Skills Engineering Graduates Need
Last week I participated in an Industry Advisory Committee Meeting at a local university. It was my first time being a part of the group, and I found it quite enlightening.
I often think that since my career path has been dominated by sales, marketing, and management, I have an unusual perspective on what engineers need to know when they leave school. My professors would tell you that I was not the best student—practical, but not a “scholar.” This may have had as much to do with working 20-30 hours per week while going to college—and, darn-it, having fun too! Probably too much fun, but that would be a whole other subject!
As I joined this meeting with other engineers from Boeing, Northrup Grumman, Texas Instruments, and a city agency, I realized that what I thought were must-have skills for graduating engineers were not all that different from the opinions held by the group.
First and foremost, engineers must be able to communicate. This not only means written and verbal skills, but the ability to use the electronic tools we now have like web-ex and Microsoft Meeting. Engineers must be able to communicate, not only with each other, but also the financial and business-minds that have the decision making authority at companies they work for. The CFO of an organization does not need to know how a formula was derived and used to draw a conclusion. They will just want to know the final result(s) and the logic or analysis for the technical opinion. Most importantly, the CFO will want to know the economics of a decision. One of my counterparts said it best, “I can teach new-hires the technology they need to know to be successful in our organization. It is much more difficult to teach them the art of communication. When I see a resume or have an interview with a candidate that obviously is not comfortable with written or spoken language, I know that means more work for me to mentor them towards success.”
The group also agreed that the ability to problem solve (not complex trigonometric polynomials, but simple mechanical or process problems) was imperative. This subject came up after a tour of the university labs. The university professors were concerned that their labs might be missing key equipment and technology that the graduates would need to know. It was pointed out that having dated equipment could actually be used to teach the students very real-world problem solving. What technologies could enhance the experiment? What new equipment exists that would improve the performance of their lab problem and what would be the return on investment if the equipment were purchased? These are the types of duties young engineers will have when they enter the workforce. Few companies have the latest and greatest technology. Not when technology is changing as rapidly as it does today! Young engineers will be asked to determine the right technology and at what cost it makes sense. Rarely does this require the ability to perform a La Place transform.
Understanding the math, chemistry, and physics that underlie all that engineers do is important and must be learned; however, being able to communicate and apply critical thinking will take them so much further. The challenge academia has is how to produce engineers with these skills. They are not skills that can be taught in one 3-4 month course; they are skills that need to be intertwined with every class engineers take during their entire scholastic experience.
I often think that since my career path has been dominated by sales, marketing, and management, I have an unusual perspective on what engineers need to know when they leave school. My professors would tell you that I was not the best student—practical, but not a “scholar.” This may have had as much to do with working 20-30 hours per week while going to college—and, darn-it, having fun too! Probably too much fun, but that would be a whole other subject!
As I joined this meeting with other engineers from Boeing, Northrup Grumman, Texas Instruments, and a city agency, I realized that what I thought were must-have skills for graduating engineers were not all that different from the opinions held by the group.
First and foremost, engineers must be able to communicate. This not only means written and verbal skills, but the ability to use the electronic tools we now have like web-ex and Microsoft Meeting. Engineers must be able to communicate, not only with each other, but also the financial and business-minds that have the decision making authority at companies they work for. The CFO of an organization does not need to know how a formula was derived and used to draw a conclusion. They will just want to know the final result(s) and the logic or analysis for the technical opinion. Most importantly, the CFO will want to know the economics of a decision. One of my counterparts said it best, “I can teach new-hires the technology they need to know to be successful in our organization. It is much more difficult to teach them the art of communication. When I see a resume or have an interview with a candidate that obviously is not comfortable with written or spoken language, I know that means more work for me to mentor them towards success.”
The group also agreed that the ability to problem solve (not complex trigonometric polynomials, but simple mechanical or process problems) was imperative. This subject came up after a tour of the university labs. The university professors were concerned that their labs might be missing key equipment and technology that the graduates would need to know. It was pointed out that having dated equipment could actually be used to teach the students very real-world problem solving. What technologies could enhance the experiment? What new equipment exists that would improve the performance of their lab problem and what would be the return on investment if the equipment were purchased? These are the types of duties young engineers will have when they enter the workforce. Few companies have the latest and greatest technology. Not when technology is changing as rapidly as it does today! Young engineers will be asked to determine the right technology and at what cost it makes sense. Rarely does this require the ability to perform a La Place transform.
Understanding the math, chemistry, and physics that underlie all that engineers do is important and must be learned; however, being able to communicate and apply critical thinking will take them so much further. The challenge academia has is how to produce engineers with these skills. They are not skills that can be taught in one 3-4 month course; they are skills that need to be intertwined with every class engineers take during their entire scholastic experience.
posted by ISA at
6:28 AM
2 Comments:
I am optimistic about the future of engineering and the adaptability, quickness to learn, and innovativeness of young engineering graduates.
This generation of engineers has more software knowledge and exposure to technology and innovation than the engineers of 40 years ago.
Here at MYNAH Technologies, in developing 3rd generation MiMiC process simulation software for industrial plants to stay competitive and productive, some of our young engineers and developers have made some incredible contributions. We have a couple of the world's leading simulation experts and industrial data communications experts on staff who are great resources and who lead and manage this team well, but the efficiency, speed, innovativeness, and speed at learning new technologies is phenomenal.
My much younger brother, Travis Covington, is another example. A recent graduate of Cal Poly at Pomona, his creativity and design abilities as a manufacturing/design engineer are mind boggling. He has several years of experience designing and building robots for competitive teams and NASA alike, winning awards and competitions for his innovations. I am about 15 years older, but feel as though I would never be able to catch up to his level of technical expertise and his quick ability to learn and understand new technologies.
I am not worries about the "Skills Gap" or any deficiency in this generation X of engineers. I have seen some of the work they can do.
Jason Covington
Communications Manager
MYNAH Technologies
www.mynah.com
I completely agree with you on the skills that today's engineers need to have, to succeed! And all these skills are gained & sharpened by diligent pratice and continuous adaptability to changing business scenarios.
While the technical skills are taught at college,focus on soft skills such as learnability, communication skills, adaptability etc. will go a long way in building great engineers! And with such talent everywhere, the automation trade shall flourish!
Thanks for reaffirming all of these in your post!
Nishanth N
FICHTNER India
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