Engineering Job Issues: i.e. off-shoring, ageism, etc. (NOT A TROLL THREAD!!!)

[IndianPwnerDude]

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First off, we all know off-shoring is real. I for one have no problem with it, as a staunch believe in economic freedom. But I don’t really want to talk about the economics or politics of it, but what it means for the average engineering grad.

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<p>What it means for the average engineering grad is that the competition has grown in size. A graduating engineer in certain offshoring-prone fields (Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and more recently other fields) will have to compete against other engineering grads, experienced engineers and people offshore. The offshore people have the advantage that they are willing to work for cheaper since they have much smaller college loans and lower costs of living.</p>

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For example, it’s darn hard to get hard data on what types of jobs are being done by cheaper labor abroad, and what jobs are staying here. Something else that’s hard to get data on are the employment prospects for Americans engineers in overseas countries. Are there good prospects in South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Ireland, Germany, etc.? Most Americans are familiar with the concept of foreigners coming to America to work, but I find most Americans find the idea of working and living in another country for an extended period (or forever) icky.

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<p>Labor costs in South Korea, Singapore, Germany and Ireland are almost as high as they are in the United States so surely we are not alone in having to worry about offshoring. But to be blunt and honest, the American government is highly swayed by corporate interestsis and doesn’t do very much to protect jobs here.</p>

<p>Jobs that are tied to a physical location (such as a nuclear plant or a wind farm) are not as easily offshored as other jobs. It’s just every individual must operate like a business, showing that they are able to deliver value that others cant and justify why they are worth more to the company than others abroad. </p>

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So what does an engineering major have to fear? What about computer engineering? Should a computer engineering major expect to just get a job as a programmer? Should he expect to live abroad? Are actual “computer engineer” jobs (IC design and the like) out there, in this country?

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<p>Yes there are actual computer engineering jobs out here. Intel, AMD, IBM, HP, NVIDIA, and many others still have large offices here. In fact, programming jobs are easier to offshore than IC design jobs though both are candidates for offshoring. And not all programming jobs are equal so one doesn’t necessarily have to worry about being “stuck” with programming. But India, Taiwan, and China are emerging players in CompE.</p>

<p>Defense-related jobs are also very difficult to offshore. MIT Lincoln Labs, Raytheon, General Dynamics and others have many CompE jobs that they won’t offshore.</p>

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A recruiter was on the board a few months ago and talking about how hard a time they have finding qualified engineering applicants, I asked them to elaborate, given that there are unemployed engineers or engineers working in grunt jobs they are overqualified for, etc. No reply.

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<p>It is an employer’s market right now. They can set the qualifications as high as they want and if they are willing to wait long enough, they can get an employee who has those qualifications. Some (but not many) jobs actually require these qualificaitons.</p>

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<p>OK I will leave the rest of the questions to others.</p>