TECHNOLOGY CREATIONS DRIVE JAPANESE ENGINEERS

A couple of trends are evident in the career choices of Japanese engineers: They yearn to create and build things, and the skills that their fathers and mentors possessed influence them. “Watching my father make things during my childhood led me to an engineering career,” says one. Another notes that, when he was young, his father’s skill in repairing broken radios, TVs, and VCRs impressed him.

The creative instinct provides the biggest motivation. “It is always nice to see that the product I design is a best seller,” says one.

“I am satisfied to be involved with development of the state-of-the-art robots that walk on two legs,” says another. “It was my childhood dream.”

The engineers also greatly appreciate and are proud of the recognition that they receive, especially when trade publication cover the technologies and products that they work on.

The Japanese engineers are generally happy with their career choices. Some note the difficulty of long hours and lengthy product-development schedules. Others note the occasional mismatch of skills on a design team to an application. But the sense of accomplishment the engineers feel after developing a successful product make the work worthwhile.