A new career world for engineers

“Every Engineer a Leader” was the theme of this year's two-day Careers, sponsored last April in Fort Worth by the IEEE US Activities Board. The General Chairman was Nigel Bristow, and speakers ranged from an engineer who had started a consulting service to engineering-career researchers and corporate executives. The engineers professional world, from the top down, is changing at an exponentially increasing rate. For example, the prime life of a new personal computer is only 60 days, and the next version had better be well on its way to the market by then, explained Jerre L. Stead, CEO of ATT Global Information Solutions, at the IEEE Careers Conference. One result: six out at seven CEOs of the biggest computer companies had been fired in the previous year. During his normal workweek Stead was visiting six cities to talk with customers. During a busy week he had visited six countries!