In the last few decades, paradigm shifts in corporate culture have forced businesses to reengineer themselves. People in engineering jobs who had been pursuing traditional 20th century careers found themselves dealing with new circumstances. Career tracks that had seemed to be secure and predictable were suddenly insufficient and obsolete. Engineers had played a key role in this shifting of paradigms, and they felt the resulting stress in their careers earlier than others did. Today, layoffs, midlife crises, and career disasters have become common in a profession that led the 20th century in job security.

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	Today, layoffs, midlife crises, and career disasters have become common in the engineering profession.

The 20th century was the era of mass production. The corporate culture during this period followed an order dependent on manufacturing and centered on large corporations. The decision to become an engineer was made when one started college, and career decision making was essentially finished once one acquired a job following graduation. After that, the typical engineering career progressed along a well-beaten track within the organization with little change.

In the 20th century, that was the socially approved path in many industries. Most careers were in line with corporate culture, and employees who changed jobs frequently or changed career tracks were viewed as deviants.

By channeling human resources into established tracks, 20th century businesses succeeded in developing functional stereotypes of operational systems that reduced many industrial challenges. Once the challenges of day-to-day manufacturing were solved, the corporations of the 20th century turned their eyes to other areas of operational development. Leaps in technology and upheavals in market dynamics began shifting business paradigms, and corporate culture rapidly mutated into a culture based on service and driven by technology.

Today, in the 21st century, corporate culture focuses more on knowledge and service than business in any other era has. This emphasis is visible in all spheres of a modern business organization, including personnel relationships and job design.

In the last century, although many engineering jobs were lost as a result of larger trends, people did occasionally get fired for "poor performance." Termination notices citing "poor performance" were like mental sledgehammers that could crush one's career. But in today's knowledge-based environment, "poor performance" is seen as a motivation problem or competency mismatch rather than an issue of character or ability.

The new corporate culture, with its emphasis on knowledge and service, has realized that organizations must change their approaches in order to get the best from their employees. The movement toward human resources development grew out of this realization, and now, instead of hiring and firing people to fill rigid job slots, organizations focus more on linking the assets and motivations of their employees to specific tasks.

However, the human resources movement has also ushered in continuous monitoring and trimming of nonproductive functions as well as continual job analysis and reassessment. This leads to job losses for those whose assets and motivations do not match the parameters of the reconfigured jobs being created. Job mismatches no longer suggest that workers are social misfits, and with the natures of jobs changing continuously, career planning has now become a lifelong process. This is the new reality.

With the rise in complexity in the job market, traditional jobs have been supplanted by newer versions of jobs that remain in a continuous state of flux. Today, developing a career has in itself become a complex job that is difficult to undertake alone. But in a knowledge- and service-based environment, more and better services and tools to develop one's career are becoming available all the time.

For those who are ready to adapt, the future has never been brighter; for those who fail to recognize the realities of the new era, the present has already lost its charm.

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