________________________________
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ted
Eckert
Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2009 2:57 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: RE: iNARTE PS or IEEE
I am both an IEEE member and an iNARTE certified Product Safety
Engineer.
For both, I have found the value to be commensurate with the effort I have put
into my membership.
I have been an IEEE member for about 20 years. For much of that time,
it was
nothing more than a very expensive magazine subscription for me.
Many see IEEE as an academically oriented organization and that is what
it
has become in recent years. I remember seeing an IEEE Spectrum article from a
number of years ago showing that 35 years ago, the majority of papers
submitted for IEEE publication came from people in industry. Now, the vast
majority come from academia.
Ted Eckert
Compliance Engineer
One Microsoft Way
Redmond WA, 98052
(425) 707-9205
[email protected]
Ted touches on a raw subject about the IEEE. Almost 35 years ago, there was a
strong challenge to the existing IEEE structure addressing that exact
question. Academia and management won, the "working engineer" lost.
Certainly the reasons were more complex than the arguments, but one key aspect
to understand is that "working engineers" were usually too busy with their own
careers to put much personal time and effort into volunteering for the IEEE,
especially at a time when the IEEE was growing beyond the USA. My subjective
observation was that the greater the presence in the IEEE, the further a
person was from the "working engineer" category.
Another important reason for the shift of the IEEE focus is that academic
types need to publish, establishing that printed record of their work. The
IEEE Transactions and Spectrum were ideal venues, hungry for papers that could
establish their "professional" status among publications and a great conduit
for those wishing to get published. Again, my subjective view is that the
Transactions became useless to me, a quarterly shipment of smoke in a green
binder. Spectrum was also remarkably stuffy, although it has been vastly
improved in the past year or so.
Obviously, these are personal opinions. However, for those looking for
metrics, try counting up the ads in Spectrum. How many ads are looking for
radar engineers (pick you category of "working engineer") and how many are
looking for academic positions. These ads are placed by people who spend their
money expecting results, and they professionally understand who Spectrum
reaches. You might begin to wonder if the IEEE shouldn't change its name to
reflect truth in advertising.
Ed Price
[email protected] <blocked::mailto:[email protected]> WB6WSN
NARTE Certified EMC Engineer
Electromagnetic Compatibility Lab
Cubic Defense Applications
San Diego, CA USA
858-505-2780
Military & Avionics EMC Is Our Specialty
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