Re: How do I build a career in engineering (hardware design) ??

> It's simply a matter of there being so many more jobs for embedded systems
> engineers in the defence industry than in the tobacco industry, or any other
> morally questionable industy.

Ahem. The industry itself is not morally questionable.

Quick quiz: Categorize all of the following projects as either (A)
Morally indefensible, (B) Morally sound, or (C) Depends on end-user's
intentions.

* Geiger counter
* Seismograph
* Retina scanner
* Execution machine a la Leuchter
* Motion-tracking camera
* AA shell radar proximity fuze
* Airplane navigation system
* PLB
* Atmospheric toxin scanner
* ATC software
* Ultrasound scanner
* Encrypted videophone
* GPS receiver with map display
* Automotive ECM
* Hydraulically powered fluffy cuddly lovable snuggly animal squisher

All of them are, or could be, contracts for the defense industry,
except perhaps the last.

There is no such thing as an intrinsically evil project or industry.
There is also no societal gain in you refusing to work on some project
you've arbitrarily deemed to be "evil", unless you also had a way to
guarantee that nobody else would work on it either. Since that's not
going to happen, the societally best thing to do is to work on
whatever is required of you, then make sure that the people in charge
of deploying that item don't use it inappropriately.

That means you need to keep yourself informed of the intentions of
leadership candidates, vote appropriately, and do your best to
convince others to vote similarly.