You Can Be An Engineer & An Entrepreneur
Yes, you can be an entrepreneur and an engineer. The two things that I’ve experienced and seen that make it difficult are communication and social skills. Many engineers are naturally introverts because they spend their days thinking through complex problems and logic. Socializing and meeting new people are not activities to which they feel comfortable. However, to be a successful entrepreneur, you need to be able to do those things daily because business is all about relationships.
Secondly, engineers use different vocabulary and references, making it challenging to communicate with the average person. As an entrepreneur, you must share your product and service offerings at a level that the customer will understand. So working on simplifying your sentences and vocabulary can help.
I’m sure other areas make it difficult for engineers to be entrepreneurs; however, the two I mentioned have been the ones I’ve seen most often. The good news is you can improve upon these issues through training and practice. As an engineer, I took training classes in sales, networking, public speaking, etc… This helped me feel more comfortable doing what you need to be an entrepreneur.
Rey’s original post can be found here on Quora.