Little Surprise That Young Americans Aren't Moving Into Engineering

That younger engineers are more aggressive and more tolerant of risk should come as no surprise (see the "EE Times State of the Engineer Survey," Aug. 21, page 1). An engineer in his 20s or early 30s with no dependents is much more inclined to work long hours for a startup that holds the promise of wealth and prestige than is his 45-year-old counterpart, who is more concerned with a steady paycheck and good medical and retirement benefits. This is simply the natural order of things. What I do find surprising is the seeming epiphany on the part of EE Times editors that young Americans are not choosing engineering as a career. The state of the engineer in the U.S. is, perhaps, best summed up by this joke that has been making the rounds: Q: What's the difference between an engineer and a large pizza? A: A large pizza can feed a family of four. Why would anyone choose a trade as difficult to learn as engineering with little promise of upward mobility? Not only does engineering compete with the traditional professions such as law and medicine, but it is also under pressure from growth industries, such as finance and construction. While there will always be those individuals whose intellectual temperament draws them to engineering, we should not be surprised to find one day that, as a nation, we are unable to solve the hard technical problems. Moreover, as our management class increasingly lacks the grounding in problem solving required of good technical managers, we must look to other countries to manage our large-scale, engineering-driven projects as well. The next Apollo-scale program may well be financed by our country, but the hard work will be done elsewhere. Hugh Shane, Technical Lead ITT Corp., Colorado Springs, Colo.

India article misses points

The article "India's go-getters stand in contrast to U.S. engineers" (Aug. 21, page 18) paints a picture that the survey results do not support. It does not take into account efficiency or the total resource expenditure to get a project done. I have seen projects go from the architecture phase to debugged chip sets, with 20 U.S. engineers involved, in 21 months. I have also seen projects of equal complexity taken on by teams with more than 100 engineers in India and then abandoned after more than three years because no end was in sight. So what does the factor of five in salary buy you? A finished project, done on time, on budget, and a chip set that's nearly flawless. I have yet to see that in India. Axel K. Kloth Founder and CTO Parimics Inc. Mountain View, Calif.

The future of offshore design

Having a lot of experience with offshore design, I predict the following:
1. Offshore design centers will mess up some designs initially. Good design work doesn't depend so much on getting a bunch of smart young graduates as it does on experience and avoiding the mistakes of the past. 2. Offshore engineers will learn and improve. It probably takes 10 years to get a design team's experience level to the point where it can be trusted with key designs, provided you can retain at least half of the team. 3. At that point, expenses and turnover will be on a par with those in the USA. Any pay advantage will be offset by travel expenses and inefficient communication across time zones. 4. Intellectual-property protection will not be a concern of the offshore government. 5. U.S. corporations with offshore R&D and manufacturing will become hollow marketing entities. 6. Engineering in the United States will go back to primarily government work and boutique, low-volume manufacturing for specialty markets. 7. Fewer U.S. high school grads will study engineering. 8. Engineers will quietly let this happen. Unlike lawyers, corporations, farmers, teachers, nurses or plumbers, we seem to be incapable of lobbying or organizing in our own group interest. These trends can all be spotted in the pages of EE Times by any reader astute enough to put the data and comments together. Ben Roberts Consultant Sunnyvale, Calif.