ARE ENGINEERS INNOVATIVE?

Both Hewlett and Packard were engineers, and of course Woz is an engineer. Edison, Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, the Twitter founders -- all engineers. Many of the best tech business people and innovators are engineers. They’re very close to the source of innovation: the technology in front of them. They also can experiment endlessly and not get tired of it.

In the internet world, the developer-entrepreneur is now ubiquitous. Yes, most fail and often go back to less entrepreneurial endeavors (jobs), but not all of them. What’s the key to succeeding? Innovation, iteration, and not giving up.

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”

― Thomas A. Edison

In Silicon Valley, most developers are pretty innovative; they constantly look for opportunities to start new companies, find partners, develop new gizmos, work on side projects. They have energy, and they don’t mind failure. They think beyond their salary.

In most other places, engineers usually think only of “how much will you pay me per hour?” They don’t train themselves to be innovative, so when they try to launch a company on their own, they fail. They don't hack the core, or get any- where near it. They don’t take any risks at all and then wonder why they fail.

Achieving something great doesn’t come without obstacles, usually tremendous obstacles. These obstacles are a natural elimination process. But if you’re constantly trying, experimenting, and using your right brain, every once in awhile amazing things happen. It’s hard work, but that’s no reason to give up.

#startups #engineering #innovation