Engineer For Life

Why I have decided to be an engineer for the rest of my career or...reasons why I don't want to be a manager.

(1) I often hear how good people being an engineer and suddenly become a complete suck-ass once they climb the management ladder/become a manager. Some people are not meant to be a manager. Manager require the one basic skill called leadership. But here in our beloved country, Malaysia the only way to get a better/higher salary is to become a manager. So once they obtain the title and position, suddenly people will realized that they are not meant to be a leader (yet).

(2) I want to be be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Some company even offer the position to a non deserving people just because they agreed to be in a hell hole for a certain period. Let alone leadership skills or analytical thinking, I doubt that the actual foundation of technical knowledge was there. When crisis arise, opportunity also arise (to solve problems and improve). But....

(3) I cannot stop to learn. I often see, some management stop to 'learn' once they have the title. Basic example of TPM. Few years back TPM, was known as Total Preventive Maintenance, but at recent years, TPM have developed into Total Productive Maintenance. Still stuck in the 1990's era. Still want to do preventing while others have already predicting.

(4) I love to hands-on the problem, working with teams. It is the fundamental of learning and communication. If you don't have the foundation, please pass the position to somebody else. Some managers think, "the role of manager is to do whatever it takes to stay afloat." Often they think and they give the orders. Isn't the management is all about planning and decision making?

(5) Nobody will send me chain emails, gossips, photos, mp3s etc. Ha ha.

In some country, certain company give an option for engineers, to decide whether they want to climb the management ladder and become a manager, or be an engineer for life. That's why in some cases the engineer's wage can match the manager's.