2020 Issue

37 The disk-drive industry was famously used as a “fruit fly” metaphor by Clayton Christensen to describe the busi- ness of innovation [12]. The learning curve (sometimes referred to as the experience curve) predicts that unit prices drop as manufacturing volume increases. This shift in prices and volume eventually results in a mature tech- nology, assuming no disruption by revolutionary innova- tion, with large manufacturing volumes and reduced profit margins. This competitive combination of large-scale investment with low margins leads to industry consolida- tion. The disk-drive industry is now reduced to only three worldwide suppliers. These three books outline the effect of financialization on engineering and science careers, but the best summary is in the Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Handbook, which predicts slow job growth in all engineering fields. TECHNICAL ORIGINS OF CONVERGENCE The transistor was a novelty when UEC began in 1950. In 1950, only 80% of rural farms had electric power, and less than 30% had telephone service [13]. Available and useful integrated circuit components produced by Fairchild’s planar process were a decade away. Today, cheap and reliable electric power is now available everywhere in the continental United States and the integrated circuit has made its way into almost every imaginable product. In economics, the term for technology penetrations into everyday life is diffusion. Thanks to the diffusion of mature electronics, technical professionals now share common skills and training in mathematical programming (such as MATLAB) and user-enabling laboratory equipment (such as equipment interconnected through National Instruments’ LABVIEW). Nowhere is this more profoundly demonstrated than in a materials science laboratory. Complex concepts are now readily demonstrated, simply reproduced, and clearly represented on graphical displays. The ubiquity of advanced electronics reduces the knowledge gap between degreed graduates in different disciplines. Man- agers within large companies do not fully comprehend this convergence of skill sets among disciplines. CONCLUSION In the past, people with broad knowledge were either labeled as Renaissance men or savants, so we should forgive employers who do not see today’s convergence. Rather than prescribe what UEC members might conclude about con- vergence, the following corollaries list possible directions: • Students and early professionals who do not invest time in career development can expect to pursue less technically rewarding careers. • Students and young professionals who understand current economic trends may seek careers in the financial sector (for example, as program managers or in sales) and benefit more than their more technically dedicated peers. • Managers seeking success in leadership careers must understand that better technical employees offer more breadth of performance than ever before, but these same employees have motivations to move away from a long and productive technical career. • The ever-present risk of economic calamity should drive citizens, especially engineers, to build strong institutions such as UEC’s member societies. REFERENCES 1. State Motor Vehicle Registrations, By Years, 1900-1995, https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/summary95/mv200.pdf 2. Census of Population and Housing, https://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html 3. List of Countries by vehicles per capita, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ List_of_countries_by_vehicles_per_capita 4. U.S. and World Population Clock, https://www.census.gov/popclock/ 5. Gordon, R., The Rise and Fall of American Growth, 2016. Pp 546-547. 6. Brown, C. and Linden, G., Chips and Change: How Crisis Reshapes the Semiconductor Industry, 2009. 7. Tassey, G., The Technology Imperative, 2007. 8. Krippner, G., Capitalizing on Crisis, 2011, p 28. 9. Banerjee, A. and Duflo, E. Good Economics for Hard Times, 2019, pp 244-245. 10.Lècuyer, C., Making Silicon Valley: Innovation and the Growth of High Tech, 1930-1970, 2007. 11. Patterson, S., The Quants: How a New Bread of Math Whizzes Conquered Wall Street and Nearly Destroyed It, 2010. 12.Christensen, C., The Innovator’s Dilemma, 1997. 13.Hunter, H., A Brief History of the Rural Electric and Telephone Program, Department of Agriculture, 1982. Daniel N. Donahoe, IEEE Utah Section