Pros and Cons of being an Engineer

I'm pretty please to announce that I have been assigned to an android project at work! 
It's not a fancy project, but it's always good when you get paid to learn something you wanted to learn anyway.  These are the times when I'm happy to be an engineer.  We get paid to sit and use our brain!  We get paid (sometimes) to improve our professional worth!  And if we're lucky, we don't have to work a full 8 hour day if we get our tasks done quickly and correctly on the first try.

But I should also point out some of not so good perks of being an engineer.
1.  No overtime pay.  But you better get your stuff done on time even if it means working 12-15 hour days!
2.  There is the constant fear that maybe you're not as good as you should be
3.  It can be hard to concentrate on your task when it's a boring, mind numbing project.
4.  You must constantly be up to date on the latest new technological tool.
          10 years ago java was the language to learn
          8 years ago web programming was the skill to learn
          5 years ago database management seemed to be the hot ticket item
          Present day, it's all about the mobile app programming. 
Fortunately, most of these things overlap and build on each other.  But staying fresh and sharp on all these skills can be a challenge.

So anyway, I should go back to focus on my android programming.  My task is to communicate to our wireless printer via a simple android app. 
Allotted time: 1 wk. 
Final product: A demo program that will print via wifi or bluetooth. 

I'll update my blog with my notes on android programming as well as links or tutorials that I found to be helpful.