Growing dissatisfaction among career engineers

The Raleigh News & Observer ^ | Thursday, December 26, 2002 | TERRY COSTLOW, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

CHICAGO (CSM) - Paul Porter is closing the door on his engineering career - even though he's only 29. In recent weeks, his wife and five close colleagues were added to the more than 50,000 employees axed by his employer, Nortel Networks. That was the catalyst that prompted the New York native, already disgruntled with his choice of profession, to look into attending either business or law school.

"I spent seven years in school, and it resulted in a six-year career," says Porter, who feels his master's degree in engineering is little more than "a base."

It's a pattern that's recurring with surprising, and disturbing, frequency in a profession long known for job security.

Dissatisfaction with the field is growing rapidly. Layoffs, the influx of foreign workers, and offshore outsourcing of jobs have caused the pocket-protector set to either leave the profession in large numbers or seek new careers after being laid off.

And if that isn't enough to make engineers' neckties curl in Dilbert-style desperation, there's the nature of the work itself. In an era when high-tech gear becomes obsolete almost as fast as dairy products, many in the field feel they must advance at a steady pace or risk being cast aside.

It's a far cry from the era when engineering skills were a ticket to a lifelong salary and, some say, it raises questions about America's ability to remain at the forefront of technology.

"For people who view this as a career, engineering is in worse shape now than it's been in years," says LeEarl Bryant, president of the Institute of Electronic and Electronic Engineers, which represents 235,000 professional members.

The downturn in the profession has taken many by surprise. In the '80s many felt there was an engineering shortage in the United States to compete with Japan's dominance of technology markets. Then, the commercialization of the Internet created a hiring frenzy in which high-tech corporations gave huge bonuses to new hires and the employees who referred them. The IEEE-USA reports that such bonuses pushed the median salary for its members to $93,100 at the peak of the dot-com era.

But all that changed with the dot-com bust and the recession. This year, for example, telecommunications and computer makers have already slashed nearly 400,000 workers - and that's down from last year's 500,000 layoffs - according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Even Dilbert creator Scott Adams, himself a former engineer, has an eye on the trend. "The general balance of power has swung. Engineers had it for a while, now the bosses have it back," says Adams, whose comic-strip boss has hair shaped like a pair of horns on either side of his balding head.

Adding to the frustration of some engineers are the numbers of foreigners competing for jobs. In 2000, near the end of the high-tech boom, industry CEOs convinced Congress to nearly double the number of H-1B visas, allowing up to 195,000 skilled workers from India and elsewhere into the United States. Some engineers contend that those CEOs kept many of those H-1B workers while cutting higher-paid U.S. citizens.

"About 80,000 engineers were unemployed a few months ago. If you take out the H-1Bs who came in, you'd have jobs for all of them," the IEEE-USA's Bryant says. The organization is lobbying Congress to lower the number of H-1B visas issued.

But U.S. companies may continue to rely on foreign workers as the number of people entering the profession shows signs of decline. Demand for engineering courses is down in the United States, according to the National Science Foundation statistics. In 2000, there were just over 59,000 engineering graduates, compared to 63,000 students in 1996.

Not everyone is gloomy about prospects in the profession, however. "Salaries are up, and we're faring better (concerning layoffs) than many other professions," says Win Philips, chairman of the American Association of Engineering Societies.

Many engineers are facing a challenge of a different sort. Graying engineers who have decades of work experience are as rare as a black and white television. Even those under 40 are often considered old: A computer-science professor in California has statistics to show that programmers have careers not much longer than pro-football players.

"The half-life of engineering knowledge, the time it takes for something to become obsolete, is from 7 to 2 1/2 years. Lifelong learning is critical in this profession," says William Wulf, president of the National Academy of Engineering. Still, he says, engineering is "an incredibly exciting and rewarding profession."

[Indrid Cold]

I don't know why they'd get sick of driving that cute little train--that's my kid's life goal!

[RightWhale]

It's a pattern that's recurring with surprising, and disturbing, frequency in a profession long known for job security.

Remembering the 70s. This was not a new situation even then. Engineers can expect to be pounding the pavement looking for work at some point. Comes with the territory.

[Thebaddog]

The engineers that work for me are all control freaks with a superiority complex. And the bosses do need to be in control whatever Dilbert thinks.

[gcruse]

So your wife had a little caboose, eh? Oh, wait, that's papoose. Never mind. Sorry.

[Digger]

Just what we need---more lawyers.

[Tijeras_Slim]

The engineers that work for me are all control freaks with a superiority complex.

