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I am a civil engineer with 25 years experience. There is going to be an extreme shortage of engineers in my field in the next 5-10 years. In my company, which employs hundreds of engineers (civil, mechanical, and electrical), almost all the engineers are in the age range 45-55. That's right 45-55. They offered early retirement during the downsizing days to cut off the upper end of the age group. Then they had a hiring freeze so no younger engineers came in.

In my company, the realization of the poor engineer demographics is approaching panic stage. It takes 5-10 years to train an engineer to take over for a veteran one. If they want to get enough engineers to run the infrastructure of this country, there is going to have to be heavy hiring over the next decade. I don't think my company is unique and this will be a widespread problem in the U.S.

MBA's cannot keep this country running. You have to have the engineering knowhow. When I talk to civil engineering professors thay say the enrollments are way down. I don't know how we will be able to meet the future demand unless things change quickly.

I would never recommend anyone major in programming in college. Get an education in one of the engineering fields or sciences and take programming as a minor. Pick a field that interests you. Not the latest or hotest one that seems to be hiring at the moment.

100% correct. My impression is that most programmers are in it for the quick money. Most MBA think they will be commanding salaries of 200K and will be directors or VPs without any real knowledge. Wanna take a guess where your firm will hire the civil engineers from? Take a wild guess? Every kid on our block who is college age is wanting to major in Business. They all think they will be working on Wall Street making millions. Dumb Asses!

Excellent post.

I happen to be a civil engineer in the 25-35 age group, and I am very fortunate because there simply aren't a lot of people in my age group competing to replace those 45-55 year-olds you mentioned. It's actually a little scary because civil engineering is a field where even a mediocre professional can be very successful.