Behind engineer 'shortage': Employers are choosy

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | Wednesday, November 16, 2005 | Sharon Begley

[A. Pole]

Many companies say they're facing an increasingly severe shortage of engineers. It's so bad, some executives say, that Congress must act to boost funding for engineering education.

Yet unemployed engineers say there's actually a big surplus. "No one I know who has looked at the data with an open mind has been able to find any sign of a current shortage," says demographer Michael Teitelbaum of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

[...]

Within two weeks, Mr. Carver and a colleague at the Hudson Highland Group had collected more than 200 resumes. They immediately eliminated just over 100 people who didn't have the required bachelor of science degree, even though many had the kind of job experience the company wanted. A further 65 or so then fell out of the running. Some were deemed overqualified. Others lacked experience with the proper manufacturing software.

[...]

"Companies are looking for a five-pound butterfly. Not finding them doesn't mean there's a shortage of butterflies," says Richard Tax, president of the American Engineering Association, which campaigns to prevent losses of engineering jobs.

[...]

Under the H-1B temporary work visa program, U.S. employers are permitted to hire foreign nationals with knowledge and skills deemed to be in short supply.

[...]

Then came the deal-breaker. Wabtec would only consider candidates who had experience with Pro/Engineer Wildfire, a new 3-D computer-aided design software package, not an earlier package called 2000i.

"The basic difference between Wildfire and 2000i is not that significant," says Mr. Sylvester. "I say smart people can learn sister applications, but there is reluctance among hiring managers to see that.

[...]

[IYAAYAS]

I'll graduate this summer with a BSEE. Or, I may stay two extra semesters and graduate with a MSCE and a BSEE with a minor in finance. I haven't decided yet. The problem with the MSCE is that I have NO interest in software development whatsoever and I don't know if I even want a degree with "computer" in the title.
Ever since I was first exposed to 3-phase power distribution I have been fascinated with the subject. I've taken every elective that even touches the subject, including: "electric power systems", "electrical machines" and "photovoltaic power systems". This is the field I'd like to work in, preferably spending some time working outside, a field engineer of some sort.
Maybe I'll freepmail you a resume one of these days. :)

[Myrddin]

If you wanna be a real money makin' engineer drive a locomotive pulling 200 coal carrying air dumps. :)

My R&D project for FRA is on air dump coal cars. It's a lovely test environment. Mornings start at 5 AM. We finish around 9:30 PM. Bring a bag lunch. Bring a trash bag if you need to take a dump...no potty on the locomotive. When you do get to stop, you can "rinse the ballast" if nobody is watching.

If you take a job as a brakeman, you can blow off that pricey membership at the gym. Hoisting yourself up on railcars all day will keep you quite fit...as long as you don't get injured in the process.

[redgolum]

Anything that is manufactured, processed, or otherwise handled in an industrial sense has an engineer involved.

I am a chemical engineer with a focus on process engineering and process management. We tend to do a lot of odd and interesting things.

[RightWhale]

I was in EE a couple decades ago, and employment was a hot topic near the end of every schoolyear. It was determined that municipal power engineers had as good an income as electronics engineers, and a lot more certainty of continued employment. Tradeoff was lack of glamor. The mechanical engineers down the hall and the civil engineers probably had equally good chances of steady employment and income, but of course even less glamor. It's a tradeoff--food or fame. Tough choice.

[RightWhale]

If Gov Murkowski is successful in getting the TransAlaska Natural Gas pipeline built, and if the excess gas proposal is part of it, there will be some 35 trillion cf of natural gas passing nearby Fairbanks. That ought to stock some industrial process for a while. At present the only industry seems to be construction and maintenance. And waiting for the gas.

[Semper Paratus]

Wildfire, a new 3-D computer-aided design software package

I've seen requirements for software engineers with x months experience for a package just released.

I've also seen one for 10 years experience with Test Director, that's only been around 5 years.

Problem here is by the time the mistake is corrected, otherwise qualifed engineers will take a pass on company that obtuse or HR will automaticly toss resumes that don't fit the impossible requirements.

[traumer]

"To screen out the hundreds or thousands of resumes.... look for keywords.... such as C+++ "

That screens the Hell out of them....
So they HAVE TO get somebody from India !

[Myrddin]

Although they do the same things in the end, different brands of design software often work very differently, and are not at all "easy" to use sometimes, even if they are "smart". Another trend at work is eliminating the employee who specialized in operating the design software, helping the engineer to create their design. Now they want the engineer to do it all themselves, which makes the right one even harder to find.

I'm "enjoying" that nightmare right now. I have CANopen design software from two different major vendors. The objective is the same, but the process is very different. An additional complexity is that one target processor is a PIC18F series with a native CAN controller, the other target is Linux with a serial line attached controller. Competing with both of these powerhouse offerings is MicroCANopen from ESA and the open source CANopenNode. Embedded systems are so much fun.

I designed the PIC18F boards as the EE staff is ignorant of the details of firmware design. They kept producing designs that could not be programmed to work. I designed the firmware FIRST and optimized the hardware design around it.

