“I come from a background where my best technical work happened outside the job. I moved into partnerships and business development because I was doing more of that than engineering anyway, and I stopped fighting it. Some of the sharpest people I've met made the same move, and it usually saves them years of pretending the desk work is what energizes them.”
“I've spent a lot of time with engineers considering the jump, and the ones who actually do it well don't leave to escape engineering so much as they leave toward something concrete they're pulled by. The difference matters hugely.”
“I left a big corporate title and the prestige that came with it because I realized I was building someone else's dream. The hard part wasn't the paycheck or the status, it was the identity rewrite: engineer and operator no longer fit. If you're leaving engineering, don't just hunt for the next title; get clear on who you're becoming, because your skills will translate once your story does.”
“I climbed the ladder for 30 years and realized it was the wrong wall; the best part of those jobs was always mentoring my engineers, not the title. Now I tell clients: don't wait until executive burnout forces your hand, build the exit toward the thing you already light up doing.”
“I spent 30 years building, managing, and fixing things in energy—and then left it for coaching. What I learned is this: the best reason to leave is not because the field is wrong, but because you've found where your real energy actually goes. Mine went to people and how they work together, not to infrastructure.”
“A job, whatever it is, should allow you to express who you are — find that role, and you'll be happy. Engineering teaches you to solve problems in a structured way; the question is whether the problems you're solving have to stay technical.”
“I transitioned from biomedical engineering into program management by paying attention to what I actually did in my free time—not what I thought I should want to do. I saw myself naturally making spreadsheets about schedules and budgets and dependencies, which told me where my real strengths were.”
“Three things to really look at when you're thinking about leaving engineering. First is what you're actually good at and what comes naturally to you. Engineers are usually strong on problem-solving and systems thinking, and those skills transfer everywhere. Second is what you're enjoying and what's drawing you elsewhere—is it the work itself, the culture, the pace, or something else. Get specific about that.”