Engineer Surplus American Engineers Must Fight for Survival
Engineering can and should be one of the finest, most interesting and
challenging careers to pursue. However, when one looks at the Engineer and STEM
Supply/Demand Ratio and the level of work demanded of them it is easy to see a
large surplus exists.
Pitfalls: One of the significant problems facing engineers is Under-Utilization.1
If an engineer spends ten percent of his or her time doing engineering and the
rest of their time doing support or non-engineering work they will, over a ten
year period, accrue only one year of engineering experience. This is a big step
towards career destruction. One has to recognize this early on with their first
job. Doing the same work repeatedly, year after year does not qualify as years
of experience. When a job makes little use of your education and skills you
should be looking elsewhere. With each job, you should be increasing your
experience, knowledge and worth.
Another important point: Corporations\92 Human Resource people are looking for new
employees with experience. They want you to have done, in the past, what they
expect you to be doing in their present or future. Don\92t buy into the academic
\93take this course and you will get a job\94. Educators can guarantee nothing.
They can\92t even guarantee a quality education.
Due to a surplus - and there is a surplus - an engineer can be washed out at thirty
five to forty years of age. At one time, many thought this to be \93Age
Discrimination\94; in reality, it was just \93Salary Discrimination\94. Bean Counters
give little consideration to the advantages of having senior engineers cultured
by years of experience on their staff. To them, the dollar is more important.
Another
path towards career destruction is the lack of professionalism and attention to
the forces that are antagonistic to the Engineering career. By professionalism,
I refer to the pride of being an engineer, the integrity, ethical behavior and
satisfaction of solving problems and doing a good job. I am also proud to have
had the satisfaction of working with so many other engineers, manufacturing, and
support people. They were the people who made my life as an engineer such a
pleasure and so rewarding. You should all enjoy the same pleasures. This is
all very good, but job opportunity is also very important. One cannot have
this with an Engineer (STEM) surplus.
Major forces that are antagonistic to the Engineering and STEM Professions are the
government (NSF), the College Empire and Corporate America. These three and the
pseudo-professional engineering societies driven by academia and the corporate
managers have removed the engineers\92 interests from the table. They strive to
increase degree production and maintain a high Supply/Demand Ratio (SDR). They
[IEEE as one example] supported NSF through their lies and fabrications about
Engineer Shortages2.
The legislative efforts of these groups have done nothing to oppose importing
foreign workers, and nothing to increase U.S. manufacturing jobs and
opportunities for American Engineers3. They support maintaining a high SDR.
Incoming foreign Engineers will face the same hardships5.
Legislation has been contrary to your best interests and will not change until
we can influence legislators and our Representatives by having the Engineers,
numbers and finance to back our position.
NOTE: The fight starts here4. AEA needs your support
and you need AEA.
1. Utilization of Engineers:
http://www.aea.org/pdf/aea_position_utilization.pdf
2. National Science Foundation:
http://www.aea.org/nsf.htm
3. Benefits:
http://www.aea.org/benefits1.htm
4. Membership:
http://www.aea.org/membership.htm
5. Today\92s Immigrant - Tomorrow\92s Victim:
http://www.aea.org/documents/tax/todays_immigrant.pdf
We are always in a building stage: AEA needs new members, participating members, and
volunteers to fill AEA BoD positions and for financial support.
You can go to http://www.aea.org/membership.htm
to qualify for membership. Your support today will continue through 2011 and you can receive an AEA email address.
More about benefits are found under \93About AEA\94.
HELP WANTED
AEA needs volunteers to fill BOD positions. See AEA Organization under \93About AEA.\94
A minimum of 10 years of engineering industry experience will be helpful. Previous leadership experience
in other organizations will also be an asset. Engineers from all Engineering Disciplines are needed.
Chapter Officers are required for locations at major industrial areas to organize meetings. Meetings are
usually held in a local Public Library. This provides an opportunity to interface with many engineers to
network, build membership and support AEA goals. More about goals at:
http://www.aea.org/aboutAEA.htm
ENGINEERS NEEDED
AEA needs 100,000 Members to fund an office in Washington DC and reach their Representatives. The office
and staff will maintain AEA records and support lobbying efforts. Members will present our concerns to
their Congressional Representatives. We need to make an impression. We also need a Spokesperson for AEA.
Someone similar to what actor Charlton Heston did for the NRA.
Focus will be on Engineering employment, opportunities and a future for our members. We support the employment
of American Engineers first and deplore the Engineer Shortage Propaganda disseminated by the U.S. Government,
College Empire and Corporate America.
http://www.aea.org/pdf/AEA_POSITION_Workforce.pdf
All can help by posting and circulating:
http://www.aea.org/aeaGlancePrint.pdf
People fall into three groups,
Those who make things happen,
Those who watch things happen,
and
Those who don\92t know what\92s happening.
Please
Make something happen.
Direct your associates to www.aea.org
The AEA - A Voice For Engineers
The American Engineering Association Inc. (AEA) is dedicated to the enhancement
of the engineering profession and U.S. Engineering Capabilities. AEA is a
strong advocate for providing opportunities for US engineers and is involved in
issues of utilization, skill enhancement, loss of
jobs, offshore manufacturing, layoffs, and many others that affect the lives and professional welfare of
our engineers. For membership information see;
http://www.aea.org/membership.htm