AICNCC NEWSLETTER January, 1999 from IEEE-USA's Coordinating Committee of the Alliance of IEEE Consultants' Networks ==================================================== Articles on: Fall 1998 Workshop The Engineer as a Professional:What Does It Mean; What Does It Take? Entrepreneurial Skills Seminar Contract Corner News from the Member Networks A Little Humor ....and more ==================================================== FALL WORKSHOP HOSTED BY CHICAGO-ROCKFORD The Fall Workshop and AICNCC meeting was held at the Marriott Hotel, Schaumburg, Illinois, on October 17, hosted by the Chicago- Rockford Network. The fall AICNCC meeting was held the next day. This workshop was the 10th National Conference of the AICNCC, which holds two such events every year. The workshop was crafted and chaired by Dr. Gary Blank, and all of the speakers were local speakers. Sessions included the subjects of getting started, part time consulting, finding clients, financial aspects, a report on 30 years of consulting experience, the changing consulting arena and the internet, intellectual property, and networking and referrals. As usual, there was an emphasis on the use of the internet for finding information and for finding clients. Many network members are beginning to report new clients that are coming from referrals, and many of these are from various internet listings, including the IEEE web site. At the AICNCC meeting it was noted that it is now possible for local networks to have a formal relationship with IEEE through becoming an Affinity Group (see related article). Affinity groups report to a local section and have the "look and feel" of a chapter. The application process is complex, but existing networks can be grandfathered. AICNCC is working on grandfathering all local networks. Jean Eason, IEEE-USA Vice-President for Member Activities, announced that AICN has been assigned the task of addressing career alternatives for IEEE members. Consulting is obviously one of the career alternatives, but there are others. Jean also challenged AICN to operate in the black in 1999. AICN has up until now been spending more than its income, and funds are getting hard to find. The fate of the Directory of Consultants was extensively debated. The goal is to print the next directory in March of 1999. It was noted that the Los Angeles Network listed all of its members in the directory and included the cost in its member fees, thus insuring that all of its members got maximum benefit out of their membership. It is apparently possible to flag entries so that a search will yield all members of a network that chooses to list all of its members. By consensus, the fees for being listed in the next directory will not be raised. Several suggestions were made about how to improve the directory. The web site is necessarily linked to the directory, since all directory entries are also on the web site. The web site gets more hits every year, and there was discussion about expanding the web version. The next workshop will be held in Phoenix. Locations of other future workshops have not yet been decided. -0-0-0-0-0-0-0- SPRING '99 WORKSHOP TO BE IN PHOENIX The IEEE Phoenix Area Consultants Network will be the host for the next AICN National Workshop and AICNCC meeting, in Phoenix, Arizona. Plans have not yet been made for the workshop, so an exact location and a participation fee are yet to be determined. However, according to Henry Burger, the Phoenix Network President, there are many acceptable hotels in the area, and since the airport is almost downtown transportation is never a problem. The Executive Board is meeting regularly to select the program, which will include sessions for both new consultants and experienced consultants. When available, the information will be placed on both the Phoenix web site and the AICN web site. Information will also be sent to all network representatives for inclusion in local newsletters. For further information, contact Henry Burger at h.burger@ieee.org. -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 PRIOR WORKSHOP DIGESTS FOR SALE 10th National Conference, October 17, 1998, Schaumburg, Illinois. Sessions on getting started, part time consulting, finding clients, financial aspects, 30 year consulting experience, changing consulting arena & the internet, intellectual property, networking & referrals. Proceedings: $20 (member) $25 (non-member), includes shipping. 9th National Conference, May 23, 1998, Arlington, Texas. Sessions on Consulting on the Internet, Fee Setting, Intellectual Property and Networking. Proceedings: $20 (member) $25 (non- member), includes shipping. 8th National Conference, November 8, 1997, Hauppauge, NY. Sessions on How To Run a Consulting Business, Business Agreements, and How to Market Yourself As a Consultant. Proceedings: $20 (member) $25 (non-member) includes shipping. 7th National Conference, October 4-6, 1996, Arlington, Virginia. Proceedings: $20 (member) $25 (non-member) includes shipping. 6th National Conference, February 24, 1996, Orlando, Florida. Proceedings: $10 (member) $15 (non-member), plus $4 shipping and handling. To purchase these proceedings, send your name and mailing address along with a check in the required amount to AICN, IEEE- USA, 1828 L Street NW, Suite 1202, Washington, DC 20036.. Checks should be made payable to IEEE. -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- EDITOR'S NOTES Henry A. Burger, PE Deadlines, flow times, and scheduling being what they are (essentially inescapable), I find that I am writing this about two months before you will be reading it, and I further find that you will be reading it at about the first of the new year. Therefore, after a gross fit of writer's block, I decided that my comments should address the season. The season, putting it bluntly, is one of resolutions, and I have a challenge for you. First let me lay some background. One of the marks of a successful person is that the person is often very busy. One of the characteristics of a busy person is that the person is, well, busy. Unfortunately, it is also true that one of the characteristics of an unorganized person is that the person is busy, sometimes beyond busy. It is all too easy for any person to get behind schedule. Getting behind means extra work that just has to be done, much of it generated by being behind schedule in the first place, and this leads to disorganization. When this happens, it is all to easy to tell someone, "I don't have time to answer my mail or to return phone calls." They are usually correct. They don't have time for that. They don't have time for anything. That is why they are in such a time bind in the first place. Yet all of the things that have to be done are still things that have to be done, and they will not go away just because we do not have time for them. Most of us have limited success assigning some of these things to others, because if it were possible it would have already been done. What requires our personal attention, requires our personal attention. We still have to do them eventually. Contributing to all of this is our modern communications. It is now possible to communicate more rapidly and more often than ever before, and we are not adapting well to it. We are being overwhelmed with communication. Worse yet, we are actually letting it happen to us. Here is how I see it. Going back to a certain time in the not too distant past, all we had was the telephone and the mail. Telegrams were delivered by telephone, or by messenger, a form of mail. We communicated in person, by phone or by mail. That was it. Today we have all of that (except nobody sends telegrams anymore) plus message machines, pagers, cell phones, and e-mail. In other words, instead of one message queue, that of unopened mail, we now have several, and it seems that they are always full. We also have more than just one way to be interrupted, and they are always being used. However, one thing in all of this has remained constant. Those who are really successful all have one thing in common, regardless of how busy they are. They answer their mail and messages, no matter what. It used to be one of the norms of our social structure that every message, of whatever means delivered, should be answered, always, without exception (well, almost). There was not too much of it in those days, and much of that could be assigned to others. Today modern communications has made it possible to send so much more traffic, and do it so much less expensively, and so much more intrusively. Yet most of us find ways to ignore it all because it is so overwhelming, while carrying cell phones and pagers