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Shortage of Engineers...
Nice article!! Having been an engineer now for nearly 30 years, I have to admit I am still totally in love with my profession. Yes, there have been difficult times, yes I have been laid off, but darn it, I love it.
For the last seven or eight years I have been fortunate enough to be working on a freelance basis as a consultant. In this role I have had the opportunity to come into contact with many young engineers. The sad truth is that the state of their education is appalling to say the least. Most of them have no understanding of what they are doing. They have been taught engineering more or less parrot like and lack an appreciation for what it is really all about.
The profession itself is, in my opinion, in dire straits. There are simply not enough people being trained and those that are being trained have often selected engineering as a second or even third choice. While I agree wholeheartedly that you should do something that you find stimulating, I think that engineering as a profession "undersells" itself badly. Certainly where I originally come from (South Africa) this is definitely the case.
Kids today go where the glamour and the money is, and it's not in engineering, sad but true, and therein lies the problem.
Until engineering is seen to be a "glamorous" profession and until engineers earn what they are really worth, things will not change. As an earlier poster noted, Government replaces engineers with "scientific advisors" on the basis that they can do engineering. Mmmmph. I have seen enough design work done by academics to last me a lifetime. The premise is definitely badly flawed.
Anyway, complaining was not the aim of this post, the aim was to say that I love my profession and I make a point of telling people (particularly young people) that at each opportunity that I have.
BTW, my father is also an engineer and at 80 his mind is still as sharp as a pin. He shuns using calculators like the plague!! I definitely think there is some kind of link...
Long live the Engineers!!!
For the last seven or eight years I have been fortunate enough to be working on a freelance basis as a consultant. In this role I have had the opportunity to come into contact with many young engineers. The sad truth is that the state of their education is appalling to say the least. Most of them have no understanding of what they are doing. They have been taught engineering more or less parrot like and lack an appreciation for what it is really all about.
The profession itself is, in my opinion, in dire straits. There are simply not enough people being trained and those that are being trained have often selected engineering as a second or even third choice. While I agree wholeheartedly that you should do something that you find stimulating, I think that engineering as a profession "undersells" itself badly. Certainly where I originally come from (South Africa) this is definitely the case.
Kids today go where the glamour and the money is, and it's not in engineering, sad but true, and therein lies the problem.
Until engineering is seen to be a "glamorous" profession and until engineers earn what they are really worth, things will not change. As an earlier poster noted, Government replaces engineers with "scientific advisors" on the basis that they can do engineering. Mmmmph. I have seen enough design work done by academics to last me a lifetime. The premise is definitely badly flawed.
Anyway, complaining was not the aim of this post, the aim was to say that I love my profession and I make a point of telling people (particularly young people) that at each opportunity that I have.
BTW, my father is also an engineer and at 80 his mind is still as sharp as a pin. He shuns using calculators like the plague!! I definitely think there is some kind of link...
Long live the Engineers!!!
Posted by Jacdeb6009@...
23rd Jul 2009