My experience has shown me that "civil" engineer is an oxymoron.

[Krafty123]

What is your opinion of Engineering Physics Degrees (what I am intending on majoring in)?

[PoorMuttly]

Muttly have black & white television. Easier to not plug in.

[El Sordo]

It must be understood that 'engineer' is an over-used term. And not always used correctly.

Job security is dependant on the particular discipline, as well as overall skill.

Civil, structural and mechanical seem (to me) to be much more stable if you can do the job well. A good civil/structural/mechanical engineer takes 10 years or more to make (not counting school). Fresh young structural engineers give you things like the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

[Cicero]

One of my sons is a mechanical engineer who graduated from Carnegie Mellon in a bad market and had to work for a moving company for a year before he found a job. He's been employed ever since, and seems to be doing very well at an engineering consulting firm.

[Little Bill]

an incredibly exciting and rewarding profession..

It is provided you are not a dot.com type, I like steel, holes, and concrete, spent about 16 months in 35 years looking for a job.

[El Sordo]

Gentlemen, what say you?

Many times it seems to me that being an engineer (mechanical) puts me in the ranks of the lowest paid professionals. And I grant that I have survived a good number of layoffs, but I cannot imagine doing anything else.

[Eala]

Graying engineers who have decades of work experience are as rare as a black and white television. Even those under 40 are often considered old: A computer-science professor in California has statistics to show that programmers have careers not much longer than pro-football players.

Back when I graduated in the 70s it was asserted that the half-life of an engineer (before he moved on to an honest profession, such as sales or management) was only 5 years. That certainly fit my observations of the first decade after graduation. (If it's still true, only about 3% of my class are still engineers...)

[Eala]

but I cannot imagine doing anything else

When I started my education it was in the aerospace crash of the early 70s, which hit Silicon Valley hard. I saw my classes drop drastically in size when the other students realized there wouldn't be work for them. Like you, I couldn't imagine doing anything else so I stayed the course -- and got lucky; when I got my MSEE/CS there was all sorts of work available.

[jimt]

Job security is dependant on the particular discipline, as well as overall skill.

Exactamundo.

Many of the "engineers" discussed are in reality programmers. EE has become a discipline with three main areas: electrical power, electronics and programming. Of the three, programming has had a very large share of the students. The huge surge of folks into programming, and their subsequent layoffs, have a lot to do with the "dissatisfaction" discussed in the article.

There's also a factor related to the quality of education today. I recently met a computer science major who responded "What's that?" when I asked him if he messed with assembly much. Similarly, it is now possible to graduate from a major university with a degree in mechanical engineering, having never taken a class in drafting, or CAD, or in manufacturing methods.

[bobg]

I am a licensed engineer and architect. I am 72 years old and still working. I am semi-retired, having "cut back to 40 hours a week", HA... I have been employed since 1957, and for the last 33 years in my own consulting firm. I have two sons, one an architect with a large fast food corporation and the other has his own firm doing computer graphics and architectural renderings.

I love it because with a small office in a small town every day is different.

[johniegrad]

What is your opinion of Engineering Physics Degrees (what I am intending on majoring in)?

Probably will be a better choice for you than an English major.

[Incorrigible]

 

As an IEEE member for almost 20 years, I've been hearing this whining since the defense layoffs of the late 80's.  When I graduated as an Electrical Engineer in 1987, there was no work.  I was willing to move and did to Maryland for a year before I could get some relational database work in NYC.

Unlike a couple of friends of mine, I knew Engineering had it's limits.  Despite the slackers at the under-graduate business school not being able to add 2 + 2  (I took two business classes as electives so I could get 4.0's and raise my GPA), I knew one day I would be ruled by these inferior cretins if I looked upon my career as only being an engineer.  Instead I got my MBA.

The only problem now is that I have the business ethics of an engineer (from a Catholic Univ no less).  Thus, I can not lie and cheat and backstab my way to the top.  However, I am satisfied with that.

Would I do Engineering again?  Absolutely!  Oh, I missed a lot of partying spending my Friday and occasional Saturday nights in the Science Library but I have independence and control of my life now.  That kind of freedom doesn't come cheap.

[Anchoragite]

"Gentlemen, what say you?"

I'm not an engineer, but spent 90% of the last ten years in the engineering industry in process development. It is just so rewarding when you sit around and think, make a bunch of marks on [real or virtual] paper, and a year or two later.... !poof! -- there's a big machine doing exactly what you wanted it to do.

Doing stuff is fun.