so that we are never out of touch. Still, the successful among us answer all of the messages. You have to admit, we have asked for it. We engineers have invented this technology in the first place to improve communications. Now we have to live with it. We have invented a monster that interrupts our lives at the most inconvenient moments, demands our simultaneous attention in several places at once, and completely overwhelms us with traffic to the point that there is little time for anything else. It is no wonder that people ignore messages. Yet, the successful among us will make it a point to at least look at all messages and answer as much as possible. It is a time management problem as much as it is a communications problem, and something of an attitude problem as well. We make sure that we have several phones around so that we can always be reached, then we sequester ourselves in a hidden conference room so that we will not be bothered. Then we keep a pager handy so that we can always be paged, then we ignore the pages. Then we carry a cell phone so that we can always be reached, and carry it to places where we absolutely have no business being interrupted, disturbing everyone around us when it rings and with our conversations. Let's face it. This is ridiculous. Whatever happened to our time management techniques? What happened to our staff, trained to answer these things? What happened to our message machines to record and hold messages? And finally, why are we in such a time bind in the first place? Nobody has ever given me a good answer to these questions. The problem becomes even more acute with electronic mail, herein called "e-mail". Internet access has become an essential business requirement, just as the facsimile machine became such a requirement a number of years ago. Every business, it seems, needs to have at least one information page on the "web", and needs to have an e- mail address. In many cases, most of the staff members need to have individual e-mail addresses. Coordination with our technical societies is now largely by e-mail, so many of us also require e-mail access at home. The problem is, once you have it everyone assumes that they have your instant ear, and stories of 50 to 100 e-mail messages a day are becoming common. It takes time to answer these, and many of us do not do a very good job at it. Yet, the most successful among us will answer all of these messages, almost without fail. I do not think it is necessary to have every new device that comes along. It is far too expensive to do so, and it is far too hard to keep up. Many others think so as well, as evidenced by the very many of us that have no facsimile machine, no e-mail address, no pager and no cell phone. One should only have what the particular situation requires. Increasingly, there is developing a "minimum equipment list" for business such as consulting businesses. This list would seem to require at least one telephone line, some way to record phone messages, a computer of at least some minimum capability, access to the "web" to get information, and an e-mail address. In addition, one needs access to a facsimile machine, access to a copy machine, and possibly a few other services. All else is extra and should be installed only if required. I myself only have one telephone line that is shared with my computer and my wife (you determine the order of importance here), but I have a telephone company message service on it. I do not have a web page of my own, but I have an e-mail address. My computer was recently upgraded so that I can now do some real work, but now everyone expects me to do so. I refuse to carry a pager or a cell phone, and I do not have a cordless phone in the house/office, because if I am not in the office I can't do anything anyway, but I have the message service. I do not get my e-mail messages when I am away, because I am seldom away for long, but I answer everything when I get back. Answering messages is still critical to a successful business. It can be a difficult thing to do these days. It seems that everyone is trying to go "paperless", so more and more traffic is going electronically. This means is that one has to sit at a computer screen and scan traffic at a fraction of the speed one can scan a piece of paper, with the end result being that we just print the messages on paper anyway so that we can make notes on them, file them, or just plain read them effectively. It can take an hour or two every day just to handle this traffic. Still, successful people will answer these messages, somehow. This tirade was prompted by my own experience of not being able to get replies from people I am constantly sending messages and getting no replies, when a one- line reply would often suffice and give me the comfort of knowing that I was heard. Sometimes I get the feeling that I am just being ignored, which is an insult in any business. If people don't want to communicate with me, why do they release their e-mail addresses? If they belong on a committee (IEEE has several), why do they ignore these messages? My challenge to you in this new year is to improve the effectiveness of your business communications by paying more attention to your message traffic, especially your e-mail and voice-mail messages. A consulting business is essentially no different than any other business. It still depends on customers and contacts who send messages because they either need to tell you something or need a response from you. It is still acceptable to ignore unsolicited advertising, and a message sent to you for information purposes only may need no reply, but everything else needs attention. It should not matter that you receive 100 messages a day. You installed the capability, and you should use it effectively. My personal goal is to combine better management of my communications with better time and project management. I may be required to eliminate some of the services I provide to my professional associations in order to do so, but I am tired of having piles of things all over my desk, my table and my floor that I never seem to get finished. In fact, I am starting now by writing this a full month ahead of deadline so that I will have time to do it correctly, and incidentally I can be interrupted with little impact to this project at the moment because I have allowed time to do it. I will have the camera- ready copy available by the deadline, held up only by others who may not be responding to my messages. And while I do all of this, I will be sure to check my e-mail often. In fact, I need to do so right now. I wish you a prosperous new year. -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor: I read the referenced article [Professionalism, by Roger Boisjoly] with great interest, and with some distress: distress because Mr. Boisjoly's experience so sharply contrasts with mine. During my 50 years in the aerospace/avionics/defense industry, I encountered a number of significant technical (i.e. excluding policy) errors in theory, software, hardware, design, etc. Some of these errors were my own creations, discovered by others. The other error- creators ranged from the VP of engineering in one case, to my subordinates in others, and to competitors and colleagues in other companies. Never -- not once -- during these years did I find that those responsible tried to cover up when an error was found: they were always so happy to be able to get it right that personal and professional embarrassment vanished. Further, the uniform reaction of the person responsible for the error was to reward its finder in some meaningful way, if possible. Maybe Mr. Boisjoly was unlucky; maybe I was lucky; maybe I was simply unable to see a disagreeable and widespread reality. But my experience tells me that the discipline of knowing that "Nature will always find every defect and the airplane will crash" (space Shuttle!) Weeds out those who lack the determination to get it right, or the honesty to accept that they might be wrong! Although my limited experience does not permit me to generalize with confidence, perhaps this may have something to do with the differences between Mr. Boisjoly's views and mine: a. The aviation industry is (or was) highly regulated, and safety-oriented; the DOD and the airlines are very powerful, well-informed and unforgiving customers; b. Mr. Boisjoly's oven manufacturer was operating in an unregulated market, where the consumer is powerless, informed only about price, and has no way to perceive safety and to demand it in a product. Perhaps the free, open and unregulated market does not always produce the "best" product, perhaps not even