Students abandoning engineering

[eridani]

Why do I suspect that outsourcing has something to do with it?

http://abpdd-media.com/portal/wts/ccmc77aUgtaqruzLD8giciv-v7i

The American Society for Quality has learned that when it comes to kids’ dream jobs, engineering is not on the list. An overwhelming 85 percent of youth say they are not interested in a future engineering career, according to a recent survey of youth and adults conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of ASQ.

According to the survey, the top three reasons why kids aren’t interested in engineering:
Kids don’t know much about engineering (44 percent).
Kids prefer a more exciting career than engineering (30 percent).
They don’t feel confident enough in their math or science skills (21 percent) to be good at it. This is despite the fact that the largest number of kids ranked math (22 percent) and science (17 percent) as their favorite subjects.
Findings from the adult survey on this topic show:
Only 20 percent of parents have encouraged/will encourage their child/children to consider an engineering career.
The vast majority of parents (97 percent) believe that knowledge of math and science will help their children have a successful career.

[SoCalDem]

1. By september, my son's current job will be in Singapore

He's not "worried", but a little pissed off that the people over there call him and email him nonstop with problems they are having..understanding what exactly they should be doing..

He even went there last month to help negotiate a contract and clue them in a little.. He "could" move there, but he won;t do it.. They love the San Francisco area, and his wife would KILL him if she had to move to Singapore..

[thunder rising]

2. It is a waste of time, money and effort to acquire a degree in a profession that is outsourced

Americans cannot compete on cost and it's more probable than not that a graduate will not pay off the student loans.

[exboyfil]

3. Outsourcing, H1-B Visas, etc

My daughter competed in First LegoLeague, and the excitement related to building and programming Lego robots to do tasks was tremendous. We had a Jr. High gym filled with competitors.

What ends up happening is the children of engineers become engineers in many cases. Many of the children involved were children of engineers.

I tell my oldest that Math is by far your most important subject, and, while she is good in math, she is probably better in other things.

At the end of the day math translates into dollars.

[Locrian]

4. well duh....

Engineering is considered by many to be the next "bluecollar" job being outsourced - just like they did with the manufacturing jobs in the 1970s.

I see it happening on a daily basis, and I am a 20 yr experience engineer.

[tularetom]

5. If we have finally woke up and embarked on an infrastructure repair program

this country is going to need civil engineers - lots of 'em - to design and build the new roads, bridges, tunnels, dams, rail systems, schools, sewer and water systems, energy systems, and port facilities. It can't be outsourced because the jobs require someone on site. It's a great career - you get to spend time outside, you get to travel, the pay is pretty good, and you get the satisfaction of seeing something complete that you had an important part in.

This profession served me well for 40 years. Neither of my kids were interested in pursuing it. I got to work in South America and the Caribbean and retired at age 58.

Kids are making a big mistake not looking into this field.

[screembloodymurder]

16. Obama's plan seems long on tax cuts and short on bridges.

I'm disappointed.

[summer borealis]

6. We don't need math or science

We have jeesus!!

[screembloodymurder]

17. Fundamentalism breeds poverty.

Look at Afghanistan.

[Greyhound]

7. Many of the kids going into college have seen their parents go from professional

positions with comfortable lives, to being relegated to the position of nervous contractors always seeking the next gig and losing everything they've built in the interim of unemployment over and over again. When they're working they put in 60 - 100 hours a week, then they're laid off (after training their replacements), then comes the months of stress while they desperately look for the next job, starting at the bottom again, always one major repair or illness away from poverty, all the while paying and paying and paying on their student loans.

Why bother?

Just another benefit of the "conservative centrists".

[Fumesucker]

9. You misspelled "moderate centrists" n/t

[Greyhound]

10. Thanks,

R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N

[pampango]

8. Your opinion about outsourcing might be right, but a lack of job prospects was not among

the reasons given by kids or parents. The kids largely either didn't know much about engineering or wanted something "more exciting" (not sure what careers would meet that definition) - 74% total. Ass 21% who might want to be engineers but didn't think their math and science was good enough and you've got 95% citing reasons other than a lack of job opportunities.

