[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.

[Digger]

Just what we need---more lawyers.

[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...)

[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.

[William McKinley]

Stop 401-b visas

[Pylot]

(Yuk Yuk full sarcasm mode on now) No amount of schooling can turn you into a human being! (Yuk Yuk full sarcasm mode off now)

Seriously, the term engineer was stretched to limits of creditability that were unexplored prior to the dot com boom. An Engineer friend of mine refers to the majority of the dot com'ers as frauds, carpet baggers and make believe artists. I have to agree with him.

What was passing for telecommunications in the dot com boom had little to do with traditional telecom. And just because a company calls themselves a telecom firm does not mean a thing. Come see me after you learn what operating profit means.

I was always amazed at the Engineers in the firms I worked for taking such lousy pay in exchange for the fantasy of "stability". Only an educated idiot could convince themselves of that argument, but I found that engineers routinely did in the Fortune 50's that I worked for and with.

Still, just like great sales professionals, there is always work for a truly skilled and seasoned engineer. I do feel sorry for some of the folks who graduated (professionally) into the Dot Com boom. They would have to view any afterlife as a let down and their own sense of self may never have been tested in the professional market since anyone can do nothing with enough money!

As the frauds, carpet baggers and make believe artists fade into the background of the employment landscape (capitalism at its finest) then the employment landscape will take on more regular proportions.

[vannrox]

.






I am a 44 year old Engineer. I have three degrees. Mechanical, Aerospace and Electrical. I am a member of Who's Who, both Lexington and Stratfords. I hold a number of patents.

I am unemployed.

For the last 20 years, (I graduated BSME from Syracuse University in 1981) I was laid off 15 times.

I left Engineering. I advise anyone getting a degree in Engineering to change careers, and I am very bitter about my experiences. To all those who think that I am wrong...well all I can say is Psweeeeettt! to you!

What is the worth of a four year degree that is obsolete within two years? What is the worth of a position that causes you to relocate every three? What is the worth of one that requires medication to succeed?

If I knew now what I knew back then...Boy would things be different....

I guess everyone kind of feels that way some time.

My advice to youngins'... follow your heart and not your wallet. Who cares if you get a job or not if you get out. There is not a free lunch, and when you sip from that mug of coffee, you might find that someone has slapped the chains of bondage to your soul and any resistance would be squelched by the cloak of scoff.







.

[BlueLancer]

WARNING ... WARNING ... do not read further if you are not able to handle coarse poetry ... WARNING ... WARNING

Speaking of Engineers, here's a poem that I found in a science fiction short story anthology, although it probably was more oriented toward Combat Engineers than the "white-collar" engineers described in this article.

The Engineers have hairy ears,
They go without their britches,
They pop their cocks with jagged rocks,
They're hardy sons of bitches.

They screw the whores right through their drawers,
They do not care for trifles --
They hang their balls upon the walls
And shoot at them with rifles.

Much joy they reap by diddling sheep
In divers nooks and ditches;
Nor give they a damn if they be rams --
They're hardy sons of bitches.

[mewzilla]

There are engineers, and there are engineers...Most of the new ones I've met don't impress me as much as the older ones I've known, for a variety of reasons. Work ethic chief among them. And engineering schools don't seems to be what they used to be, either. Cranking out too many people who couldn't find their heinies with an inch-thick stack of drawings.

[speekinout]

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.

Few programmers deserve the title of "engineer" in the classic sense. They are people who are educated in the use of whatever tool (computer and computer language) is the current "hot" technology. Computer technology moves fast, and it is much easier for companies to hire new graduates than to try to re-train their obsolete staff.
Anyone who wants to be a programmer should realize that they need to be constantly in school - on their own money and time - or practice the phrase "Do you want fries with that?"

[John Jorsett]

This guy loses his first job and he thinks he's all washed up in engineering? If that's his level of committment, then maybe he is better of lookng for another profession. I've been at the engineering game for mumbly years, and I've never regretted a minute of it. I get as much work now as I ever have.

[k2blader]

Young enginerd bump.

[rabidralph]

I've never met an engineer who was satisfied with anything in life.

[HighWheeler]

This article is far too generalistic.

"Engineering" as a catch-all term varies widely depending on the discipine. Hardware design, chemical, and materials engineers are always valuable, especially in metals and electrical systems. Engineers who can plan projects get non-stop, high pay work as long as they bring the job in on time and within budget.

Most student engineers get there because they were interested in the money, but the substandard desire for engineering design will tank them in college, or if they are persistent, they will leave in only a couple of years after graduation.

I also know that there are a lot of medical professionals, accountants, teachers and lawyers who are equally disgruntled with their selected professions. You could nearly write this article for any of those professions by merely changing the word "engineer".

There are some root causes for all this unhappiness that lie outside of these individual professional worlds. My observations say they are driven by minority quotas, political correctness, and especially the flood of legal defense initiatives.