OT Engineers / Scientists, How many are out there Options

[914nerd]

Well, how many of you are there lurking out here on the world?
If you are one, what field, what do you actually do, and how do you like what you do?

This is prompted by a conversation that I had earlier today questioning the future of technical fields in this country.
What do you people think about the fact that science (arguably one of the most important aspects of modern life) is being shunned and, in many ways, is beginning to fall apart?

[jk76.914]

OK. I'll go next...

B.S. Aeronautics and Astronautics- MIT
M.Eng in Manufacturing- Boston University

25 years experience in manufacturing engineering, NPI, quality, and ops management at Northrop, Apollo Computer, HP, Celestica.... plus a handful of startups.

I'm now working in a Federally Funded Research and Development Laboratory, where we have the smartest, most talented group of engineers and machinists I can imagine. We build things that bolt to airplanes and get shot into space.

We're not dull. We're not socially challenged. We're regular family guys and gals who want the same thing out of life that the non-engineers want- finacial security, healthy kids, and a chance for those kids to have it at least 1% better than we do. Plus an occasional cold beer. (beer for us, NOT the kids!)

As for Jake, I get annoyed with the condescending comments he makes about engineers. Apparently, he was burned by one somewhere along the way. I for one happen to think that Jake IS an engineer. A damn good one too. Not the one he sterotypes, but the kind I know and am proud to work with.

I have to go now, the kitchen faucet is leaking, and I must fix it. And I'm not even at my own home. It's quite a burden, you know, being an engineer.

[swl]

Apollo Computer

Long time since I heard that name! They were leading edge hardware back in the day.

Since soap boxes are the order of the day...

Science and engineering is not dead. There is a great crop of young adults coming out of our universities who still have the desire and drive to learn for the sake of learning. God love 'em!

But yes we (Canada as well) are being overtaken by offshore people. We are actually quite fortunate that their best and brightest choose to come here in search of the good life. Only can help our gene pool.

So why do we appear to be falling behind? Others have said it - it is how are kids are growing up. Start at home - are parents challenging our pre-schoolers to be curious about the world around them and how things work?

Then we get to school. Our curriculum has great ideas but who is delivering it? Look at the ratio of BAs to BScs in our teacher cadre. Not that I have anything against the arts but they don't have the passion for the sciences required to ignite the next generation. The oportunites for science minded people have been too great over the last generation(s) for them to dedicate themselves to lower paying teaching jobs. There is hope on this horizon as high bandwidth to schools allow for working scientists and engineers to share their passion for learning with students through video conferencing and such.

And finally - and I'll get my butt kicked for this - kids are not as driven as they were a generation ago (my dad probably uttered the same words). They are not as materialistic as we were. The work required to get their Engineering degree is just not appealing to many of them. Thank goodness this is not true of all of them and we still have people like 914Nerd to take up the challenge.