Native Engineer - Start As Engineer Then Adopt Business Role
Native Engineer - Start As Engineer Then Adopt Business Role
Kinda like digital native, but for business types who started off as engineers originally
Digital natives are people who grow up in the information age and are comfortable with technology.
Similarly, we need a term to describe people who start off being trained as engineers in their career.
These people are more than comfortable with technology — they actually build technology.
Subsequently, they transition to business. Either being a good managing executive or an entrepreneur.
I propose the term, "Native Engineer" to describe them.
What Are They Good At?
Native Engineers are comfortable with details and complexity.
If their engineering background is in the same industry their new business roles are in, they have a natural advantage.
They can think through the business implications of a technology decision and conversely, good at generating technology options to pursue their business strategy. Most of all, they can leverage the same background to make informed choices of which of the presented technology options to pursue for maximum chances of business success.
They don’t just see the forest; they also see the trees. And when necessary, go down to the weeds with the engineers as well.
Examples
Engineer-turned-executive: Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s third CEO in its history who started his career as an engineer at Sun Microsystems.
Engineer-turned-entrepreneur: Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder and first CEO and its first chief software architect.
Does the Engineering Background be in Tech?
Not necessary.
Here’s Caroline Laurenson who started off as engineer in chemical engineering and turned entrepreneur in a different industry — smart home solutions.
She’s also a Native Engineer, by my count.