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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.

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.

WRONG!!! Hyatt Regency was not designed by a Junior Engineer fresh out of school, it was so lousy, it had to be designed by a Pakistani PHD.

Civil, Structural, Mechanical Engineering have long been interesting careers that would provide a living but no real wealth. Now the regulators have gone berserk, so they may no longer be secure professions.

I'd disagree on the time to produce or mature a Civil/structural/Mech Engr. Greatly effected by the person's background and opportunities to apply themselves.

5-7 years academic work, hopefully coincident to field work to identify tools of the industry, then 2-4 years of professional caliber work experience works well.

Only problem is that we've experienced a generation where the PC has interrupted the professional experience workflow and experience development of junior engineers.

30 years ago an EIT or equivalent (prior to the EIT exam) might work as a draftsman to a registered PE in producing deliverables for the profession. This work coincidently provided hands-on experience and opportunity to follow professional identification and problem solving skills. Last 20 years, good PEs were able to design on the fly with PCs. Older PEs still tend to make notes on scratch paper and then direct draftsmen to churn out the drawings, but by no means is this the norm for younger PEs.

The industry tends to demand rapid designs, cyclical review, and focus on satisfying the funding source.

IMHO, the industries financing engineering efforts have not been stable enough to insure longevity in the supervising authorities sufficiently to recognize the merits of good to outstanding engineering efforts over the producables from mediocre design product. When the financing industries become more stable, engineering mediocrity will disappear. But show me one industry that hasn't undergone 'rightsizing/downsizing/layoffs' and I'll show you an area where some actual good design has evolved.