Nickname: JonnyA42

Review: I agree with the person who said parents might not understand what engineering is. I know I didn't when I went to college. Knowing what I know now, I probably would have persued that career, but instead I am teaching physics at the secondary level where I can encourage students to go into engineer by making sure they know exactly what it entails.

Date reviewed: Nov 6, 2007 10:33 PM

Nickname: Ceris

Review: I worked as an IC design engineer for 15 years then went to law school. I enjoyed engineering school, but found working 60+ hours a week for 40 hours of pay not to be worth it. Law is a lot more stimulating and rewarding.

Date reviewed: May 25, 2007 6:22 AM

Nickname: Patrick

Review: Those who say its not cool to be engineer in the U.S. are wrong. As an engineer, I can tell you it's definitely cool to be an engineer, and U.S. society promotes this view. Look at the amount of science fiction we have here, "Star Trek," etc. You don't think it's cool to be Steve Jobs or Bill Gates? Do you think society looks down on these people? Think again. What its not cool to be is an engineer tht does mundane tasks. A "cool" engineer in the U.S. is expected to be creative, business-savvy, and visionary. In India a cool engineer is one who works in tech support, and a really cool one does database programming. Which country do you think is in better shape?

Date reviewed: Feb 28, 2007 3:32 PM

Nickname: EE

Review: I don't think it's entirely the parent's fault that students don't like engineering. In fact, most parents might not have a clue what engineering is, and if they did, might consider encouraging their kids to be become engineers. I don't think the majority of parents are like it's dorky, don't do it, even though you can make a good salary upon completing only four years of college (lawyers and doctors are 6 years). If the parents knew those fact, I'm sure they'd encourage their kids. Kids don't know what engineering is, not that they think it's dorky. Kids just don't have a clue. I've been to 10 classroom to talk about engineering, and usually only 1 or 2 in the class know what engineering is. After I'm done speaking to the kids, they don't think it's dorky at all. It's easy to blame the parents, or teachers, or peers, or even culture/society, but instead placing blame about why kids don't even know what engineering is or think it's "dorky," be proactive and educate them.

Date reviewed: Nov 7, 2006 12:06 AM

Nickname: MrFixit

Review: Great article and I agree with "Give me a break" to a certain extent. He's right about the "cool factor" But that is directly all the parents' fault. Along with most of the problems in this country, the parents seem to be reliving high school through their kids. They want to be cool and want their kids to be cool, too. The problem that arises is a student who is not prepared for the real world. The real world tells them a different story. That having money is cool. Having money will get you that nice home and the hot wife. But alas, we haven't instilled the connection in our kids because we didn't think engineering or whatever wasn't cool. Guess what? My kid was a jock, popular, and all the things that cool is. He's also entering his senior year in college as an engineering major with a cummlative 3.8 GPA, and he's still a jock and still cool. You other parents screwed up again. Maybe you should have looked forward a few more years into your child's future.

Date reviewed: Aug 10, 2006 6:41 AM

Nickname: Micheal Weaver

Review: This is an excellent and insightful article. I hope that this country's policy makers read it. We have too many people with extreme views on the left and right setting the agenda. We need facts and reason in this debate. Let's give the country a break and focus on the things that will make us strong. I agree that we shouldn't be focused on the strengths of others.

Date reviewed: Jul 25, 2006 11:46 PM

Nickname: Mandar

Review: The problem everywhere is of quality, not quantity. Today there is a big shortage of good quality automation engineers in the processing industries. This has nothing to do with the number of engineers graduating, but more to do with the bean counters gospel truth of "downsizing" and "outsourcing" in the last five years. Now when the petrochemical markets are booming, there aren't sufficient engineers to staff these projects. Secondly, a lot of blue chips will pay its bean counters 10 times more than what it pays its engineers. The results are all there in front of you.

Date reviewed: Jul 21, 2006 4:10 AM

Nickname: Give me a break...

Review: The article and comments are relatively pointless. Statistics move slowly and are can be interpreted differently. But for anyone who has raised young teenagers in both countries, answer this: is it cool to be an engineer? Are you encouraged by your peers? Are you encouraged by your teachers? Are you encouraged by your parents? Do your country's movies make fun of or respect being an engineer. Hmmmm. Whatever the stats are today, who wants to take a bet that 20 years down the line which country recruits winners to be engineers.

Date reviewed: Jul 19, 2006 10:07 PM

Nickname: suman

Review: I agree with this article. As a student of electrical engineer, I have no dream of being an engineer. I am waiting for a chance to move to the US and work in news. What I want to say is a large number of graduates doesn't necessarily mean they are dominating the others.

Date reviewed: Jul 18, 2006 7:54 AM

Nickname: John

Review: Having worked as a software engineer for 10 years, I can say that engineering is definitely not about head count. One good software engineer can often do a much better job than five mediocre ones. China and India will be catching up regardless of what we do. The numbers don't really mean a whole lot. It is the few hundreds of exceptional and innovative minds that will make the difference.

Date reviewed: Jul 14, 2006 5:58 AM