a good product when the customers are numerous, uninformed and powerless. Very truly Fred Powell -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- LETTERS POLICY This newsletter encourages letters and articles to be submitted by readers. We will print them on a space available basis as long as the content is in good taste and on an appropriate subject. We reserve the right to edit for space available. -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 AICN - WHERE ARE WE? 1998 was a good year, but 1999 can be better. Let's look back at 1998 and score ourselves. The directory - In the Spring of 1998, we published our annual Directory of Electrotechnology & Information Technology Consultants. It wasn't bigger, but it was better, with improved search capabilities. We increased the visibility of both directory and web site. Post cards were mailed to all IEEE Engineering Management members. The directory was more frequently used, with one AICN member reporting that he obtained all of his work from his directory and web site listing. In 1999, we are looking forward to more listings, preferably the listing of entire networks, as Los Angeles did in 1998. The newsletter - Another long term commitment has been to publish at least three issues of this AICNCC NEWSLETTER. We expect to continue this policy but we do need your help in updating our mailing list. Each network representative is again asked to send Bill Anderson a copy of your membership mailing list. In lieu of that, we can send you the copies by bulk mail and let you distribute them. The AICN workshops - Each year we try to provide AICN sponsorship of two workshops at the national level and also encourage the local networks to sponsor workshops in their own areas. Our first 1998 workshop was held in Richardson, Texas. Unfortunately, we learned that Memorial Day weekend is not a good time to get consultants out to a workshop. We made up for it in Schaumburg, Illinois, where we had an outstanding and very well attended workshop in October. These workshops continue to be our best way of taking the AICN to the members and helping both those who are considering consulting and those who are practicing. To be fair about it, we plan each workshop in a new area and schedule the AICN Coordinating Committee meeting in conjunction with the workshop. This also provides a core of experienced consultants to participate in the program. Two more workshops are being planned for 1999, with the first being in Phoenix in April. Other networks are encouraged to volunteer their location for future workshops. New networks - Another of our goals has been to foster new networks. In that regard, we welcome our newest network in the Indianapolis area. We understand that other locations are considering forming a network, and we would like to assist them. Other AICN publications - The AICN has a responsibility to provide publications and guides that will help those IEEE members who have chosen consulting. In this regard we have been working in four areas: (1) A draft of a standard consulting contract had been prepared, reviewed at the October AICNCC meeting, and then revised. It is now awaiting approval of the Coordinating Committee. (2) The AICN is again considering the publication of a consultants' guide, made up of the best papers presented at previous AICN Workshops. Though we had considered this earlier, we are now looking at a more comprehensive effort, based on both invited and reworked papers. Interested members are invited to submit an abstract or proposal. (3) A guide for local network officers will be published, with a draft scheduled for use in December 1998. This is intended to be a resource and a guide for networks as they configure and conform to operate under the new Affinity Group procedures. Affinity Groups - We originally had as a 1998 goal the obtaining approval of the draft AICN by-laws and providing a set of sample by-laws for each network. As the year progressed, this need for the by-laws went away. The IEEE Regional Activities Board (RAB) approved the development of local Affinity Groups and grandfathered the AICN. That makes the by-laws of the RAB applicable and the AICN and the consultants groups do not necessarily need any additional by-laws. We will, however, be publishing guidelines to aid the networks in organizing and conforming to the RAB by-laws Fee survey - We conducted the first nation-wide AICN consulting fee survey. With 177 respondents, it represents the most comprehensive data base in the engineering consulting field. 1999 - My crystal ball for 1999 shows some marked changes in the consulting business (for example, I am now pursuing the opportunities in the Y2K field), a continued demand for consultants, several new AICN networks, new AICN officers, and new leadership in your local networks. Overall, this adds up to another great year and I wish you the best for 1999. Bob Gauger, r.gauger@ieee.org 1998 AICNCC Chair -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- OBITUARY: Ed Carl Ed Carl, one of the organizers and a long time friend of the Orange County Consultants' Network, passed away early in November of 1998. Ed not only helped organize the network, but was the driving force behind many of the working groups. In addition, he represented the network to the Orange County IEEE Section level, to the AICN, and to the Orange county Engineering Council. He was recently elected a Fellow in the Institute for the Advancement of engineering. His innovation, motivation and support for the AICN will be sorely missed. Requiem in Aeternam. -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 ADVERTISING NOW BEING ACCEPTED FOR NEWSLETTER Advertising is now being accepted for the AICNCC Newsletter, both to provide an additional service to members and to offset expenses. This new service will give members added visibility among peers and others who read the newsletter. Advertisers are expected to provide their own copy in formats from a business card listing to a full page. The initial rates for each insertion are: Business card: $25 Quarter page: $75 Half page: $125 Full page: $200 To reserve space for an advertisement, contact Bill Anderson at IEEE-USA. Please note that copy must be received two months before the publication date in order to give the editor and publisher time to do the layouts. Since the next publication date is May 1, 1999, the deadline for advertising copy is March 1, 1999. -0-0-0-0-0-0-0 THE ENGINEER AS A PROFESSIONAL: WHAT DOES IT MEAN, WHAT DOES IT TAKE? Gerard H. (Gus) Gaynor Innovation Management Institute 1300 Nicollet Mall Suite 4014 Minneapolis, MN 55403 Reprinted from: 1997 Professional Activities Conference Proceedings, Copyright 1997 IEEE Engineers, by education and experience, provide organizations with a resource that goes beyond technical competence. Their education, although often specialized, pro vides them with a perspective to problem solving that surpasses that of their business colleagues. They bring specialized and unique skills to the workplace that too often are not recognized by other business func- tions. Engineers can provide disciplined thought, assist in developing strategy, take responsibility for selling ideas and concepts, and providing leadership. That leadership involves working with colleagues to raise their expectations and influence performance and professional satisfaction. As global competitiveness continues to expand, firms search for ways to optimize the engineering resources. Engineers have an opportunity to use their creativity, educ- tion, experience, and skills to move the organization forward and meet their career needs. They have opportunities to be the innovators and the entrepreneurs. But real- ization of these opportunities requires a professional attitude toward the work of the engineer rather than a parochially oriented concern for technology only. In this type of milieu engineers add value to themselves and the organization. What does it mean to be a professional? The word profession has many different meanings and is used in many different ways. Just as the word engineer. For our discussion I will use the definition that re- lates the word profession "to being engaged in one of the learned professions, as law or medicine." Although dictionaries do not include engineer in their definition of a learned profession, I believe that many engi- neers are truly professional the problem is that too few meet professional standards. Likewise, not all lawyers or medical practi- tioners are professionals either. Society looks upon engineers with a great deal of ambivalence. Our preparation for the