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Why do engineers encourage people to become engineers 10

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owg

owg

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Sep 2, 2001
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If supply and demand is a major determinant of salary levels, why are engineers so keen to encourage people to become engineers? I also notice that engineers are keen to encourage under represented groups to become engineers. Are we really so altruistic?

HAZOP at
 
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Thanks for the link Twoballcane. I note that the link states that short supply is driving salaries up, yet you would encourage kids into engineering and so increase supply and drive salaries down - a very altruistic point of view.

HAZOP at
 
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LOL well bio/chem and poly sci may be easier, but to get real money, you have to go the rest of the distance of med school or law school and then take the board or bar, this is not an easy as it seems and this is defiantly harder and more money than going for your PE. I guess my point is yes doctors and lawyers make a lot of money, but in a way they deserve it because they took on 4 to 8 more years after their bachelors to accomplish their goal. If I had the time and money (and smarts!), I would have like to take a crack at it. Maybe once my kids get thru college and there is some left over money in the 529 plan (LOL) maybe I would try paten law. However, in any case, a bachelor in engineering will make more money than a bachelor in (put major here other than engineering).



Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
 
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Don't worry, that is why we have weeding out classes like math and physics. During my college time, I have seen maybe half of student switch majors after these classes. The saying comes to mind from the professor “Look to your left and look to your right, by the end of the semester they wont be there!”. When I was a freshmen, I started with three other good friends, by graduation, I was the only one who graduated with my BE (Bachelors of Engineering) in ME.

Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
 
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True story...

My father passed away in 1999. He had had the same lawyer for his affairs for thirty years.

When I phoned his lawyer's office, as executor of the estate, to see if they maintained the most recent original notarized copy of his Last Will And Testament, they called me back an hour later and said:

"Our secretary looked in the file cabinet. No, we don't."

Then they sent me a bill for $200.00.

Yes, apparently with lawyers, it *must be* ALL about the billing, because not even the most bitter engineer I know could find it within himself or herself to do that.

Regards,

SNORGY.
 
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SNORGY, I do not think you will be fired for doing things right! Or, if you do, you'll be better off. Most engineers get these same pressures from management. Our duty as engineers is not to cave! We always have to walk a fine line between being too conservative and not conservative enough. To me, that's what makes this job fun. It takes time, but eventually management realizes that they need things done right too. If for no other reason, causing people to die can get really expensive.
 
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I tried to show my daughter all of her possible career opportunities. She had her own plans in mind and has chosen to major in Marine Systems Engineering at the United State Merchant Marine Academy. In her second year there she spent 122 days on a cargo ship working in the engine room and sailing around the world. Participation in overhaul and maintenance of a ship's many systems sure beats sitting at a desk looking at drawings of equipment and piping systems (my job).
 
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Hi
I am living in Germany and germany is a country of engineering. They have a really well known reputation all over the world. However, now they want to import engineers/engineering students because the students living in germany, they either do not choose engineering or they are quite bad when compared to the previous students(who are now engineers).
I am an engineer, but I would never suggest someone to be engineer. At the end of the day, what you get is a little bit of satisfaction due to your work and some money. Obviously that was not the things that I was looking for.

Best Regards,
Sartor
 
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You need to stand up for yourself. The satisfaction doesn't come from the irrelevant 'job' itself, it comes from doing what you love to do everyday.

[peace]
Fe
 
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chris9, dunno if that makes me want to laugh or cry, but I agree with you.

What he means by "skills shortage" is that the guy he wants to hire isn't already on layoff notice, ready to be recalled at no cost. Forget about hiring and training people- that's for suckers! Can't blame him, though- 20 years of successive recessions taught him well. The governments and universities are only too happy to pour on more supply to "solve" it for him...
 
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I have never encouraged anyone to get into the engineering field, and never will. As professionals with many degrees and accolades most of us are at the mercy of our employers and the economy. As adults we get in "trouble" if we're not at work on time. Come on! Most of us are struggling to keep jobs coming in or working at all these days. Go to school, get good grades, get a "career", they said. Were they ever wrong. You end up having to work by the time you retire, because you just don't have enough benefits. This country was economically founded on freedom and entrepreneurship, not job enslavement
. Time to turn the tide. Do your job very well while you have it, but get into your own business (not engineering, but commodities based) on the side, to survive and thrive. I'm teaching my kids and others I know, to be entrepreneurs. I've never been more glad.
 
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