[SBE] Industry retirement situation

[k7cr]

IMHO, we in our little industry are feeling what many others, in other 
fields, have felt for a long time.   The bottom line is this - There is 
nothing more constant than change !.   If change is a given (which I believe 
it is) then those that adapt to change will be spared, those that do not, 
will not.  I've been in this business for some 47 years and over that span, 
I've seen a lot of changes !  Along the way I have also known those that, 
for various reasons, were unable or unwilling to adapt and have left the 
industry.    To me, change represents opportunity.   This is again a basic 
concept that could be referred to as the survival of the fittest.

The problem is, you can't always make a person feel this way.  Let's face 
it - You can not make anyone want anything, much less make the changes 
required to achieve anything.   Some of the reasons why folks fail is their 
reluctance to make the required changes so that they might adapt and 
therefore thrive in the new order.   This is, perhaps, part of the natural 
selection process.

 Look at how those that managed to work up within a company and thereby 
improve their fortune got there.    GM's were not always GM's, they had to 
crawl up the ladder.  Perhaps there is something in the genetic makeup of 
many technical types that is self limiting.   That GM was likely, at one 
time, selling spots to mom and pop stores in Podunk.   They knew well that 
this was a dead end job and if they wanted to move up...They'd better 
acquire the skills that are consistent with forward progress.  How many 
technical types are willing to acquire the skills necessary to move up ? 
Sure you might have to wear slacks and a sport coat...and have to learn how 
to be a competent money, paper and people manager, but would this not be 
worth the effort?   To set back, doing what you have done for years, and 
expect better things to fall your way may not be very realistic.

Folks Broadcasting and the Engineers that work within it, are not alone, we 
are not destined to be working in dead-end jobs until we expire.  We have 
many of the same opportunities that folks in thousands of other industries 
have to improve ourselves and with it....have the success we wish.   This 
all requires effort....OUR effort.   The knight on the while horse is not 
going to swoop into your shop and tell you to hop-on...Life,  and the 
success you have,  is pretty much tied to the amount of effort you put forth 
balanced with the amount of self-doubt and limitation you place on yourself.

Now - Go forth and good luck

Soap Box off.

Clay Freinwald