Three steps to a well-engineered heaven
25 August 2009
Is the engineering sector in decline in the UK? Not in my opinion, but there are actions we can take to ensure it regains its position at the top of desirable careers.
I was delighted to attend NIWeek conference in Austin, Texas, this year and was inspired by Jeff Kodosky, co-founder of National Instruments, who gave a keynote speech. He concluded with a three-point plan.
The first was to take an active part in developing the next generation of engineers.
The second was to promote engineering at a political level.
And the third was to carry on pushing the boundaries of engineering through innovation.
To take these in reverse order I think we can assume that innovate is what electronics design engineers in the UK do. It is what engineers need to do to survive – those who don’t will be overtaken and left behind and there is no room for ‘also-rans’ anymore. Most of the Western World has identified clever design as the way forward as the years of collective experience does still give us an edge. But every year there are in the region of 340,000 engineers graduating in China – that is more than the total number of engineers in the UK, so there is no longer space in this country for people who are satisfied with routine design – that role will ultimately fall to people far away who have cheap manufacturing on their doorstep. So we can assume, in the UK, that innovative design is important.
Banging the political drum is also important, but most of us are not political animals. It is true that the solutions to the world’s great problems (global warming, disease, poverty, energy supply, use of natural resources etc) are not going to be solved by politicians or economists – they are going to be solved by engineers and scientists. Equally it is only engineers that actually make anything and therefore generate wealth for a country. While politicians have an unshakeable belief in their own importance, it is only their individual, fleeting influence that bears any relevance, and that influence has got to be used to underpin the technological world through investment and education. So even without organising political rallies every week, perhaps it is up to us, once in while, to make our voices heard. We are all part of the UK community and politicians are there to represent us, so why not let our MPs know what we think about what is really important? If you think, as I do, that investment in the technology sector would both create jobs and improve our trade deficit in the medium term, and give us the opportunity to solve humanities’ problems in the long term, then maybe you should write to your MP and let them know your thoughts.
The first element of Kodosky’s plan was to play a part in encouraging the next generation. I will not go on again about the pitiful role of engineering in the national curriculum again, partly because it is something that I will come back to in a few weeks’ time when the new academic year starts, and partly because this is not so much about criticism of our education system, but more about how we can contribute as individuals. All of us in the electronics industry have various skills, enthusiasms and passions that we can share – but very few of us do. If a school was offered the opportunity of having an experienced engineer come in to help with project work, make a boxcar, build robots (participate in the First Lego League, for example), or even just demonstrate how their company is developing equipment to help medicine, communications, entertainment and so on, that school would be offering a richer and more relevant education to its pupils. If a company was to release employees for a day a month perhaps to do this sort of work then it does not need to be pure altruism. National Instruments makes no bones about the fact that the work it does with schools and universities has a benefit when it is looking to recruit in the future or indeed just growing its customer base. But that doesn’t detract from the fact that it also helps attract young people into the engineering and scientific world and encourages them to stay there. Perhaps there is something all of us could do, even at the most local level, to play a part in the overall promotion of our industry and share the skills, enthusiasm and knowledge with the next generation.
I'll go back to my intro to this article - this was part of an action plan. We all know, especially in these difficult times, we are expected to do more in less time, sometimes with fewer resources, but does that give us a viable reason for not acting on any of the above? In some cases it will. In most cases it won't.
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