3 Reasons Why Engineers Switch To Entrepreneurship
Transitioning from Engineering to Business
It seems easy to underestimate the challenges that come with switching careers. People do it all the time, right?
In my conversation with Sai Krishna aka ‘Sai Tech’ on my podcast where we discussed his journey from an engineer to entrepreneur, co-founding a company, and lots of other topics, I discovered that it is not as easy as the world tells you. Switching careers- especially from engineering to business- has its own difficulties, challenges, and excitement as well. It requires specific skills and retraining.
Why the Switch?
When viewed from the outside, engineering and business seem like two very distinct specializations, but closer inspection reveals a few overlaps.
Engineers and business leaders are both concerned with creating something efficient, both are open to creative, innovative solutions; yet both are grounded in what is possible.
Although an engineer’s day-to-day work is quite different from that of most business professionals, the skills and knowledge gained through studying engineering are remarkably transferable to business careers.
That is why most engineers try their hand at entrepreneurship and are often successful.
1. Widen the boundaries
Sai, after finishing his engineering degree, went to IIM Lucknow and then straight to Stanford for his entrepreneurial studies. The long jump from engineering to entrepreneurship is challenging and life-changing.
What I can take away from our conversation is that most people switch careers because they want to expand their horizons and be more efficient in achieving their ultimate goal in life. A degree in engineering might give you all the skills to solve a problem, but in order to go beyond that and acquire soft and interpersonal skills, you might need knowledge of management in workspaces.
2. Changed the definition of being right
New environments mostly help you grow. Trying something which is out of your domain pushes you to have an open mind to things that are unfamiliar to you. It also keeps you grounded.
Your learning should not be limited to industry and technical subjects. Get to know sales, marketing, finance, and human resources. It will be difficult for you to move beyond a technical role into management if you don’t understand at least some of these things.
Entrepreneurship demands a lot from you. To not only design a solution but also market it properly. And the leadership lessons enable the entrepreneur to do exactly that.
3. Learning is the goal
Learning new skills and discovering alternative approaches to problem-solving is great, as long as it revolves around learning new things. The other part is experimenting with things that make sense in the given situation and later reflecting on what worked and what did not.
Many engineering skills make engineers excellent managers. In order to manage technical projects or entire departments, they need to develop expertise and skills. You need to make sure that you have what it takes to be a strong leader, and you should add some feathers to your cap to fill in any gaps in your skills.
