[SBE] Dwindling numbers of engineers

[Cowboy]

On Tuesday 03 April 2012 03:06:27 pm Matthew Steck wrote:

> I guess this would be a good time to ask...  Just out of curiosity, I am a

> 23 year old engineer working at a group of stations in a smaller market,

> making the salary mentioned above. 


 Not bad, at 23.


> All 

> of my electronics knowledge is from collecting and repairing vintage

> consumer audio since I was a kid. 


 Also true of others of us.


> Is it true that the real-world 

> experience I have may out-weigh a degree in the future? 


 Yes, and no.
 It does for me, but I have a national reputation of being
 very, very good at what I do, and what you do, to.

 Still, there have been times I've been specifically asked to please
 come work for X, then been snuffed because I don't have
 the specific degree that their rules require.


> I love the work I 

> am doing (and love radio) so I'd like to stay in the field. 


 Again, like many of us.


> When I made my 

> decision to go this route, I figured that someone my age would have a good

> amount of luck finding positions, as the current guys begin retiring.  Was

> that a reasonable assumption?


 Apparently not !!
 I'd think so too, but real world experience suggests that as someone leaves,
 they merely increase the workload on whomever is left.

 Now, when things start literally falling apart, and they are off the air
 for an extended period of time, then you might get a one-off contract,
 long enough to get them back on, and fix a few things that have been
 broken for months or years.
 If you do that well, AND cheap, you might be offered a long term
 contract at a ridiculously low rate.

 It seems the real hey-day was the late 90's early 2000's, and ended
 with the Bush/Obama depression.

 But hey !
 Things may get better if/when the economy comes back. 

-- 
Cowboy