This week I have the opportunity to interview George (not me) since his last name is Lu. We give a load down on what it is like to be an engineer in today’s world. Right now being in tech is as crazy as it was to be in finance about 10+ years ago. Given the added pressure from Asian parents to be an engineer, we explored what it takes to be an engineer.
We went through all the tribulations of studying and training needed to be an engineer, as well as a software engineer in modern times. Some significant points we touched upon include the transition of traditional software engineering to data engineering because of the rise of AI technologies. No longer will engineers be writing rules and policies, but instead, defer to structuring learning machines and data ingestions to achieve the same outcome. Yes, that means learning machine learning will no longer be optional in the future. Also, we analogized what recruiting is like as well as some of the issues engineers face such as lower opportunities to meet the opposite sex (for men) if you don’t venture outside of the technology space.
Ageism
Beyond what was stated above, we also mentioned a trend in the tech space that it is ageist. Yes, it favors those who are young, especially those in who are age 20’s and 30’s. There was a study done that the average income in silicon valley start to decrease after you hit age 35. Not to say that you can increase your income, just the AVERAGE/MEDIAN drops. That means for those who are only in it for the money and not for the passion, that might be a time to start thinking about alternative careers. Perhaps that is when people in the tech space will begin to have a mid-life crisis.
Navigating the Rise on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or on your favorite podcast platform.
