Demand 4 Software Engineers

'Software Engineer' covers a broad spectrum from assembly language programming which interfaces with and/or controls the electronics and hardware in equipment, in which case an electronics background is also needed.

To writing stuff to interface with the marvelous platform which Bill Gates/and/or the Telecom industry has given us, in which case you need to be a serious masochist and really be interested in this stuff.

I would stick my neck out and say you can't just train up to do it..it would drive you nuts, you really do need to be interested in it and want to do it...

I'd guess that 90% of the people in the business started doing it for fun, say hacking into games and suchlike.

Don't do it for money or oportunities... It would be like saying..I can't seem to find a girlfriend at the moment... so maybe I'll try being gay!

Good luck with choices

Del

Del has hit the nail on the head, and as an Electronics and Software engineer (the only one) for the company I work for, I am suitably qualified to award Del a GA.

I started programming when I was 8 years old and took to it like a duck to water. By the time I was 12, I was going to my fathers textile company at weekend and programming for him which further spread to his customers. Age 16 I sat my computer studies 'a' level and for my project produced a full business suite of software and came out with an A.

Some people maybe able to learn it later in life, but it is better to grow with it from an early age.

Al

DON"T.

In the late '80's and the 90's the US government worked to remove overtime from everyone in the software industry. They were successful.

When the corporations upped the number of visas issued for software people coming form overseas, there where thousands of unemployed people in the field in the country.

The real demand is high level CHEAP software people. There are several reasons that these jobs have been exported to India and elsewhere, not all of which involve saving money.

Enron (look it up) was successful in their scam in large part because the engineers who wrote the system were kept in the dark about what they were actually doing-which was creating an artificial energy shortage in the west.

Be a plumber or electrician or garbageman--jobs which don't export well.

There is an old saying: "Engineers and Mushrooms: Keep them in the dark and feed them manure."

I knew I'm a mushrooms, now I know the connection to engineer.

I was a mechanical engineer with a BS in Industrial Engineering and my programming skills were limited to instrumentation/ calculations. I made the jump to software engineering back in 1999 and haven't looked back. I took a few courses here & there on C#, VB.NET, databases, etc... but for the most part, I learned most of my skills on the job. I miss being outdoors and designing parts but that is just one of the drawbacks to crossing over to the software world. Right now I am at the top of my game, I work from home quite a bit, I make decent money, and there is no shortage of jobs. I get to work on interesting math-intensive 3D programming so all my engineering coursework is being put to use.

Having said that, I do think mechanical engineering is going to see a spike in jobs due to the energy industry. If I could go into designing alternate fuel engines or something of that sort, I would gladly go back to my "roots".