[indthkr]

"It's a tradeoff--food or fame. Tough choice."

Power engineering (from what I've heard second hand) is still a good steady job. One of the reasons for this is that the job function cannot be easily outsourced, anymore than a plumber or somebody that hangs drywall.

There is however a huge difference between what's going on now and the tradeoff that you and your buddies made a couple of decades ago. Back then the wage disparity between electronics and municipal power was due to a risk-reward ratio; there was never any job security in commercial IT stuff, even before H1B's or outsourcing...but some level of Econ-101 was still at work.

Now the risk-reward balance has been completely obliterated in order to maintain the overpriced burden rate (on a global basis) of U.S.-based management, government, education and legal functions. Basically the U.S. has a huge oversupply of zero-sum "middlemen" whose cost on a global economic basis (with un-fettered free trade) is completely out of line with their value-add.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Of course, not a case of wanting to save money on wages.

Only the honest globalists/Free Traders will admit it's all about cheap labor.

[Sloth]

drywall guys here average 25 to 35 bucks an hour....................not many engineers make that

Chem. E. here w/ 5.5 yrs environmental industry experience. I make between 21 and 22.

[doc30]

I'm either lying, or I'm telling the truth-- I challenge those who doubt this anecdotal evidence, who doubt what the observable trends are saying, who discount this as not "real facts" to do the research yourselves. American employees and American contractors are getting shafted because people with a lower standard/cost of living are able to undercut our workforce.

I don't doubt your story. The problem with anectodal evidence is that it doesn't show the whole picture, just one small sample size. From all the postings I've read, it seems the software/IT sector is where most of the complaints are coming from. I can see experience in the latest software revision being exploited by the contract companies you mention. I can't envision such a change to be a hinderance to employment. But that doesn't seem to be the trend in other sectors. I'm a research scientist and I know a lot of people who have immigrated to the U.S. on H1B's and they all receive very good compensation. That being said, most of these people are either from Canada or Europe, not from a third world country. We all have some type of technical expertise (PhD level research experience) in specialized subjects that better fits the criteria of the H1B program.

[subterfuge]

why be an engineer, when you can make more money.. driving a hi lo.....putting bolts on cars on an assembly line......hanging drywall.......rough carpentry.....etc, etc,etc...

No kidding. I'm an engineer and I know mechanics that make more than I do. Not that I'm complaining, fwiw.

[RHINO369]

You only make 21-22 an hour with a degree in chem engineering? Where i go to school the average salary just after grad for chemical eng is 50k. Also I work at a Electrical contractor that does building in Chicago and its suburbs and I make 15 an hour as an Intern with only one year of college.

[Myrddin]

You only make 21-22 an hour with a degree in chem engineering?

I was waiting in line at "Handyman" in 1985. I noticed the guy ahead of me in line worked by Hybritech. My degree is in molecular biology from Revelle College, UCSD. The guy in line had a PhD in my field. As a senior scientist with a PhD, he was making $36,000 per year. I worked as a Systems Analyst caring for 12 mainframe computers statewide. My income at the same point in time was $44,000.

I have no idea what happened to the PhD at Hybritech. I continued filling my bookshelf with CS and EE titles and learning the latest skills. I'm up to $128K now. Mortgage is free and clear. Kids are all over 18, but some are still parking knees under my table.

[Feldkurat_Katz]

I have seen many so called computer and network engineers resumes come across my desk that don't have the skills required to hit the ground running. While the people are trainable, I do not have budgets nor the can I afford the time loss to get these people up to speed.

Why would a smart engineer want to work for you? In a few years, when looking for another job, he will have the same skill set as now and experience in doing "more of the same." Likely, unemployable.

[OldArmy52]

Sympathies!

My Dad worked in Commercial Advertising.

The company he worked for was famous for laying off older employees shortly before they could retire.

[RaceBannon]

People who already know WILDFIRE arent unemployed, that's why they are hard to find!!

Wildfire is different than PRO-Ei, but a profecient PRO-E person can pick up WILDFIRE easy enough, all it really is, is a change in icons versus menus

I took PRO-E 2000i, they went to 2000i2, then woldfire...I was way behind and had no chance!

Times were CAD people were hard to find!

[RaceBannon]

Oh, that's BS, they dont bring these people in, they outsource to India directly!!

Pratt & Whitney is already doing that for about $10 an hour and have been for 3 years! Unigraphics, PRO-E, Autocad, you name it!

[taxcontrol]

You made an incorrect assumption that I do not have a training budget. While I do have some funds, if I spent them all on the folks I hired just to get them up to the minimal skill set, I would not have any budget to advance the skills of the rest of my team.

Further, because my employer is the largest integrator on the face of this planet, many vendors provide training to my team ... we just have to cover travel costs. However, it is not a worthwhile endeavor to send my guys to training on the configuration of security products if they do not understand networking and routing .... as many so called computer scientists / engineers with degrees come across my desk.