engineering profession in the United States, does not match the rigor of European univer- sities. It does not meet the rigor of the medi- cal or legal professions in the United States. We have no apprenticeship program as do medicine and law. Also, our education is generally devoid of the humanities. Our education is not only essentially technical but, in recent years, has suffered from lack of breadth. It has become specialized and tends toward the high-level trade school approach. However, these limitations do not prevent an engineer from being a professional. Other sources are available for extending knowl- edge beyond the technical. Keep in mind that engineering professionalism involves attitude your attitude. Whether or not you are a professional, in the true sense, depends on you, your relation with colleagues from other disciplines, and the extent to which you serve your community. What are the requirements of the engineer as professional? It's more than passing a state examination to be designated as a Pro- fessional Engineer (PE). That may or may not be the starting point. That PE title only recognizes technical competence compe- tence in supposedly knowing "how to" but not of doing. It does not identify the per- son's track record. It only measures know ledge/information about certain prescribed subject matter. There is no doubt that techni- cal competence is essential, but to be a pro- fessional requires more. Engineering is not science. It's not learn ing theory. It's engineering. It's practice. It's application of scientific principles and the scientific method. It requires knowledge and practice to develop as a well-grounded and competent practitioner. It also requires an understanding of the milieu in which the engineer functions. The Engineer as Professional: What does it mean? Attaining the position of a professional engineer requires a change in attitude and perspective. We're talking about career competencies. There is more to being a professional engineer than technology. Technology does not exist in isolation from the rest of the world. Keep in mind that engineering is a practitioners art, it is not science. It involves a much broader set of requirements. Not many engineers will attain professional status through isolation in the technical cubicle. More is required. I propose the following for your consideration as the requirements to attain the status of professional engineer: 1. Technical competence in field of interest -- that requires keeping abreast of de- velopments in one's chosen field you can't mentally retire at age 35 -- it's not all on company time, much is on your personal time the organization can help, but it's your career -- if the work isn't challenging, bring out the resume. 2. Breadth of understanding in related technologies -- you may be an electrical engineer, but what do you understand about your associate disciplines, me- chanical engineering, chemical, and other -- can you speak their language -- do you understand their need and re- quirements. 3. Understanding of the product concept to commercialization process -- research, development, manufacturing, marketing, and the organization's support functions -- do you know enough about your manufacturing processes so that your designs can be manufactured without redesign for manufacturing. 4. Engineering comprises many different activities -- what do you know about customer requirements, customer uses, packaging, environmental characteris- tics, test methods, documentation, and the many ancillary activities. 5. Meeting commitments: product, process, colleagues, vendors and others -- speci- fications, time, and cost do you do what you said you would do-- do you respond positively to changes in require ments -- do you anticipate events that affect performance. 6. Relation with colleagues -- involves more than just meeting commitments to them -- do you support your colleagues in their efforts whether directly related to the work or not -- are you a source of information to junior members. 7. Communication -- up, down, laterally, inside as well as outside the organization or do you fight fires because of a lack of timely communication -- is that com- munication face to face or do you corre- spond with the next cubicle via e-mail. 8. Systems approach -- do you concern yourself about your piece of the technol- ogy puzzle or its relation to the whole puzzle do you understand the conse quences of your work in relation to the pieces of the puzzle that surround you. 9. Engineering is practiced within a context -- do you understand the business and organizational environment, the eco- nomics, the customer needs, the suppli- ers competencies and needs, and all those with whom you come in contact. 10. The team versus the individual per- former conflict -- can you work inde- pendently and at the same time coopera- tively -- team effort is essential, but can you function as an independent thinker. The Engineer as Professional: What does it take? What does it take to be a professional engineer? You probably decided to pursue engineering as a course of study because you had some level of creativity, you were interested in gadgetry of some type, you liked to tinker with things, you may have been good in science and math so your advisor suggested engineering, some person (parent, relation, neighbor, friend, and so on) was an engineer, or maybe you didn't know what you wanted as a career so you tried engineering. Now you're stuck. Four years of engineering school -- no snap courses -- you now have a degree in engineering. You've had the learning and now comes the practice. Let's face it, you're really not an engi neer. You have a degree in engineering. You have the theory which is essential. You've solved some academic problems which make assumptions that the real world does not allow. If you manage to work on the right kind of projects over the next several years you may be able to call yourself an engineer. As mentioned previously, engineering is the domain of the practitioner. You've started to pay your dues to the profession. As noted, professionalism requires more than technical competence it is essential but insufficient. Here is my list of requirements. There may be others. These are presented without any priority. It is not a matter of which one is most important, all are important. The priority may differ based on the context in which they are applied. 1. Creativity -- engineers need to extend their creative competence beyond tech nology -- it's needed throughout the whole organization. 2. Work ethic -- focused but flexible work ethic -- a highly developed work ethic with discipline is a must, but that work ethic must be flexible and adaptable to the needs of the situation. 3. Breadth of interest, technical and other -- one could be a professional in a very narrow segment of engineering as long as the requirements are for a loner -- most engineering work is multi-functional and multi-disciplinary. 4. Self-motivated -- after many years of experience, I find an absolute necessity to work with people who are self-motivated -- the benefit of the rah rah sessions and the impact of the motivational gurus is limited to about 24 hours -- develop an environment that fosters self- motivation and recognizes that mistakes will be made and failure is part of the game, if you're doing anything of signif- icance. 5. Problem solver/problem finder -- yes, problem solver and finder -- engineers must be the problem finders -- they have the necessary education -- they only need to apply it -- not only accept challenges but find them not only engineering problems, but problems related to the system whether involving a product, process, or service. 6. Constructive maverick -- not an easy position to take, but essential -- going along with the flow is not a professional approach, but as a constructive maverick you know when to stop pushing -- you find another way to approach the topic -- destroying your career in the process is not the answer. 7. Sense of curiosity -- engineers must have had this trait at some time in their lives it's like asking what's on the other side of the hill -- without it, nei- ther professionalism nor a satisfying career are possible. 8. Ability to question intelligently -- as engineers we think we have the answers and resist seeking guidance from others -- raising questions is a skill and must be developed questions involve an- swers, so the questions must be com pletely understood. 9. Innovator -- most people are unhappy with change -- the innovator is unhappy without change -- innovation is the life blood of the organization and most of it comes from engineers, certainly as far as technology is concerned the innova- tive engineer can translate that compe- tence to the organization and to greater personal satisfaction. 