This week I was tasked with giving a presentation to a University panel on the following topic:
“The Engineer of the future: What are the challenges in developing ‘industry ready’ graduate engineers, and how would I address these?”
Click here or on the image below to see a short 3 min video I shared with the panel on the future world of work as part of the presentation:
What struck the panel after watching the video was the absence of humans in the workplace, and that is noteworthy, because it’s humanity not technology, where true and lasting value is created.
So what are the challenges I saw in developing ‘industry ready’ graduate engineers?
Well I kept it to my top 4 which are:
1. Reduction in traditional roles
2. Increase in speed of change
3. Increased competition from a diminishing resource pool
4. Absence of human empathy in global teams
1. Reduction in traditional roles
There’ll be fewer jobs in the traditional economy with Artificial Intelligence & Robotic Automation becoming more prevalent even in highly technical professions. One of our daughters had heart surgery last week. The surgeon anticipated that AI would replace him in performing that kind of surgery within 5 years. The world of work is a lot less structured now with less predictive career paths. So from a Supply & Demand perspective, the scope of the demand is changing. Which leads us onto,
2. Increase in speed of change
The speed of change is exponential. That means that those institutions who are shaping an individual for industry on a conventional 3yr Bachelor degree need to be aware that what is taught in the 1st year may well be obsolete by the time the student graduates. Of course the fundamentals of Math & Science don’t change, however, their real world application do. So, providers of entry level Bachelor certifications could well be challenged in how they refresh course content and obtain re-accreditation (which takes roughly 1 year) in a timely manner.
3. Increased competition from a diminishing resource pool
There are more females in UK than men, yet females only make up 10% of the Engineering profession, yet at its core, Engineering is about problem solving in teams, something that females excel in. Add to this the appeal of other disciplines, and predicted decline in population, obtaining new recruits/resource will be a challenge.
4. Absence of human empathy in global teams.
Connectivity is a two edged sword. How often even at a local team has ‘technology’ disrupted human relationships?
At the break out areas where people once chatted and socialised and asked how people were as they got their their refreshments, how many people are now just sitting in silence gazing into an iPhone?
Without spending time with and getting to know one another, how can we build up trust?
Without trust, there’s no honest dialogue, without honest dialogue problem solving falls apart. This I see as a challenge for teams as individual members become remotely located and isolated, despite the ability to email or video conference in different time zones.
I think it’s worth pointing out that the first two points fall under the theme of Change Control, and the second two points fall under the theme of Mindset, so to conclude the topic ‘How would I address these (challenges)?’ I offer the following:
Change Control
While I believe there’ll be fewer traditional jobs in the future economy I also believe that anything that cannot be digitised or automated will become extremely valuable. What do I mean by that, well things that make us distinctly human; creativity, imagination, intuition, emotion, ethics. I believe the future is about holistic business models with ‘just in time’ learning as opposed to ‘just in case’ learning. So we need systems in place to monitor and evaluate rapidly changing scope requirements. It won’t be about training a worker for a specific job, rather, building a thinker who can continue to learn. It will be about enabling life skills with the aim of preparing future engineers for unpredictable careers. And that leads us onto;
Mindset
How do we make engineering more appealing in the first place, especially to females?
One thing we can do here in the UK is encourage real world application of Science Technology Engineering & Math (STEM) subjects at a much earlier age than we do currently, rather than provide abstract classroom lectures. The evidence from the Chamber of British Industry is that we should start targeting those students aged 8, rather than than the historic intervention at around age 14 with engaging activities when students are considering exam subject options, which is too late.
We also need to encourage life skills which create high trust environments.
What do I mean by high trust?
It’s the blend of technical competence and human character so that you’re not afraid that your new idea will be laughed at, so you DO share it. It’s where even ‘failure’ is understood as a learning step to success, and as such we encourage one another to fail forwards. It’s where, if you put your hand up to say ‘I need help’ you’ll be respected not judged.
Why?
Because you trust your colleagues, and your colleagues trust you, and as such everyone is watching out for everyone else.
I left the panel with my thought on the engineer of the future should look like:
“The Engineer of the future is one who has transitioned through a responsive holistic curriculum that incorporates human value alongside technical prowess to build an agile emotionally intelligent professional.”
I believe Engineers have done so much to enhance our world, but as the latest gadget comes out, let us never forget, humanity is where true and lasting value is created.
Stephen