This looks like a guide for [working in a company that already has a research agenda, and doing engineering work for them based on what they ask for] and not for [trying to come up with a new research direction that is better than what everyone else is doing], right?
Mostly, yes, that’s right. The exception is in Level 7: Original Experiments which suggests several resources for forming an inside view and coming up with new research directions, but I think many people could get hired as research engineers before doing that stuff (though maybe they do that stuff while working as a research engineer and that leads them to come up with new better research directions).
This looks like a guide for [working in a company that already has a research agenda, and doing engineering work for them based on what they ask for] and not for [trying to come up with a new research direction that is better than what everyone else is doing], right?
Mostly, yes, that’s right. The exception is in Level 7: Original Experiments which suggests several resources for forming an inside view and coming up with new research directions, but I think many people could get hired as research engineers before doing that stuff (though maybe they do that stuff while working as a research engineer and that leads them to come up with new better research directions).