"The ASQ survey among youth ages 8-17 as well as among parents aimed to provide a better understanding about the perceptions of selecting an engineering career in light of a troubling shortage, which will reach 70,000 by 2010 based on an estimate by the National Science Foundation." I don't know how valid this prediction is, but at least those students who do pursue engineering may be entering a field in which there will be a demand for their skills.

[Greyhound]

24. Doesn't appear to be an option in the survey, but no way to tell for sure.

BTW, this is nearly identical to what they said about IT 15 years ago. ITAA used falsified and short-term projections to get the H-1(b)/L-1 visa programs expanded to suppress wages.

[mmonk]

11. They don't want to move to India.

[dysfunctional press]

12. someone needs to make a tv show about sexy, funny and witty engineers designing cool stuff...

and solving crimes in exotic locations.

THAT would perk up the kids' interest in the field.

[PVnRT]

13. Depends on what engineering

Plenty of engineering fields don't get outsourced, especially civil engineering (roads, buildings, bridges, etc.) Environmental engineering goes along with that as well, along with electrical engineering (provided you work on the power supply side of things).

The problem is that these jobs aren't sexy like computer engineering or software engineering. I see far too many jumping into that field because they like computers and think that they will be programming video games the day they graduate college, or can start up the next great computer company from their garage. It ain't happening.

If that's what really interests you, go for it. There is always demand out there for those jobs. But those that pick that field because it sounds easy, writing code and working on hardware, need to re-evaluate what they want to do and what is going to turn out best for them later.

[Marrah_G]

14. My son wants to be an Aerospace engineer

My brother who works for one of the bigger companies says they are in desperate need of young engineers, especially American citizens.

Now the big question is... will his grades be good enough to get him in? Most of the students are coming from outside the country.

I'm crossing my fingers that WPI accepts him so he can go to school on an AirRotc or Navy Rotc scholarship. My brother went to school there on a Navy scholorship.

He is not the best student, but he is well rounded. He is heavily involved in Drama and is a Brown Belt in Kempo, competes and coaches Kempo 3 days a week and starts training in MMA next week. He loves math and science (currently physics and calculus)...hates English, tolerates history.

He is 16 and a junior in HS.

[JCMach1]

15. Exact opposite here... every parent wants their kid to go into the engineering, or business school

A big part of my job is convincing students and parents they need to try something else as little Ahmed is flunking-out in engineering.

[LeftHander]

18. American youth showing thier quality.....nt

[Ikonoklast]

20. Too easy.

Not gonna do it.

[leftofthedial]

19. Technology employment loss in my region is over 70% since 2003,

according to a report I read about in the local papers.

Why would anyone learn to do anything but change bedpans or flip burgers in this rathole of a country?

[JHB]

21. How many kids can name an engineer "role model"?

And the ones that do probably watch "Mythbusters".

[Akoto]

23. I'm 23, but ... Scotty and LaForge were mine! n/t

[AngryAmish]

22. It is a rational choice - the work-reward ratio sucks

I went to U of I and had many friends in engineering majors. The work load is staggering. the competition is fierce. They have many classes graded on a true bell curve which means someone has to fail. You are not only competing against the brightest hard-core nerds that this country has but against the very top foreign students from all over the world. Want to meet the smartest guy in Nigeria? The odds are he is studying engineering at a school in the US.

So you make it through civil engineering at U of I. You still have a very hard licensing test and internship. Then you make good money in the beginning. But you peak soon. Then your skills get old. They want someone younger with more cutting edge skills. Or cheaper foreign labor. Then all you can hope for is a civil service job somewhere.

The engineers I know are much, much smarter than the lawyers I know. But the lawyers make more money because...I'm not sure why. Communication skills I guess.

Anyway, the engineers who quit to be consultants or lawyers are the ones happy and making real money. The engineers who stayed engineers are stuck, waiting for retirement and only make around $75-85k a year.

[eridani]

25. We need a cultural attitude switch here

It's about time that people who provide real goods and services got paid more than bullshit artists.

[azmouse]

26. My husband has been an engineer for 30 years and the changes

he has seen in the business are amazing. The demand used to be high, as was the pay. Now the jobs are going overseas.

He'll find out this month if he still has a job. We're as nervous as cats around rocking chairs waiting to see what will happen.
Odds are he wouldn't find a new job paying anywhere near what he gets now... and that's IF he can find a job at all.

I don't blame kids for not wanting to get into the field. It's not what it once was.