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> They are creative idea-generators—a lot of the ideas may be terrible, but there is never a shortage.

I feel like I almost never have creative ideas - the entirety of my (short) engineering career has been spent working on school projects, contributing to a design team, or set projects at work.

Am I screwed if I want to be successful as a computer engineer? (specifically hardware)

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Absolutely not -- in fact, being self-aware of your deficiencies is hugely important. You should find people that compliment your skillset. Not everyone needs to be a creative firehose. If you're capable of understanding and implementing other people's visions, you'll find a lot of success in almost any industry.

But also keep in mind -- creativity is a muscle that can be flexed. Don't sell yourself short. Work on it.

> Am I screwed if I want to be successful as a computer engineer?

Being able to do the work is really all it takes to be "successful" in the sense that you can support yourself and pay the bills.

Beyond that, it really depends on what your definition of "success" is. One of the biggest realizations on the path to maturity is that "success" has a different definition for basically every individual.

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