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We often hear from readers who are engineers that they try to dissuade sons and daughters from entering the profession. Their reasons vary, but most have reached the conclusion that globalization has made it impossible to build a career, much less make a living, as an engineer.

This is a sad state of affairs. One result is that too much talent has been diverted to unproductive pursuits like financial services. We all know how that turned out.

Too many technology companies have responded to this situation by focusing on their stock price, giving innovation short shrift. One of the industry’s dirty little secrets is that shipping engineering jobs overseas remains a great way to boost a company's stock price. We could make a strong case that short-term gain, quarterly financial results, have killed American innovation, and with it, the proud engineering profession.

We prefer another approach.

In a recent documentary on the men and woman who built the Apollo moon rocket, a North American Aviation engineer named George Phelps described the seemingly insurmountable problem of shaving still more weight from the Saturn V’s second stage. That booster, which would kick astronauts into Earth orbit, contained two enormous fuel tanks. To cut weight, North American engineers invented a remarkably thin but strong “common bulkhead” between the two tanks, effectively separating volatile liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen stored at vastly different temperatures.

Phelps admitted that much sleep was lost coming up with this weight-saving solution. He added, with a twinkle in his eye, “That was the most difficult problem that we had to solve. But we did it, because engineers can just about do anything.”

Amen.

With the Apollo example in mind, and as we compile the 2010 edition of our annual salary and opinion survey, we ask readers what areas of electronics engineering hold the most promise for the next generation of engineers? For example, does the real creativity in electronic design reside in software rather than hardware?

Your responses also will help guide students who will be attending this weekend’s USA Science and Technology Festival on the National Mall in Washington. These kids have great ideas. Let’s point them in the right direction.