Build something people want. Whether or not that's your day job or not is immaterial. My favorite parable about the societal role of an engineer's technical s

Build something people want. Whether or not that's your day job or not is immaterial. My favorite parable about the societal role of an engineer's technical skills is this story about Steve Jobs: http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Saving_Lives.txt http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&s... Steve's pitch is an attempt to capture the essential paradox of engineering: You have a lot more leverage than you think, or even than you can believe. When you improve (say) the Linux kernel, you improve a lot of people's lives, and they in turn improve other lives. Even trivial things improve people's lives. I watched the Ig Nobel Prize committee award a prize to the Japanese electrical engineer/jazz musician who invented karaoke. It was a surprisingly touching moment.