very early age, they were gifted with a talent for engineering. Widler certainly made it both technically and $ wise, he had stock options at National for 1$ per share!! Rumors I recall indicated his salary was greater than the National president, he knew he was the best analog IC designer and demanded payment for such. A colleague told me that they hired Widlar for a few days and he charged well over $2K/day which included travel time, and this was back in late 60s or early 70s!!

Back in 2008 when we were developing a new type mixer called the PolyPhase Mixer (also called N Path or Mixer First) a PhD grad student at Cornell was working with her advisor professor and later with us on such. She was brilliant, her dad was a Linear Technology IC designer, and she said she grew up with an electronics lab in the basement. After getting her PhD from Cornell she became part of a startup called Passiff, which was acquired by Apple a year later. She became a multi-millionaire well before 30!! Last time I saw her at the IEEE ISSCC a number of years ago, she had left Apple saying they were too confining, and formed another startup! Another from Cornell getting his PhD with the same advisor, got a invitation to interview with Apple after he published his IEEE Best Paper on a new type image sensor that measures the light amplitude and direction (allows post processing focusing). Rumor is Apple gave him, yes gave him no strings attached, 200 shares of stock if he would interview, he could keep the stock if he declined, and of course would get more if he accepted, he accepted!! BTW the Apple stock was $694 per share then!!!

I personally know another engineer that worked on an important project that would get full company paid salary for 6 months off after working a couple years on the project.

The common thing about all these engineers is they were brilliant in their field, very creative, knew it, and demanded compensation :-+ Every superb engineer/scientist I've known knew exactly what they wanted to do at a very early age and pursued such with few sidetracks!!

So if you fall into this type classification, want to stay technical, don't let management short change you :o

I'm retired for a few years now, but one thing I learned later in my career that I wish I had learned much earlier, is "Human Resources" is NOT your friend ??? They are there for one reason to serve the company and not you, they want to keep your salary and benefits at a minimum, so establish what you want and stand your ground. If you are really good at what you do and they really want your skills, HR will bend in your direction ;)

Best,

jpanhalt:
We see such posts regularly.  One thing in common, none of those mentioned ever posted here or anywhere asking how to do it.

eti:
If you assume you have - ahem - "made it", then the likelihood is high that you haven't, but your ego can't wait to crow.

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