Baby Boomer Retirements Could Trigger A&D Engineering Crisis

Aviation Week & Space Technology ^ | 2/5/2007 | Joseph C. Anselmo

[Paul Ross]

Congress is also acting on the recommendations of a high-profile presidential commission on the future of aerospace--albeit four years after they were issued.

I remember posting that here at Free Republic, and what did we see Congress do for the last five years...worry about Asbestos litigation and stem cell research??!

[clamper1797]

The fix is easy ... more Indian and Chinese off shoring and H1B's (dripping sarcasm mode OFF)

[Paul Ross]

Ping!

[dirtboy]

In 2005, U.S. universities awarded 70,000 bachelor's degrees in engineering and 41,000 master's and Ph.D.s, according to the Education Dept. While most of the bachelor's degrees went to Americans, just over half of the advanced degrees were earned by citizens of other countries.

Well, that can happen when you send kids a message that if you study hard and take out student loans the size of a mortgage, you can work five years and then watch your job get outsourced.

[Paul Ross]

Well, that can happen when you send kids a message that if you study hard and take out student loans the size of a mortgage, you can work five years and then watch your job get outsourced.

A fair point. Especially when combined with the industry practices of preferring H-1Bs when they can get them for cheaper.

[Perdogg]

What?? All of those excess collegiate women are not studying engineering????

When I went back for my second degree in 1992, I went into electrical engineering because the aerospace job market was hit by the end of the cold war. Not to fear, soon there will be a shortage of power engineers.

[darkwing104]

We need to go out and basically generate a new workforce of knowledge workers to replace those experienced people who are going out the door," says Clay Jones, president/CEO of Rockwell Collins.

Look at your customers! Good Lord! What about the military vets, they have years of expierence on your systems...Oh yea, you don't hire military vets do you?

[NVDave]

There is that aspect, as well as the financial rewards to universities for choosing foreign students over domestic.

One of the things the A&D industry needs to change is how many hours an engineer spends in meetings. Gawwwwd... do they like their meetings in the defense sector. Sometimes, it seems as tho only about 30% of an engineer's time in a defense company is spent doing something resembling 'engineering' and much of the rest is spent in meetings, meetings, meetings.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[thackney]

This is happening in other industries as well.

[NVDave]

Defense contractors hire a *lot* of vets. Especially because the vets often already have the required security clearances and are familiar with existing products.

Not all vets are engineers, however.

[sionnsar]

By next year, an estimated one-in-four U.S. aerospace workers will be eligible to retire

Hm. Maybe time to switch industries....

[domenad]

Reeeeeealllly? So should i ask for my raise now or wait until the shortage gets really acute?

[sionnsar]

Geezer Geek ping.

This is a very low-volume ping list (typically days to weeks between pings).
FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this list.

[A. Pole]

Finding those workers will be a daunting challenge. U.S. students show an alarmingly low interest in science and math

They are smart, why to accumulate college debt on order to compete with cheaper Indians and Chinese? And to get the boot after reaching age 40? This is not a career.

[Perdogg]

I would get your P.E. if you don't already have one.

[darkwing104]

Just being cynical. These SOBs wouldn't give me the time of the day after I retired. But I was picked up for engineering work for cranes in Nuclear Power Plant. Now, I am working for a Defense Contractor in Florida.

The workers are there on all levels but few of the people I served with work for them.

[SargeK]

Yep - why pay an engineer who is a US citizen when you can 'best shore' the work to some spy-ridden Third-world craphole where they live 12 to a room.

The best part is that they will bring the H1B's in on a bus and assign you to train them in your job for your last two weeks of employment in a field where you have invested years and more money than your house.

Wouldn't suprise me at all when we finally do have to fight the ChiComs if they don't push a button and we have planes dropping out of the sky.

Wasn't it Lenin who said that a capitalist will sell you the rope that you hang him with?

[fuente]

Waaaa, freaking waaaaaa!

There is no shortage of engineers! There is a shortage of companies willing to pay engineering salaries! There are literally THOUSANDS of openings that state something like:

5-10 years experience, must have A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, and I. Prefer advanced degree in bla bla bla. Range: $50K-$60K? The only people in the world that have all of those qualifications are making SUBSTANTIALLY more than that or just left that position for much more than it currently lists.

A few years back I applied for a job in Tampa $55k-$60K range. I interviewed with another office of the same company. When I inquired about the Tampa posting, the HR person stated that they had 1900 resumes for that position within the first 36 hours of the monster.com posting.

BTW, I'm a Chemical Engineer with advanced degrees from top 20 schools. I keep up with the job markets as part of my effort to ensure that I never have another period of unemployment due to changing markets. If you are over 45, there is no job market for you unless you're willing to make half of your former salary.

[kittymyrib]

"The fix is easy ... more Indian and Chinese off shoring and H1B's..."

If companies had treated their IT fathers well, their children would have been encouraged to enter the field. But seeing the usual idiotic short-sightedness of US businesses sticking it to their employees and shipping their jobs off-shore, fathers told their children to avoid the misery. Now the fathers will be retiring, and we are stuck with the copy-cats of other countries who can't communicate, much less innovate. Tough cookies, you over-paid CEOs, who can't see past this quarter's financial report.