Posted on 08/11/2006 4:31:10 AM PDT by grundle
FRANKFURT - When high school junior Daria Schirmer conducted scientific experiments with 8-year-olds as part of a school project this year – building a periscope or a compass with a magnet – she became not only an inventor of sorts but also part of the solution to what looms as one of Germany's greatest challenges: how to keep its sterling reputation as the world's leader in engineering.
For centuries, Germany led the world in technological prowess, from the motorcycle to the refrigerator. In the 19th century, inventors and entrepreneurs like Gottlieb Daimler, Carl Benz, and Carl Wilhelm Siemens developed products for brands still respected today. But over the past few years, young Germans have dramatically turned away from engineering – and now, the country needs 18,000 engineers – a third more than last year, according to the German Association of Engineers in Berlin. Alarmed that this gap could endanger Germany's engineering creativity, businesses are trying to stem the tide by launching a publicity campaign to make engineering sound like fun from kindergarten through university.
"The image of engineers has never been so bad," says Markus Roeser of Do Things, a coalition of 80 businesses, universities, and research institutes created five months ago to fill the engineering gap.
The group sponsors school projects, gives awards to youths making special scientific discoveries, awards scholarships, and helps engineering students find internships and young researchers commercialize their inventions.
"If we don't succeed in making young people enthusiastic about technical jobs again, we're running the risk of losing our place as the world's leading exporter," of manufactured goods and technologies, says Mr. Roeser.
"The lack of engineers is Germany's No. 1 hindrance to innovation," says Roeser. "At stake is to keep Germany's creative potential."
"Little Einstein Experiments," the pilot project that had pupils like Daria visit grade schools to do experiments every week, is the crux of this publicity campaign. Sponsored by the German state of Hessen's entrepreneurs association, it is meant to awaken scientific thirst early on.
"Children are naturally curious about learning. It's important to encourage their enthusiasm so that the fun doing experiments lasts," says Monika Zieleniewicz, Daria's physics teacher at the Albert Einstein High School in suburban Frankfurt who supervised the program. "That's how you help develop children's motivation for those fields."
"The focus has to be on the schools," says Benjamin Burde of the Berlin-based Mathematics and Science Excellence Centers in Schools, which supports mathematics, computers, science, and technology education. He notes that in Germany, those disciplines have almost disappeared from the school curriculum.
How engineering lost its cachet
Being an engineer no longer has the high status it once enjoyed.
In the mid 1960s, 41 percent of Germans said engineering was a job they had a lot of admiration for. In 2001, only 22 percent said so, according to the Association of Engineers.
A study by the Allensbach Research Institute, Germany's leading polling firm, found in 2003 that being an engineer ranked seventh among young people as a prestigious career behind pastors, doctors, and university professors.
Part of Germany's engineering decline started in the 1970s as the environmental movement grew and people started questioning the impacts of ever-faster energy-hungry technologies on society and the environment.
By making people skeptical about technological progress, it gradually hurt the prestige of engineering jobs says Joerg Feuchhofen, head of the Association of Entrepreneurs in Hessen, which represents 100,000 entrepreneurs in the state of Hessen. "The Germans often looked at it as something that endangered the environment," says Mr. Feuchthofen. "That's a reason why the fields covering ... technology have lost ground in the education system."
Ten years ago, there were twice as many engineering students at universities than today according to the German Association of Engineers.
The problem isn't new. But attention was focused on the dearth of engineers this spring when Airbus-Germany announced it couldn't find 600 engineers needed as they gear up to expand their production over the next two years.
"That Germany can't fulfill a major order in China that would have created many jobs was a big shock for the nation," says Roeser.
Indeed, Airbus isn't the only firm hindered by Germany's current lack of engineers. Thirty percent of German employers say they are short engineers, according to a survey by the German Association of Engineers.
"At least four or five years ago, people came to interviews," says Andrea Gossel of the Schunk Group, an international car-part manufacturer headquartered in the small village of Heuchelheim. "Today they don't ever bother to show up."
The Germans have created an ideal workers paradise for themselves and now they are running out of selves.
you mean a shortage of engineers who will work for
3rd world salaries..
