As some of us know, graduates from a college often come out not knowing what they were in college to learn. They enter into employment and spend years doing non-engineering work. I have seen and I'm sure others have also seen situations where a "technician" could come up with a design or solution to a problem without the assistance of an engineer. In some situations, an engineer would be assigned to find a solution only to have the technician already has the problem solved. Not only that, when the numbers were crunched, the engineer's solution would agree completely with that of the tech, despite the lack of "engineering knowledge" by the tech. So now I'm wondering, after 50+ years in the shipbuilding field, what are the colleges teaching and what is expected from a graduate these days?
Going back to the start of the industrial revolution, any person involved in an engineering career, had to know so much more and serve an apprenticeship to earn the title of engineer. Just look at some of the technical textbooks (Audel or ICS for example) of the day and know how much you had to know. Back then, an engineer earned the title. That doesn't seem to be the case today. An engineer who designed locomotives also knew how to actually build one. In other words, it was a hands on learning experience.
When I went to school over 60 years ago, I had to study subjects that are no longer taught. My curriculum in mechanical engineering included, drafting, pattern making, foundry, material testing, machining along with physics, electrical, math and a few other "liberal arts" courses. That bag of courses prepared me well for anything technology could toss at me. It served me well and allowed me to keep abreast of new technologies, (example: I learned Autocad© at 70). When I read some of the questions asked by "wanabe" engineers, I can only conclude that they are not learning much to prepare them for a responsible job.
Today at 82, I still retain most of what I was taught. I still design using Autocad© and operate machine tools, building large scale locomotives in my home shop. I know there is still a large pool of well educated people in this country, but more and more of them appear to come from other countries. Young Americans don't appear to want to go into engineering professions much, opting for professions that generate more money, like banking, stocks, politics; in other words, they don't want to get their hands dirty.
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