10. Entrepreneur -- engineers in many organizations have opportunities to function as entrepreneurs, but that usu- ally requires education beyond the tech- nical -- it requires, finance, marketing, risk analysis, and others -- but what an opportunity. 11. Good powers of observation -- why powers of observation, very simple, to see new combinations and integrate knowledge or visions from many differ ent sources. 12. Analyzer/Synthesizer -- ability to ana- lyze is essential and requires more than book learning -- not everything is quan- tifiable in numbers as engineers would like -- qualitative information can serve similar purposes and often less time consuming than quantifying and equally important -- while analysis is important, it is only as good as what is being ana- lyzed analysis must focus on the pieces and the whole, so it involves a synthesis of information or knowledge -- analysis must be coupled with syn- thesis of the system requirements. 13. Competence in dealing with uncertainty -- professional engineers live in a world of uncertainty -- until the product/process is tested no one knows whether it will perform the desired func- tions -- requirements are often ambigu- ous and change within the lifetime of a project. 14. Accepting and living with risk -- engi- neering involves risk technical, finan- cial, societal -- but engineers are ex- pected to make commitments based on their knowledge and experience at a time when all the answers are not avail- able (the same applies to marketing people) -- if they lack the knowledge and experience perhaps they should abstain from making decisions in such areas accepting risk is not generally the purview of the neophyte engineer, it requires a series of baptisms by fire. 15. Selling -- not for engineers -- you better change your mind if you want to be a professional engineer -- if you can't sell your ideas, you have little chance of a successful career -- selling is more than approaching someone in authority and saying, "I have an idea for this widget" -- you do not obtain fund ing with that kind of approach. 16. Persistence and dedication -- being a professional isn't an easy job, it's hard work -- persistence and dedication do not mean clocking hours of work, but how you work and how you spend the time working too often senior people focus on the minutiae and off-load the complex -- working effectively and efficiently with a set of priorities is essential. These are some specific traits that engi- neers need to develop. At first sight these may seem impossible to attain but keep in mind each covers a spectrum of levels de- pending on where an engineer stands on the career continuum. That continuum includes the number of years of experience, types of experience, needs of the organization, the infrastructure in which that experience was attained, and the talents and mental attitude of the individual. The expectations of a new graduate are quite different from those of some one with 15 years of experience. At least, this would be the expectation. The ten requirements of "what it means to be a professional" and the 16 of "what it takes to be a professional" must be supple- mented by the most obvious requirements absolute integrity, fairness and directness in dealing with people, clear understanding of all communications, willingness to listen, flexibility and adaptability, and ethical be havior. All organizations are bound by certain standard policies and procedures. Exercising judgment in their enforcement requires judgment. And finally, engineers as professionals, must guard against being blinded by conventional wisdom. It is often wrong and an excuse to avoid taking a proactive approach that may not be in keep ing with the group think. You may argue that the 10 points, to what does it mean to be a professional and the 16 regarding what does it take, are practiced by most engineers. This may be true in some limited situations. But it is only necessary to look at the statistics about the number of projects that meet specifications, come in on- time, and within cost (less than 5 to 10 per cent) to conclude that there is significant room for improvement. There is no doubt that we have accepted a culture of mediocrity in every field and that includes engineering. We make and accept excuses for non-performance. We play the role of the victim. But certainly we must know when we are performing below our own expectations. We certainly must know when we are not making an adequate contri- bution. We need to develop our own mea- suring stick to check our professional vital ity. The corporate awards and feel-good programs don't raise levels of professional ism. The work of the engineer must be a challenge. If it is not, why stay in it. Find something more challenging that allows you to grow. -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- ASME EXPLORES NATIONAL LICENSE by Tim A. Jur, Ph.D., P.E., American Society of Mechanical Engineers Reprinted from: LICENSURE EX- CHANGE, OCTOBER 1998 Volume 2, Issue 5. Licensure Exchange is the newsletter of The National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES). The evolution of the practice of engineer ing toward private practice has led the Amer- ican Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) to make national licensure a focus of its winter meeting in Anaheim, California. The Design Division Education Committee of ASME is sponsoring a panel session on November 20, 1998, regarding the national registration of engineers. Panel members, including NCEES Past President Steve Schenk, P.E., will discuss why separate licensure is required by the state, if it should remain that way, and what the reasonable alternatives are. At this session the affirmation is made that, in an evolving global technological environment, the absence of a means for national registration in this country effec- tively serves to retard competition. The principles of engineering are universal and do not change at the state line. Likewise, the age in which we live and the future ahead of us is such that the practice of engineering is, at the very least, national in scope and is increasingly more likely to be global. Further, the same textbooks and reference materials in this country are used in schools, technical libraries, and personal libraries nationwide. The examinations taken by candidates for registration are prepared by the NCEES and are also given nationwide. Registration, however, is still state-by-state: each state charging a fee, and in some cases multiple fees. The net effect is to do little apparent good to protect the common wel fare. The current trend of outsourcing engi- neering services, specifically specialized services, has led to the increase in private practice, ASME believes. While the engineer at a corporation frequently falls within the industry exemption to licensure, the engineer in private practice does not. Therefore, the ASME believes it must pursue the issue of national licensure in the interest of its mem- bers. However, this should also be an impor- tant issue to engineers in general. Contact ASME for additional information at (212) 705-7411 or at lunge@asme.org. -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS SEMINAR ON WEB By Dr. Wade Shaw, Exec. VP, Engineering Management Society; T. W. Hissey, IEEE Director Emeritus Considerable interest exists throughout the world for educational and practical mate- rial on technology transfer and entrepreneur ship. The IEEE, and the IEEE Foundation, recognize this interest of present and poten- tial IEEE members - and, with the support of the IEEE Foundation, prepared and distrib- uted gratis to the IEEE Regions and the IEEE Technical Societies, complete packages of the video series - as well as sponsoring five Entrepreneurial Skills Seminars at different locations in Eastern Europe. Today's widespread interest in technology and engineering management requires IEEE to consider new ways of reaching our mem- bership and potential members. By hosting a set of traditional videos in a digitized for mat that is easily viewed over the web, we believe we can reach many more people around the globe. Our experience with this project will benefit the IEEE as we consider digital video for other needs and opportuni ties. The first two videos of the six volume set of the ESS are now on the web - http://emp.fit.edu/ess. They are available to viewers - without charge - using commonly available browser technology, thus allowing