6 Top Challenges for Engineering in the 1st Quarter of the 21st Century? 11

[spggodd]

Hey all,

This is a bit of a follow on from a previous post I made last week, I have an interview coming up and I have been asked to consider the following question:

"What are the top 6 challenges (technical, commercial, ethical, regulatory, etc..) facing the UK engineering profession in the first quarter of the 21st Century?"

I was hoping I could start some discussion and get your opinions of this, even if you're not from the UK there may be common issues in your country that you can share?

Thanks
Steve

 

[FeX32]

How about we hire only engineers with doctorates, and some with masters. That would get rid of the "1/shortage" issue.

OP,
There are way more than 6 engineering challenges for the next 11 years.


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci
- Gian

 

[ajack1]

Returning Hadrian's wall to a state of being fit for purpose in time for September seems the big one to me, everything else less so.

 

[KENAT]

Love it ajack1

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[miningman]

Well there was a recent article in Canadian newspapers where a new French consular official was quoted as saying that in his opinion , Canadian society needed to reduce the standards required of immigrant engineers. We still have a shortage of good , qualified engineers in Western Canada, WHO ARE PREPARED TO LEARN LOCAL CODES AND WHO ACCEPT THAT THINGS MIGHT BE DONE DIFERENTLY THAN IN THE OLD COUNTRY. If that attitude is prevalent in Europe, then in my opinion, ridulous nationalist attitudes are one of the major issues facing the world , not just the UK.

 

[FeX32]

"French consular official" "reduce standards of...."
Wow. Just wow.

This is why we have problems. These people have no understanding of anything.


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci
- Gian

 

[rb1957]

@ajack1, to stop people moving south, or north ?

@miningman, maybe we don't want our buildings built the way they do in timbuctu.
do doctors and accountants and lawyers have to recertify when they move ? i think so
sure there's something for having international standards, but which nation would we adopt ? France ? US ?
if the other professions don't have international standards, why should engineering be any different ?

Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati

 

[miningman]

RB 1957, no I am not advocating for international standards. AS an example , there are very few countries in the world who have knowledge of building in permafrost, but any immigrant engineer to Canada can learn the necessary if he is willing to leave his attitude behind. Similarly I suspect there are building codes / practices in the UK that would be unfamiliar to an engineer from North America, if only because timber is ubiquitous within the construction industry in North America but because timber is so expensive in the UK, I strongly suspect local products are more widely used... brick comes to mind which does not behave well in minus 40 degree temeratures which is why it is not widely used in Northern Canada.

What I am critical of is ANY individual who believes that local standards should be relaxed purely to accomodate the unwillingness of an individual to upgrade his knowledge to become familiar with local codes , customs and practices.

 

[FeX32]

I vote we raise the standards. Significantly.


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci
- Gian

 

[ornerynorsk]

But the primary and secondary schools are having such lovely results with relaxation of standards. Give it a go, eh?!?!

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

 

[FeX32]

But the primary and secondary schools are having such lovely results with relaxation of standards. Give it a go, eh?!?!

Hahaha. My thoughts exactly.
Every other person I meet these days is a teacher. Most of them I feel I would not like teaching our young.

Also, the general attitude is quite ridiculous in High Schools. The fact that you can get A's, or complain to get A's and learn nothing is quite sad.


"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." L. da Vinci
- Gian

 

[KENAT]

I realize this is a soft fora where meandering from the subject is not so frowned upon but...

What does the perceived watering down of educational standards in the US/Canada have to do with the OP's question?

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[miningman]

KENAT, read my original post


If that attitude is prevalent in Europe, then in my opinion, ridulous nationalist attitudes are one of the major issues facing the world , not just the UK.

 

[Unotec]

miningman
Well, gotta tell you that reads a little racist. If I have found one big challenge is the poor engineering quality of Canadian engineers in the West (O&G). Needless to say that, for the most part, university curriculum tend to be far broader and more disciplined outside Canada or the US. Having said that, the real development is not given by a school, but by the individual him/herself.

For the record, I am an immigrant.

Where I see the biggest difference between engineers coming from abroad and the ones educated in Canada is that we do not jump from school to desk. We, for lack of a better term, start as trades or operators in the field. Learn and earn our badges before we can move onto a desk.

It seems to me there is some sort of protectionism. A very experienced foreign engineer is asked to write exams on text-book subjects studied 10-15 years ago, a newby is given the designation upon graduation. If a foreign engineer from a particular university happens to pass and get the designation, it should, by default, certify that university meets the criteria.

Having said that, there are a lot of local regulations and climate differences that have to be understood, as you well pointed out. I'd be very surprised that somebody that moved, willingly, to a better standard of life, would not be willing to "leave his attitude behind". However, there are a lot of valuable things that he/she will bring on board, particularly ingenuity. In poorer countries we tend to not have all the resources and tools so we become... inventive. Most of this inventiveness can be applied within the regulatory framework and taken advantage of.

