The Non Shortage of STEM Graduates

In the good old days of my father, you would join a company for life. Dad worked 30+ years for Eastman Kodak retiring with a golden handshake. He had a job for life and the company took care of raises, savings, investing, pension, medical and dental care.

Today you are working on projects. The automobile industry went to this model first. Every year you look for a project on the next model year to be delivered. The company no longer guaranteed you a job unless you found a project.

My work experience is in varied industries and seven states. Been on my current job for 7 years, working my 9^th and 10^th projects for the same program. One year had 3 different managers and 3 senior managers while working on the same project.

The Atlantic has a very good article “The Myth of the Science and Engineering Shortage”. Forget the dire predictions of a looming shortfall of scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians.  https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/03/the-myth-of-the-science-and-engineering-shortage/284359/

If there were a shortage of Engineers and Software Programmers, you would see salaries going up. “Salaries for STEM jobs in Decline” CIO.com reports “Though STEM-focused jobs experienced a slowdown, growing only 1 percent year-over-year, they're still near the top for wage growth. Since 2006, jobs in STEM fields have experienced growth of around 10 percent, according to the PayScale Index” in 2015. 1 percent salary growth is not showing a labor shortage, but an abundance of potential employees.

http://www.cio.com/article/2915869/careers-staffing/salaries-for-stem-jobs-in-decline.html

This supposed shortage is why H1B visas are offered. Instead H1B have been used to get businesses lower price help. My wife got her Masters in Business Administration in Oklahoma, and went to work under a H1B for mortgage companies originally earning low $30’s in California in 1998. Businesses have always worked to keep expenses low. Offshoring and H1Bs gave business more tools to lower labor costs.

If you are going to enjoy a long career in STEM, my advice is the same for most careers:

1. You need technical knowledge, and you need to keep learning. Budget time and money to keep your skills up to date. Paid to learn Solidworks on my own when closing my business and getting back into engineering. Take at least 2 classes or seminars and read a dozen books every year.
2. People skills are as important as technical skills. Stop your distractions and focus on the people in front of you. Meetings go quicker and more gets done.
3. Presenting your ideas is key to your success. Toastmasters is an invaluable way to learn speaking & presenting. I can talk to groups of a few hundred, and teach 2-3 hour training classes keeping people engaged and involved in learning. No problem speaking up or facilitating a meeting.
4. Networking is an invaluable career skill. Learn to meet people, make them confortable, connect them with others, and get business done. Act like a host and you will never be out of place.

 This post is a wake up call to new scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians who like me, lacked these skills coming out of college. The work world is not easy, and truly never was. Your advantage is being humble enough to learn new lessons.

What Should You Be Doing Right Now?

You are reading this because you want to be better. You want to be successful. You want to be recognized as a leader.

How do you accomplish these goals (and more)? Thinking Smarter? A Grand vision for the Future? Better Planning?

Focus on now, and do what you know needs to be done.

The execution now is more important that the grand vision. Daily doing beats big dreams time after time.

And don’t focus on the Urgent. Make time for the Important. Somehow it gets put off too long.

Credit Bruce Kasanoff’s article “The No. 1 Secret To Career Success”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucekasanoff/2016/05/20/the-1-secret-to-career-success/#3924fc9128cd

Simplify to be Productive

Work often expands to the time available. This is urgent! Can you fit this is? The tyranny of the To Do list. This is not where you want to spend your time.

Don’t make yourself busy. Look for what would make a difference. Improvements, new products, new services and innovations. Schedule time for the big projects.

The secret is to minimize unimportant work, and focus on work that benefits the customer in the long term.

Business is Imagination

This thought is generated from columnist Leonid Bershidsky on the reasons wars will happen.  His point boils down to the reaction of governments is determined by leader’s imagination and viewpoint. Geopolitics are a major factor as well.

If you are from an honor society, you will react differently than someone born in Western Europe. The mistake most people make is thinking that rational people will all think and react alike. “Like I think” is the common answer.

We know this is not true. Asian societies look at persona interactions much differently than the individualistic United States. Look at recent reactions to news events. Inside the USA there will be dozens of different viewpoints displayed on any topic.

