A BOOK ON THE VALUE OF TRADES

SHOP CLASS AS SOULCRAFT, an inquiry into the value of work
by Mathew B. Crawford

This book is the first non-technical book, that I've enjoyed in a long time. Although it involves a technical theme, it is more about the sociological and personal economic ramifications of the knowledge economy. Very well written, humourous, and insightful, Crawford provides unique insights into the nature of work and attitudes of education and vocational training in our global post modern society.

He writes from both research and personal experience, about how being a college educated knowledge worker often can render you alienated and unemployable. He went from getting a degree in physics and earning a PhD in liberal arts to getting a job in a think tank. He eventually apprentices himself to become a motorcylce repair and vintage bike restorer. The book covers the history of the dumbing of manual work by Taylorism, the virtues of self-reliance and the pedagogical aspects of learning, and the social problems created by our attitudes towards work in the modern world.

I think this book would be of great value for the self-reflecting engineer or yougin' in school now. In particular I saw may arrogance when I graduated. I often said things like, "...just a technician..., or "...but I have a Masters in Electrical Engineering...." Fortunately for me I fell flat on my face, and I got to taste the bitter medicine failure provides. (Ah hubris!)

I'm not suggesting that an engineering degree is useless,quite the contrary. I do believe that the educational system is too far removed from the physicallity of it. Crawford suggest that college students earn progressive experience in some trade at least in the summers. I believe that this would be a great experience for an engineer. How much more quickly trainable would a jr. structural engineer be if they had welding experience? Or an electrical engineer followed an electrician? Or if a mechanical engineer worked with a refrigeration mechanic? Visualization, troubleshooting, dealing with customers, pricing, feasability are all traits common to the trades and to the engineer.

The book also makes the argument, that the trades also provide a certain amount of self-reliance in tough times. As he suggests an antidote to the offshoring of jobs in our globalized economy, "you can't hammer a nail over the internet." How many engineers out of college, or even sr. engineers would have been more self-reliant and better engineers by having some sort of practical skill in addition to engineering? I believe I would be.

I am not suggesting that engineering become unionized or anything like that, but there is a need for practical training of engineers through an apprenticeship/physical training. Not only to train us to be engineers more quickly, but to instill the pride of craftsmanship back into our proffessional ethic. We are allowing corporate culture to turn into anonymous "Dilberts".

Now go buy some tools (and this book)................

 

[JAE]

I think the general idea is OK. But the apprentice concept within the engineering consulting community in the US is already there as far as mentoring.

The key for a young engineer is to find the righ mentors in your first job(s) out of college and also to seek experience in high school and colldge during summer breaks, etc.

I spent my college summers working for and in any engineering environment I could find. I also sought out good companies to work for and evaluated them as mentors to me during my first several years.

The availability of internships, summer jobs, etc CAN be found if the individual seeks it agressively. Maybe not everytime for everyone but if you try you can at least do better than flipping hamburgers at a McDonald's.

 

[desnov74]

Jae~
I too am in the US.

I interned quite a bit, and took my first two years at a community college. I also took a lot of techie courses like drafting, CAD, and the like. I had an internship as well, and I drafted prior.Totally agree with you on their value.

The book doesn't really address engineering specifically. The company I interned for flopped and folded after graduation.('01 recession, I was in electronics.)

I rember a lot of the technical high-schools closing and converting to regular high schools when I was a kid. In the states (and I see the same abroa)we're just coddled. There is a fear of taking things apart for fear of failure. The digital age, while producing wonderful inventions like ENG-TIPS, has dumbed us down by excessively virtualizing truth.

I think the practical experiences of troubleshooting, learning to see in 3-D, learning to document, and getting an intuitive feel of things is missing. Similar arguments have been made for the "loss" of pedagogical need to teach analog electronics.

Plus if you can't get an internship then there are other things to do that are technically meritous and a good learning experience. (ie repairing something, being a technical helper, working construction, etc.) The world is broader than mighty engineers on top and putrid McDonald workers on the bottom.

 

[SomptingGuy]

I did one of those 1-3-1 "sandwich" courses. The company I was sponsored by (Lucas CAV) sent its pre-university students on a 3 month course at a local tech college. Brilliant, like a fast-track apprenticeship. My machining and drafting skills have dwindled, but my appreciation hasn't.

- Steve

 

[GregLocock]

Did the same, in fact my uni required 6 weeks of machining (like EP1) and 6 weeks of drafting, and this is the funny bit, the EEs had to do it!

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIGlease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[oldfieldguy]

Listen to this dinosaur groan...

Back when I was youngster it was normal for many managers to have risen through the ranks to management level positions. They came off the shop floor or the production line or out of the plant to their positions and brought with them decades of real-world knowledge.

When you coupled these guys with engineers with good theoretical education, you ended up with a team that was hard to beat, common-sense experience, practical application, and the latest technology met and synthesized solutions and advances.

These days I just don't think that is the situation very often. When managers are nominal "engineers" with MBA's and no field work but a sharp eye to bean-counting and short range views and the real engineering is sometimes relegated to engineers with little real-world experience, we end up with some horror stories. I'm working through one right now at my job.

If only the engineer who spec'ed out my little building had known what it was like to try to MAINTAIN equipment, he would have given us access panels so my crew wouldn't have to saw out a section of wall to access a bolted bus connection. In this case, the project saved a few thousand dollars on the building, but operations & maintenance will take the hit, and when it's all done, there WILL be that access panels that should have been in there in the first place.

old field guy

 

[xJAyx]

I grew up in a trades based family. My dad beat it into me that most engineers have their heads up their asses, and I took it to heart. He basically told me if I was going to go into engineering I had to do some time in the trades. My old man made me work with him after school. I could weld by the time I was 12, and before that I could wire a basement by myself. My first 2 internships (My EE program had mandatory work experience for 5 4 month terms) were in the trades.
I'm not saying I'm king shit. Far from it. But it gave me a huge appreciation for the tradespeople I work with now, and I even though I am an EE I help the ME's here all the time. I've gotten pretty much every job I've ever had through my ability to work with tradespeople and my ability to work beyond the electrical portion of my job.
Every decent engineer I ever worked with could fix their own cars, electronics, plumbing etc.
That being said I have been caught having too much faith in the tradespeople working for me. I have been burned a couple times because I trusted what an electrician said or didn't review the installation as closely as I should have