<<A good friend will bail you out of jail, but a true friend
will be sitting beside you saying ” Damn that was fun!” - Unknown>>

 

[davefitz]

back to the original posted question.
#1- find a long term repository for the waste products from the nuclear reactors

#2- It is expected that most jobs will be outsourced to robots/ computers or some form of automation and this will lead to much higher unemployment levels than currently accepted. So a change in the means of distributing the products of industry to the populace would need to be developed and accepted ( ie either in the direction of socialism or a welfare state dominated by plutocrats) and somehow most people will need to find a way to consider themselves "successful and contributing to society" without gainful employment.

#3- the loss of personal privacy as a result of the availability of low cost surveillance devices and databases combined with increased secrecy in government may imply a permanent loss of freedoms and rights as currently enjoyed, and future generations would need to be directly trained to accept such measures as the "new normal".

#4 older concepts of money will disappear, as such concepts will be both unsustainable and unnecessary as increased control of the economy is directly transferred to the State.

#5- for the UK ( and perhaps other countries) you will wakeup one day and realize that people of English heritage are a minority in their own country. Perhaps it doesn't matter, but once it is realized , it will seem like some other personal possession is lost forever.

"Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad "

 

[TomDOT]

"People of English heritage are a minority in their own country."

Really? Are you talking about the Beaker People? The Celts? Romans? The Jutes? The Angles? The Saxons? 8th century Vikings? 11th century Normans? Which one is "English" heritage?

The entire known history and prehistory of Britain is one of repeated inbound migration and invasion/occupation/settlement.

Interestingly, genetic analysis indicates the picture is even more complex than indicated above - while a large fraction of Y-chromosome analysis says heritage from the Germanic areas (this includes the Danelaw vikings, Normans, etc) - mitochnodrial DNA indicates a very heavy preponderance of original paleolighic/mesolithic population DNA from the maternal side.

So, I guess the classic "English" heritage is great^N grandmothers who were mostly Beaker People (or prior) and great^N grandfathers who were mostly Vikings or similar.

 

[cranky108]

1) Actually the medical areas produce more nuclear waste that the power production areas do. So as a solution to power production waste, we just need to look at the medical readioactive waste.
On the other hand, this nuclear resource material can be used for other things. Something like an import pesticide to reduce the transportion of insects on products.

2) Naw. People would be happy if you give them everything, and let them sit at home and watch Football.

3) Do we have any personal privicy now?

4) The eleminition of money will also reduce the number of hold-up's, so what will those crooks do for a living.

5) Get over it, the rest of the world is going for a mixed population, so why not you.

 

[urgross]

If you think the rest of the world is going to a mixed population, you've never heard the beginning of all the West Virgina jokes, or lived in Bavaria. Aunt Mom or Onkel Vati will get a good laugh on that one.

 

[cranky108]

My comment was intended to mean that the mixed races applies to many other places in the world, not just the UK.
West Virgina is a place where only some people want to live. Most people who emigrate want to live in the cities (more jobs in the cities).
Also studies show that for every doubling of the population of a city, the pay rate increases by 15%.

Poor countries also don't pay the unemployed, where the richer countries do, so it's not suprising there is an emigration issue (also wars, religous freedom issues, bad goverments, etc).

Some jobs will and should remain with people. Maybe mainly customer service (some will be automated), sales (some will be automated), and bar tenders.
Some jobs need to be automated, like taxi drivers, and pot hole fillers.

There should be gap in pay between high school grads, and University grads, but in many cases there isen't (maybe some people have worthless university degrees).

 

[urgross]

Cranky,

I get your point entirely. My family emigrated from the UK in the 1880's to live in WV.

Some customer service jobs have always been primarily for and by humans and should continue that way-I am speaking of the oldest profession, of which lawyers and lobbyists are mere subsets of a lower, baser ilk.

As for privacy, people voluntarily place private information, selfies, and in the case of former Congressman Wiener, more unappealing aspects of their existence on the internet for voyeuristic pleasure. I wish people in general had more respect for their own privacy and privates.

Whether a greater gap should exist should also consider the occupation-refer back to "oldest profession". In that instance, being at the high school graduate level may be considered beneficial in comparison to being at the doctorate level. Have you ever heard of Dr. Ruth? Yech!

 

[cranky108]

In reference to the oldest profession, look at the movie West World, to see what might, but unlikely, could be an amusument park. Sort of what you call amusument.

I believe repetive tasks are the most automatable, as those are the ones humans become board with.

Another aspect is with remote mapitulation (sp?) may also replace the number of qualified people required, which we are seeing in medicine.

Also with robotics, it is possible to change products produced, and may require less area needed from very hot equipment, meaning factories may become smaller, and more dispersed.