interested persons to view and analyze the material - and us to evaluate interest and WEB "hits". The digitization of each video represents a technical challenge, in that, although not the quality of the original tape, it is neverthe- less viewable even with low speed internet connections. In addition, a collection of web pages that introduce and describe the project are in cluded in the project hosted by network servers in the College of Engineering at the Florida Institute of Technology. This "WEB-on-line" project is jointly sponsored by the IEEE Foundation; the IEEE Engineering Management Society; the Engi- neering Management program at Florida Tech; and, the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University - where the videos were initiated. The complete video package - and the ESS booklet - continue to be marketed through the IEEE-EAB. Links to/from logi- cal IEEE pages are provided to viewers who wish to purchase the video tape series. Links to the web site also appear through the IEEE Engineering Management Society's "Virtual Chapter" project. Establishing the videos - and supplemen- tary information - on the WEB will provide excellent exposure for the IEEE, the IEEE Foundation, and the IEEE Engineering Man- agement Society. In addition, the project will allow us to learn more about the technol- ogy - and demand - for web-based delivery channels of video material. 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 LOCAL NETWORKS MAY NOW BECOME IEEE AFFINITY GROUPS By Bob Gauger, PE Affinity Groups are IEEE's newest means of providing services and programs at the local level. In 1998, the Regional Activities Board (RAB) approved the establishment of Affinity Groups to address non-technical or professional interest areas. This provides for our Consultants' Networks to be recognized as Affinity Groups and become an official part of the IEEE at the local Section level. In order to accomplish this, the IEEE- USA will become the sponsoring entity and request the affiliation. It is believed that all, or almost all, current networks will be eligible to become local Affinity Groups. Immediate application is recommended as current groups have been grandfathered, greatly simplifying the application and petition process.. Affinity Groups are a direct parallel to the Technical Chapters of IEEE Societies. Several requirements, including membership, have been reduced. In the case of the Consultants' Networks, the IEEE-USA will serve as the sponsoring entity in much the same way as one of the Technical Societies do for a Technical Chapter. For a local Consultants' Network to become an Affinity Group the following general requirements must be met. More detailed requirements can be found in the Regional Activity Board by-laws and in the RAB Operations Manual. In general, these require: 1. Annual Submission of Current Officers (at least chair, vice-chair, and secretary-treasurer) 2. Annual submission of a group membership roster with a minimum of six active IEEE members (other than students). 3. Annual accounting of any funds held in the local Network's treasury. Responsibility for management and administrative reporting of the local Network as an Affinity Group shall rest with the Section. The Section shall have control of all financial and other assets of the Affinity Group in carrying out its activities. By meeting these requirements, the local Network will be eligible for an annual rebate of $150,00. This allowance is disbursed from RAB funding to the Section to administer in support of Network's operating expenses. As noted above, the current Consultants' Networks have been grandfathered and a simplified process for petition and establishment is permitted. The IEEE-USA is to function as the Parent Entity for the Consultants' Networks within the United States. In this capacity, the IEEE-USA is submitting an abbreviated petition. Local Network cooperation will be requested in providing the names of their officers, a list of at least six IEEE members who are members of the Network, and in providing meeting information. Bill Anderson will be in contact with the Network representative in order to compile this information. In compliance with its charter, the Alliance of Consultants' Networks (AICN) and its Coordinating Committee (AICNCC) will continue to operate under the IEEE-USA and provide professional assistance and resources to the U.S. IEEE members who are self-employed technical consultants. These self-employed consultants may or may not be associated with a local network or affinity group. Editor's Note: At the last meeting the AICNCC decided to apply for grandfathering for all local networks now existing. Several networks are already section activities and are meeting all of the reporting requirements, but this will give those networks added national status. -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 PROFESSIONAL STATUS RECOMMENDED All consultants consider themselves to be professionals. But are they? There are many ways to define a professional, but included in all of them is recognition of professional standing by peers. More often than not, this professional standing does not come automatically or with a title. It has to be sought. Within IEEE professional standing is gained through Senior Member grade of membership. Any member who has been active in the business for as little as 5 years can apply for Senior Member grade, but surprisingly few of them do so. The actual criteria is for 10 points, up to 5 of which can be earned with education, so it is not hard to qualify. All consultants with enough experience to be effective on behalf of a client easily meet these minimum qualifications. Becoming a Senior Member costs nothing except some time to apply, plus the time of three references to stand up for you. There is no increase of member dues. However, the Senior Member becomes eligible for holding the higher IEEE offices, becomes eligible for nomination to Fellow grade, and can proudly list "Senior Member IEEE" on any list of credentials. Most potential clients understand that "Senior Member" is a higher grade than just "Member", and will act accordingly. Therefore it is in the consultant's best interest to seek Senior Member grade. The application form is on the web. While you are at it, do you have an IEEE alias for your e-mail? It does the same thing. An IEEE e-mail alias identifies the member as an active IEEE member, since your dues have to be paid to use it, and in addition it just plain looks professional. You can have the cheapest internet service in the country, and nobody has to know about it because all they see is the alias. In addition to this, when you finally have had enough of your lousy internet service, you can change providers and only have to notify IEEE, which you can do yourself on the web. IEEE aliases are available to all members, and they are easy to get. The format is always simple, and these days you can pick your own name format. The application form is on the web. No professional consultant should be without these things. -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 Visit the IEEE Web site at www.ieee.org. The web site has changed. You can now request and change your own IEEE e-mail alias, and soon you will be able to update your member information, all on-line. 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 CONTRACT CORNER by Henry A. Burger, PE At the spring 1998 meeting of the AICNCC, a committee was formed to consider and recommend a standard contract for IEEE consultants. The progress was reviewed at the fall meeting, and about the only thing that has been conclusively determined so far is that no one contract form will apply to all consultants or situations. Each of the AICNCC committee members, along with additional members from the Long Island Network, has a different preferred form, each based on sometimes vivid experience. It has proved very difficult to get any sort of consensus. The problem is not so much with the basics of the contract form as it is in how many terms to include. Contracts are usually presented by the potential client, and they are notorious for being hard to understand and taking complete advantage of the consultant while thoroughly protecting the client. It is usually recognized that a contract should be well balanced, protecting both parties while providing maximum flexibility, but accomplishing this goal is anything but easy. Even so-called "Plain English" contracts are sometimes difficult to read and understand. The truth is that some consultants don't even use contracts. It all depends on the industry and the clients. There