When I left university 15 years ago there was a high number of the home students went in to accountancy, law and programming. They used engineering as a stepping stone and like many other have said never wanted to be an engineer. That side of it doesn't really concern me too much.
I find it more concerning that many young graduates are simply chasing the money so move over in to trading and banking after a couple of years as it's easier to make lots of money sooner. I've also noticed that good engineers with 5-10 years experience often move over to projects then head down the project management route.
Perhaps I'm just lucky but I've got a part time engineering job that perfectly suits me at the moment. It takes flexibility on both sides to achieve this not just the employer. If I'd gone down the management or projects route I couldn't have the working pattern that I have now and I don't think I would enjoy my job as much. I'd have earned more moeny though and had a higher status.
Anyway being upbeat about it all - I firmly believe that real engineering is due a monumental renaissance, for the following reasons.
Whether we like it or not, oil, gas and coal are all running out, and for us in the UK, running out a lot faster than people give it credit for. I heard 2020 for North Sea gas no longer being commercially viable. There is just 40 years supply of commercially available oil left in Saudi. No doubt a few advances in technology and deeper drilling/better processing will increase these numbers, but they aren’t going to change THAT much. This is irrespective of any climate change requirement, that’s a topic for another day. Of course in Europe we could all just let Russia provide our oil and gas, but for how long and what cost?
This means that new technology for energy extraction (?) is required all the time, across all fields, hydro, tidal, wind, wave, solar, nuclear and anything else you care to put on the list. This means a MASSIVE investment in engineering of one kind or another.
The demise of oil means a complete change in the way we live our lives. Take for example how the food chain works for most of us today. The demand for food is only going one way, population growth sees to that. Ergo - The farmer is required to grow food.
• He orders the grain from his PC = electrical energy,
• The grain is delivered = diesel = oil
• He plants the grain with his tractor = diesel = oil
• He uses herbicides/pesticides – oil is the feed stock
• The food is dug up = diesel = oil
• It is packaged = plastics = oil
• It is transported to a warehouse = diesel = oil
• It is kept in a chilled environment = electrical energy
• Transported to the supermarket = diesel = oil
• Maintained at the supermarket, and lit etc... = electrical energy
• We go and buy it = diesel = oil
• Its bought home and put in a container = plastics = oil
• It’s stored in the refrigerator = electrical energy
• The fridge is made from plastics, and covered in paint = plastics = oil
• And people have to be transported, clothed, fed and watered and lit to enable all of the above = even more oil.
You can keep adding on more and more lines to this chain of events, waste handling, recycling packaging, even sewage processing!
Now take oil away from the above, and ask yourself who is going to create a way to make this happen in the future. It’s not going to be some numpty sat in a bank, that’s for sure. I can assure you, the creative problem solvers (in the main = us!!) are going to be very, very busy.
hoyle - Don't count on (or worry about) population growth. Now that the only child has been shown not to be a bad thing, (Time July 19, 2010), Europe and Japan are worried about declining population and the US is likely just a few decades behind.
don't forget the stuffed wallets (political influence) of the big oil company's.
When production goes down, prices will go up (as demant is still there, like you elaborately pointed out). So why would this be a bad thing for the big oil guy's? and why would they not lobbying against alternatives i ask?
These "energy things" are not that simply i believe.