So how does this apply to your business? If you only sell locally to people of your background, there is probably not much effect. As soon as we start selling to other cities, states, or countries there will be differences in culture to account for. Successful international companies need to be able to adapt to diverse cultures to sell products and services.

Most companies start from a small business run by one or a few people. To grow they have to visualize and dream of ways to reach & help more people. They have to hire more people and bring them into the vision of success. Sometimes it is an outsider like Ray Croc who helped develop the McDonald brothers business.

Take a look at your thinking. Where does it need to grow?

If World Slips Toward War, Blame Leaders' Imaginations

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-12-02/if-world-slips-toward-war-blame-leaders-imaginations

PS - Long time reader of George Friedman and Stratfor quoted in the article. Great place for intelligence, investing, and learning about geopolitics.

Risk is Your Business

"Risk is Our Business." - James T. Kirk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toG6aSQFF7Y

Risk is your business too. To create wealth you have to take advantage of opportunities. That involves risk, making decisions, executing plans and seeing the results.

Customer complaints, reviews and returns are obvious expectations in retail world. Have plans how to nicely handle these requests. Even Costco did have to limit returns to one year to control costs.

Quality Issues. Nothing is ever made perfectly. Have processes and procedures to repair or dispose of defective parts or units. Often cheaper to scrap and make new units than to repair.

Planning. New products, services and improvements just don’t happen. Ideas are created. Opinions sought. Market research is done. Product costs are estimated. Advertising is created. People get trained in usage and to answer customer questions.

Risk Mitigation. If you are developing new technology or software, it is common to test concepts, test prototypes, test subsystems, test systems, and test the first production units. You want to minimize surprises and maximize sales.

Savings. To invest most businesses must have saved money from operations, and borrowed more from investor’s savings. Savings are used to create growth.

Insurance. Everyone needs insurance to spread risk. Insurance companies often help with prevention, and then help when losses occur. Have you updated and expanded your coverage as your wealth grows. You will need more insurance.

Risk acceptance. Not everything can be anticipated. Surprises happen, shipments get lost, equipment breaks, people sue without reason and Murphy’s Law applies. Businesses have to accept a certain percentage of losses.

Life Risks. We fall in love, have children and grow older and wiser. Friend and family age and have illnesses. There is no life without risks.  Go out and live your life today. Live long and prosper.

Conceptualization The Most Important Skill

 Business (and life) is hard. Conditions are always changing. New customers have new needs and desires. Competition is always getting better and offering lower prices. Keeping your job requires flexibility, intelligence, persistence, quality work and caring. Knowing what needs to be done next is key to your success.

Abstract thinking is called Conceptualization. Defining conceptualization is subject to disagreement by experts and there is no degree in it. Probably because the uses vary depending on need.  Meridian Webster defines conceptualization “to form (an idea, picture, etc.) of something in your mind.” Math is a form of conceptualization.

Seeing what needs to be done next (planning) and problem solving are where you will see conceptualization applied. My usage has been developed through process planning, project management, and new product development. Visualizing 3D plus motion helped my engineering career.

Conceptualization is understanding how pieces fit together in a whole big picture. Then by manipulating the pieces you can optimize or improve the whole. Steve Jobs is famous for his visualization of how the future of technology should work and integrating existing technologies for the benefit of users.

Because the brain both thinks visually and in language, this is hard to teach. Different techniques have been developed to help us organize work for efficiency. Storyboards, Mind mapping, 5S, Lean, WIP boards, spreadsheets and project management all relate to conceptualization. Depending on your profession there are others you can use.

The best way to develop your skills is to apply them to your work. Albert Einstein called Imagination more important than knowledge. Users of conceptualization are found everywhere and often do not have the right degree. Presenting this skill through resumes is often unappreciated.

Yahoo Finance: “This one uberskill will always keep you employed”

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/this-one-uberskill-will-always-keep-you-employed-172655122.html

“the ability to see how the elements of an abstract whole fit together and to identify problems that need to be addressed before others do.”