No I don't. For an Electrical, Instrument, Structural, Mechanical, Chemical or Petroleum Engineer, salaries in are up all over. We had a 15~25% increase over last year. We are hiring new engineers right out of college with no experience beyond interning for $55~60k. Experienced Engineers with no experience in oil/gas/petrochem are being hired into our industry for double that. Registered Engineers with +15 years oil/gas experience are getting even more. Shortages are in many parts of the world but places like Houston, Anchorage and Calagary, Alberta are having large shortages.
There is no shortage of qualified Electrical Engineers in this country.
There are many thousands of us flipping burgers or working at Home Depot, because we have been displaced by H1-B visa engineers for much cheaper wages.
Engineering enrollment IS dropping like a rock because many talented young students do not see it as a viable career.
A company that offshores or outsources their work and then complains about a shortage of engineers is like a guy walking out of a whorehouse complaining that he doesn't feel loved.
What do they expect?
Really? I could get 120K US with no petrochem experience?
I do have a BSME and would work in Calgary in a heartbeat.
What are AB taxes like? Anybody?
and its because americans don't want to go into the field (and germans too apparently) bcause salaries and job security have been eroded by offshoring and H1B visas.
the industry is reaping the seeds it has sown.
Germany was the world center of the mathematics community before WW II, and well represented in science. After WW II they tried to rebuild these communities, but it isn't happening. Look to China and India. India has the edge culturally.
that is a very narrow industry, experiencing a boom because of $75 oil.
I can assure you, its nothing like that in EE and CS/IT.
An engineer died and reported to the pearly gates. An intern angel, filling in for St. Peter, checked his dossier and grimly said, "Ah, you're an engineer; you're in the wrong place."
So the engineer was cast down to the gates of hell and was let in. Pretty soon, the engineer became gravely dissatisfied with the level of comfort in hell, and began designing and building improvements. After a while, the underworld had air conditioning, flush toilets, and escalators, and the engineer was becoming a pretty popular guy among the demons.
One day, God called Satan up on the telephone and asked with a sneer, "So, how's it going down there in hell?"
Satan laughed and replied, "Hey, things are going great. We've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and there's no telling what this engineer is going to come up with next."
God's face clouded over and he exploded, "What? You've got an engineer? That's a mistake; he should never have gotten down there; send him up here."
Satan shook his head, "No way. I like having an engineer on the staff, and I'm keeping him."
God was as mad as he had ever been, "This is not the way things are supposed to work and you know it. Send him back up here or I'll sue."
Satan laughed uproariously, "Yeah, right. And just where are YOU going to get a lawyer?"
and don't forget Lowes - alot of my former co-workers like working at Lowe's, its a "step up" from home depot don't you know.
An engineer from a Germany once told me that his company had trouble setting up manufacturing in the U.S. because we lacked skilled workers. His company made high-tech pumps for ultra-high vacuum.
and what wage did they expect those skilled workers to take?
I am a EE and we are trying to hire both Electrical and Instrument/Control Engineers. I get calls from people in Houston every week looking for E&I Engineers.
Where are you at and are you willing to move?
I am personally OK. But what you are describing sounds like a very specific skill set they are looking for, not everyone can step into a job like that unless the hiring company is willing to train.
I bet, there is a correlation, between the decline of the white male, and the demise of engineering....and I am certain there is a correlation between the rise of feminism, and the demise of engineering...
What I hear from my Son and other Engineer graduates tell me is that outsourcing is not a problem for them. I think many young people think they can make more money in other fields without taking the rigorous science/math courses required for an Engineering degree (which takes 5 years). A good student can get a BA in four years and MBA in one more year (same time as Engineering degree).
I didn't get into engineering for the money, or the love of science. I'm in it for the chicks, everyone knows chicks dig engineers!
If you have sufficient related experience. 15 years of experience with rotating equipment or pressure vessels would be a strong background for a ME. Calgary is hurting badly for engineers. Check out Monster to begin with.
Canadian taxes are very high. My company has an office in Anchorage and Calgary. No one is willing to go to Calgary for more than a very short duration because of the taxes.
I thought in Germany being an engineer meant you had to spend many years as an apprentice even before you could become an official engineer. That could be another factor in the lack of desire to become an engineer.
There is a shortage of power engineers. I need people who understand cable comes in size like 500 kcmil and can spec out switchgear and motor control centers.
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