actually are a few people remaining who consider their word to be their bond, and live by it. This may be risky, but an oral contract is still a contract, and completely trustworthy people can still operate this way. However, for the majority of us something in writing is better. Written contracts can take many forms. The worst is the completely formal contract. The most simple is probably the letter-form contract, which states everything in what is essentially a letter, with initials or signatures appended. In fact, anytime you make an agreement involving an exchange of services and consideration, you make a contract. For most of us a letter-form contract is only useful for initial discussions, such as an invitation to come to a meeting for exploratory purposes. The consultant simply sends a letter stating his fee for such a meeting and whatever terms apply, or the client sends a letter making an offer. For a one-day meeting this is often sufficient, because little is invested and there is little to be lost. The majority of us prefer something more extensive than a letter, such as a contract that can be printed on one side of one sheet of paper without using fine print or excessively large sheets. It is possible to do, and the goal of the committee is to produce just such a contract form. However, it is necessarily skimpy in its treatment of certain sensitive issues such as proprietary information and intellectual property, because these subjects require a certain minimum amount of space. It is possible, however, to cover the basics. The basics of any contract are really quite simple. A contract must identify the parties, identify the product or service, identify the fee or price, and must be agreed to. Nothing else is absolutely required. The rest of the contract generally supplies supporting information, and documents specific terms, such as how to deal with property or liability. It is usually these extra things that cause problems, not the basics. Common law applies to a much greater degree than most of us realize. By common law I mean bench law, embodied in countless decisions handed down throughout the years. Certain things are always expected of the client, and certain other things are always expected of the consultant, and none of these are unreasonable. By including many of these things in a contract one can actually make the contract less reasonable and fair than if they were left out. However, many people, including lawyers, actually feel better when these terms are included, and as a result we get the bloated documents that none of us want to read. Read every contract offered to you, and before you sign it negotiate it down to the least amount of contract that you can. If you are in doubt about anything, you should consult an attorney that you know and trust in contract matters. Be prepared to walk away if you think the other party is taking advantage. Walking away is better than walking to court. -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 NEWS FROM MEMBER NETWORKS Here is some news from some of the member networks, gathered by Bob Gauger. The editor has selected the best items. Not all networks are active and some are just getting started. INDIANAPOLIS: Meets once per month with 4-5 regular attendees, major concern is marketing. KANSAS CITY: They have 35-40 interested people, but 8-10 regular members. Working on a separate member web page. RESEARCH TRIANGLE, NC:Attendance is 4-30, depending on the speaker, working on restructuring the group. BROWARD COUNTY, FL: An older network, meets monthly with 15 or so attending. SEATTLE: Group size of about 20. PORTLAND, OR: New network. ORANGE COUNTY, CA: Membership is about 45, down from what it was. Combined meetings and sub-group meetings total 8 meetings per month. DALLAS: Network is forming and expanding, absorbing what is left of Fort Worth Network. They are considering ways to help new members, older members, and an expected economic downturn. PHILADELPHIA: Attendance has fallen to 10-20 per meeting. Converted to dinner meetings instead of meetings at U of PA. Looking for ways to stimulate interest. BOSTON: Membership is 104 and growing, and needs a new web site sponsor. They are concerned about marketing and are interested in sponsoring an event. CONNECTICUT: Rebuilding after a decline. Current membership about 40. DAYTON: Meets monthly with variable attendance. Typical activity is exchanging information on how to get clients. LOS ANGELES: Having membership interest problems, especially leadership positions. Listed all members in directory as a member service. ORLANDO: About 15 active members. Having same interest and leadership problems as everyone else. PHOENIX: Meeting attendance 10-20, depending on speaker, meeting monthly even in the summer. Preparing to host the next national workshop. -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 1999 DATABASE Watch for information on being listed in the 1999 Consultants Directory and database. Information will be sent to all network mem bers as soon as it is available. These re sources are getting increasing use by those needing consulting help. -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 A CALL TO ARMS By Henry A. Burger, PE As editor of this newsletter, and as the Perpetual President of one of the older networks, I have been watching the experience of the other networks with great interest. I am very concerned about reports from other networks about declining attendance and declining interest in leadership positions. Since I have some space left over in this edition, and since I am the editor and have license to spout off, here are a few thoughts on the matter. The attendance and leadership problems are nothing new to IEEE. We seem to have to grow our leaders, conscripting them wherever we can. I have very seldom seen a competitive election for any IEEE office except the national offices and top level regional offices. We seem to appoint rather than elect. The reason is that we are so glad to find someone that will work that we just install the person in position sans ceremony. Attendance is a similar problem. Many Phoenix area chapter meetings only get attended because certain professors make it a class requirement. There are many reasons for this, and I will not waste your time by listing them all. However, I had hoped that it would be different among consultants. After all, if any group should know the advantages of attending meetings for the purposes of networking, it ought to be consultants, and if group should understand the power and visibility that leadership affords, it ought to be consultants. Yet consultants seem to be a reluctant to participate as any other group. Here in Phoenix we organized a little differently than the other networks, but it has not seemed to give us any distinct advantage. We are as much in the doldrums as any other network. Our membership is steady, but only about half of them are regular attenders and there are several who just want us to do their marketing for them. Our service area is as large as any other network, having a diameter of at least 50 miles. The only thing we have going for us that is unique to Phoenix is a dinner meeting location that is relatively inexpensive and not really hard to get to. I was in on the original organization, I wrote the bylaws, and I have been the President since the beginning, not a wholly good situation. However, analyzing where we are successful, I find that any group that continues to operate well does so only if it has a continuing core group of leaders that are willing to invest plenty of time, and if the members think that they are getting value out of it. It takes both of these elements. Unfortunately, when the leadership fails, so does the service. Leaders get tired, because it really does require work. This newsletter, for example, requires 20 to 40 hours just to get everything together and produce camera ready copy, and I have to do it three times a year. I could do it faster, but it would be a cheap newsletter and would not meet the needs of the members. Therefore, as part of the team I put in the time and do it. Funny thing, I find that I get far more out of it than any passive member will ever get. I think we will never get very far unless we increase member services. I do not mean doing their marketing for them, but I think we could easily list all full members from all networks in the national web site. Currently it is voluntary, and few are volunteering. If it is part of the package, then everyone would participate and the value of membership takes a tremendous jump. Further, the cost of keeping the web site