Oil Leak Emphasizes the Value of Engineering

As the Gulf oil leak debate rages overwho's to blame, who will pay what to whom and how much they owe, one thingremains clear: Bypassing recommended engineering process and materials is whatled to this disaster and it will require some creative engineering to fix theproblem. Which brings us to the crux of this issue - engineering hasdemonstrable value not just to the businesses for which it is carried out, butin its impact on our everyday lives.

Sowhy is it that so many engineers feel overlooked or under-appreciated (asindicated by nearly 20 percent of respondents to our annual salary survey)?

Thoughthere may be no clear answer to this perception, I see four clear trends thatwill serve to bring engineering more to the forefront in the coming years:

Inhis book "The Post-American World," author Fareed Zakaria refers to a U-shapedcurve that represents the product development, production and sales process. Atthe high, left edge of the U is the product idea development and high-levelindustrial design; lower down on the left side of the U is the detailedengineering plan; at the bottom of the U is manufacturing, assembly andshipping; rising up the right side of the U are distribution, marketing, sales,service, parts and accessories.

Zakariacontends that the left and right ends of the U will largely remain in thedeveloped world, thereby requiring a strong emphasis on engineering - an areain which the U.S. still leads on a per capita basis,
despite numerous reports to the contrary.

We'llclearly need those engineers based on just the few obvious trends I've notedhere. So it's a good thing that the majority of engineers responding to oursalary survey indicated that they would recommend engineering to a son,daughter or friend. You can read more about this in the July 2010 cover story,"DesignEngineering Salary and Career Insight."