Paul O’Shea: Engineering by persevering

Paul O’Shea: Engineering by persevering

Wisdom from a veteran engineer

1. What inspired you to become an engineer?

I would like to say that I always knew that I was going into engineering, but it was more practical than that. I already had a psychology degree and was set to go to grad school, when I had a life-changing accident, and that provided me with the opportunity to reassess where I was going. I chose engineering, and the rest in history. So you could say it was accidental.

2. What prompted you to transition from the career of an engineer to the editorial world?

I started my career with Texas Instruments in Austin, TX, and like any big company you can move around within the company trying different positions. I started in test but I had some friends who were writers in the pubs department. An opening came up and I decided to try it. I did that for a couple years before I had another opportunity to move to Florida in a technical sales support position. I eventually found myself getting back into writing for publications like Evaluation Engineering magazine where I stayed for almost 10 years.

3. What would you consider the most pivotal point in your career thus far?

Probably the move from a print-only magazine to VerticalNet – a web-only publication. It was 1998, and the Internet was new and exciting and no one knew which business model worked best.

4. What has been your biggest challenge in your career?

All challenges are big until you solve them but if you pay attention to details and stay open to learning new ideas you find a way to resolve the problem. I would say that the Internet is still providing us with constant challenges on how to best use its power to get all types of information to anyone, anywhere, all the time. The challenge is how to provide the right mix of information to the reader.

5. What are the benefits of the work that you do?

What makes this job the best is the chance to always learn something new, to meet the engineers who are on the front lines of innovation, and yes, to travel to visit the companies and attend the trade shows. Unfortunately, there are only 24 hours in a day, which makes it hard to keep up with all the information.

6. I hear you have an interest in martial arts. Are there any activities or practices that you take part in outside of your career that have an influence on the work that you do?

I’ve been involved in the martial arts for most of my life and getting involved in Taiji was the best decision I ever made because it taught me perseverance and how to be centered. Being centered even while under the stress of small things like job deadlines is really helpful. But, it also teaches the perseverance needed to do something difficult. The saying “moving the mountain one teaspoon at a time,” is something I tell my students when they are learning something they don’t get the first or even the tenth time.

7. One day you’ll retire. Will you keep your interest in engineering alive in some way, or do you plan to venture off to a remote island and bask in the sun where nobody knows your name?

Work has everything to do with being healthy – I try to keep focused on now and staying fit. However when I do retire I see myself always trying to keep up with the cutting edge of electronics. It’s the learning of new things that keeps me young.

8. Describe your ideal work day.

Since ideal doesn’t ever happen I would say getting everything done that was on my daily to-do list would be a start.

9. Do you have any advice for others who want to explore the world of engineering (or even make the transition to editorial as you did)?

Perseverance is a quality that can make the difference between success and failure, no matter your natural talents. Engineering is hard, it’s about the details and sticking with it so you learn from your failures (and there are plenty). Writing for an engineering magazine isn’t for everyone but if you have a curious nature and have a command of your language, then maybe you would like writing about the engineering field.

10. What is your hope for technology of the future?

It’s not earth shattering or even noble, but more about who works for whom. Someone once told me that people should not work for electronic machines but the equipment should work for people. In other words, we should not accept edicts that tell you that you must do things a certain way because that’s what the computer needs to work properly. I keep hoping that someday the software, firmware and hardware developers will create such an ideal device.

Senior Editor, Paul O’Shea began his engineering career more than 25 years ago and currently covers power supplies, power management, discrete semiconductors, circuit protection, and cooling devices, products for Electronic Products Magazine. Mr. O’Shea started in the test group at Texas Instruments and moved on to become an editor for Evaluation Engineering, followed as an early adopter of the web at VerticalNet and CMP’s Power Management DesignLine.■