would decrease because the member networks would be doing the formatting and the fixed costs are more diluted. I view this as possibly the greatest service that AICN can provide. Affinity status is secondary. We also will not get very far without dedicated leaders. I call for an end to the expectation that a leader should only expect to serve a few years before rotating out. Term limits on the president, or chair if you prefer, are possibly proper, but the core group does not need to turn over. When we find a job that a particular individual is good at doing, we should let that individual do it. When we have more volunteers than positions, we should find positions, creating them if we have to. We should get every leader's name in print as often as possible, and all should be encouraged to advance. This may be politics, but it is also business, and we are all in business. Each network should be run as such. I hereby challenge each and every member of each network to consider making a contribution of time and effort. Consider your best organizational talent and volunteer it to the group. Get active, and get the group active. Together we can beat this gray-hair discrimination thing and show the world that we are worth what we charge. -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- LIST OF NETWORKS Where the web address of a network is not known, an e-mail contact is provided. Phoenix Network www.etaengineering.com/ieeephx.html Los Angeles Area Network www.laacn.org Northern California Bay area Network www.ieee-sv-consult.org Orange County Network www.occn.org San Diego Network www.ieeeconsultants.com Connecticut Network nw3.nai.net/~ieee7 Broward County Network www.atsf.com Orlando Network parkave.net/users/medina/IEEE/ Chicago-Rockford Network www.drblank.com/co.htm Boston Network www.boston-consult.org Twin Cities Network n.clark@ieee.org (web unknown) Kansas City Network wolfd@juno.com (web unknown) Northern New Jersey Network www.hicom.net/~cnnnj/ Long Island Network sils.pratt.edu/~licn/ Research Triangle Network fiddle.ee.vt.edu/ieee/r3/area2/encs/cn.html Dayton Network users.aol.com/time8/consultants Philadelphia Network www.ece.vill.edu/conet/ Dallas Consultants Network bblais@pen-pros.com (web unknown) Central Texas Network (Austin) www.swri.edu/~ieee/consult.html Fort Worth Network b.krause@ieee.org (web unknown) Salt Lake City Network ee.utah.edu/~ieee/aicn/index.html Washington (State): n.miller@ieee.org (web unknown) National Capital Area Network www.rebsig.com/ieee IEEE-USA www.ieee.org/consultants 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0 A LITTLE HUMOR EXPERTS WARN OF THREAT FROM 100GB BUG Firebringer News Service (FBNS) - Experts warned today of a new and deadly threat to our beleaguered civilization: the 100GB Bug. As most people know, McDonald's restaurant signs show the number of hamburgers the giant chain has sold. That number now stands at 99 billion burgers, or 99 Gigaburgers (GB). Within months or even weeks, that number will roll over to 100GB. McDonald's signs, however, were designed years ago, when the prospect of selling one hundred billion hamburgers seemed unthinkably remote. So the signs have only two decimal places. This means that, after the sale of the 100 billionth burger, McDonald's signs will read "00 Billion Burgers Sold." This, experts predict, will convince the public that, in over thirty years, no McDonald's hamburgers have ever in fact been sold, causing a complete collapse of consumer confidence in McDonald's products. The ensuing catastrophic drop in sales is seen as almost certain to force the already- troubled company into bankruptcy. This, in turn, will push the teetering American economy over the brink, which, finally, will complete the total devastation of the global economy, ending civilization as we know it, and forcing us all to live on beetles. "The people who know the sign- makers are really scared of 100GB," one expert said. "I don't know about you, but I'm digging up a copy of THE FIELD GUIDE TO NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS and heading for the hills." ********** Y2K SOLUTION Corporate has determined that there is no longer any need for network or software applications support (See below). The goal is to remove all computers from the desktop by Jan, 1999. Instead, everyone will be provided with an Etch-A-Sketch. There are many sound reasons for doing this: 1. No Y2K problems 2. No technical glitches keeping work from being done. 3. No more wasted time reading and writing emails. Thank you. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Etch-A-Sketch Technical Support: Q: My Etch-A-Sketch has all of these funny little lines all over the screen. A: Pick it up and shake it. Q: How do I turn my Etch-A-Sketch off? A: Pick it up and shake it. Q: What`s the shortcut for Undo? A: Pick it up and shake it. Q: How do I create a New Document window? A: Pick it up and shake it. Q: How do I set the background and foreground to the same color? A: Pick it up and shake it. Q: What is the proper procedure forrebooting my Etch-A-Sketch? A: Pick it up and shake it. Q: How do I delete a document on my Etch-A-Sketch? A: Pick it up and shake it. Q: How do I save my Etch-A-Sketch document? A: Don`t shake it. ********** PHASES OF EDUCATION The dean of Engineering had once walked into a class, and said "Good Morning. "The whole class chorused "Good Morning." "Hi, you are freshmen aren't you?" he asked. One student bolder than the others asked him how he knew. "Well," he said. "When I say 'Good Morning' to a class, if they are freshmen they say 'Good Morning' too. If they are sophomores, they quietly fold their papers away, and look at me. A class of Juniors will look at me over the top of their papers, and then get back to them. A class of Seniors will ignore my greeting, and keep reading the papers. When I say 'Good Morning' to a class of graduate students, they write it down." ********** MARRY NOT AN ENGINEER Advice given my young bride, 35 years ago this Christmas, which she has often wished she had taken! God bless her for putting up so long with a man who will print stuff like this! Editor Note: This was written in the ancient days before calculators and in a time when engineering was almost exclusively a male dominated vocation. No offense is implied or intended to any party. Verily I say unto you, marry not an engineer; for the engineer is a strange being possessed by many devices; yea, he speaketh in parables which he calleth formulae, and he carrieth a small box which he calleth a calculator; he hath but one bible a handbook. He talketh away of stresses and strains and of no end of thermodynamics, he showeth always a serious aspect and seemeth not to know how to smile, and he picketh his seat on the car by the number of springs therein and not by the damsel thereon. Neither does he know a waterfall except for its power, nor the sunset but for its specific heat. Always he carrieth books with him, and he entertaineth his maiden with steam tables. Verily, though the damsel expecteth chocolates, when he calleth he opens the package to reveal samples of a new alloy. Yea, he holdeth a damsel's hand, but only to measure the friction, and he kisseth only to test viscosity. For in his eye shineth a faraway look which is neither love nor longing but a vain attempt to remember an equation. Even as a little boy, he pulleth a girl's hair but to test its elasticity. And as a man he discovereth different devices, for he would hold a maiden to his bosom only to count the palpitations of her heart and to reckon the strength of her materials. Alas! His marriage is a simultaneous equation, involving two unknowns and yielding a periodic function. 0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- PUBLISHER'S NOTICE AICNCC NEWSLETTER is published three times a year by the Alliance of IEEE Consultants Networks Coordinating Committee, IEEE-USA. All rights are reserved. Copyright 1998. The opinions expressed herein are those of the respective authors and not necessarily those of IEEE or IEEE-USA. Newsletter editor: Henry A. Burger HB Engineers 1061 E. Frost Drive Tempe AZ 85282 h.burger@ieee.org 1998 AICN Coordinating Committee: Robert H. Gauger, Chair r.gauger@ieee.org Jorge Medina, Vice-Chair j.medina@ieee.org Gary L. Blank g.l.blank@ieee.org Henry A. Burger h.burger@ieee.org Neil Clark n.clark@ieee.org John Parry j.parry@ieee.org Peter Soltesz p.soltesz@ieee.org Irwin Weitman i.weitman@ieee.org Ex-Officio: Jean Eason, V.P. Member Activities j.eason@ieee.org Staff: William R. Anderson w.anderson@ieee.org -0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-