Perception or view of an engineer or engineering industry 9

[arunmrao]

A Merry Xmas to all!!.

I have a few points for you to ponder and for you to offer your views. Not all may be applicable to you in US or other developed countries.

Manufacturing or engineering industry was once held in high esteem by the society. It was a pride to be a part of this fraternity . No incentive or persuasion was needed to attract the young.It was then that I joined engineering program.(Nearly 32 years ago!!)

In India today with the onslaught of software companies and call centres(BPOs) the perception of engineer or manufacturing industry has changed.

Relatively lower entry barriers alongwith excess extravaganzas have seized the incentives from an engineer.

Everyone is in a hurry to make fast money every which way possible.

The government,banks or industry associations are no longer receptive to our needs. We are considered the bottlenecks in growth or at the best an unavoidable necessity which can be ignored.

I see huge buildings all around(sign of prosperity!!) gobbling up hundreds of young men and women into their stream. While we are the tiny obscure ones who continue to remain the same(Lucky!! I should say) or entirely vanish .They kind of look down at you condescendingly and say you are still there!,Look at us.

We keep the wheels of society moving silently and stoically but go unrecognised. It is like a disposable commodity.

Will the wheels of fortune ever change for an engineer? I am an optimist and I have got my son joined for a mechanical engineering program, though he is not inclined to continue my business of manufacturing castings

 

[quark]

I don't know which part of India you guys are talking about, but in Andhra there are infinite number of engineers coming out of colleges every year.

The main problems with engineering companies are job insecurity and monotony. For example, hundreds of ancillary units were shutdown in Pune during TISCO fiasco and many people were jobless. The average salaries are poor when compared to other industries.

We need not worry about these things because there is always a balancing act, in my opinion.

What, actually, I couldn't understand is that why a person should be respected with respect to his profession. There is brilliance in every profession.

Perhaps I didn't get the idea properly.

I wish us all A Happy and Prosperous New Year

 

[ScottyUK]

[blue]"Imagine a society without engineering!! No cement plants, steel mills, paper industries, chemical plants power stations etc.

If everyone gets into the services sector my fear is that in 10 years all the above industries will become museums. We may revisit dark ages."[/blue]

Visit England sometime. See it for real.



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If we learn from our mistakes,
I'm getting a great education!

 

[sms]

Ok, seems that engineering as a desirable career is on the way out in India. Does that mean that all the doom an gloomers here can breath a sigh of relief and stop posting complaints about off shoring? Sounds like our jobs are safe after all!

 

[makeup]

No I dont think your doom and gloom will just stop, not until you give true engineers the recognition they deserve. Stop treating us like an expendable commodity and we will conform. No more is asked.

 

[EddyC]

makeup,

These days everyone's expendable. Doctor, lawyer, accountant, factory worker, the homeless, the soldiers in Iraq, all the way up to the President. I don't like it either, but its reality.

Most of the people who have treated me like I was an expendable commodity are fellow engineers or scientists. At least the clients/customers can claim ignorance of what I do and therefore have some excuse.

Like Rodney Dangerfield says "I don't get no respect".

 

[arunmrao]

EddyC
This mindset of being considered a disposable commodity needs to be changed or altered. The soldiers in Iraq is a very good example.

I think the beginning should be from the politicians. In their greed to remain in office they do not mind sacrificing fellow politicians, bureaucrats, or in extreme conditions the safety and security of country too!!

 

[BigH]

arumrao, et. al.: Engineering in India - interesting. A few observations (more civil oriented, perhaps).
1. Good graduates of IITs in Civil Engineering are not even doing civil engineering as profession. Come out of IIT (say at KGP) and go directly for software companies.
2. Engineers in India do not really seem to be regulated - no licensing, etc. There are no "chartered" or "professional" engineers, per se. This may change; I heard that it will soon be required - but is that real time or India time?
3. On what basis is an engineer an engineer? I have seen many in the construction industry here who are "engineers" but what I see is absolutely no knowledge of engineering. Lacking of basics in their fields. I have seen one who was once a lecturer in materials "somewhere" who, in my view, doesn't even know what civil engineering materials is.
4. I see engineers with high sounding titles who still do field inspections.
5. Lack of common engineering sense. A case in point is a sign for truck lay bye (IRC:67-1977, Figure 15.8) with the arrow pointing up to the right. Being a left hand drive country, the arrow should be pointing to the left - the shoulder, not the median. No change in the sign when used in practice. Why? Most likely scenario is that this is the "standard" and one doesn't change a "standard" - even though it is wrong. Likely it is being scared of the auditors - better to build it according to the spec and drawgins even if wrong because it protects you from the auditors.

After all above is said and done, I have seen some remarkable civil engineers here in India - many with a great vision and you can tell how well grounded they were in the basics from years ago. But are the engineers coming out now in the plethora of newly formed engineering institutes of higher learning with suspect staff knowledge really equipped anymore? Have to give that serious thought. And, the above observations are not only based on Indian experience but I have seen it in several other countries as well.
to all for a great 2005. Sa-wut dee bpee mai krup!