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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Where are all the engineers?

Jul 24 2007 6:47PM | Permalink |Email this|Comments (20) |

VMEbus Do we have a shortage of engineering talent in the United States? That question always starts a discussion about quality of engineering schools, off-shore design, salary levels, H-1B visas, etc. The short answer is: yes, there are always engineering shortages in the latest hot technology areas. For example, with today’s bulging defense budget, military projects abound and many of these are based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products. According to Ray Alderman, Executive Director of VITA (VMEbus International Trade Association), VMEbus vendors have seen more proposal requests in the first half of 2007 than in all of 2006. As a consequence, VITA members have multiple unfilled engineering jobs. (Interested? Contact VITA.) This shortage may only be in a small portion of the overall electronics industry but when it occurs in your area of expertise, it could be huge.

Related entries in: Computers, boards, buses | Embedded Systems |

Reader Comments

at 7/26/2007 6:24:58 AM, Andreas Panageas said:
Before you say there are engineering shortages find out how many are unemployed and how many were forced to retire early.The latest hot technology areas is nothing but 1 to 2 weeks of trainning away.......Please stop making excuses the talent is here

at 7/31/2007 11:35:39 AM, John Lopez said:
There is no shortage of engineers. It is simply an excuse used by companies to higher cheaper engineers from overseas.

at 8/2/2007 10:53:10 AM, Paganelo said:
Don't complain. Train people you see around you. I see trends of not to hire Americans and permanent residents and use “temporary” works force instead. Temporary workers include interns with no or low pay, no benefits and any kind of visa holders aliens. United States has highest educated workforce in the world, and trying to lower living standards and increase corporations profits using “self proclaimed labor shortage strategy” is very bad excuse. Labor market shouldn’t be manipulated, and if labor shortage really exists salaries must rise.

at 8/3/2007 6:11:14 PM, Clifton said:
Maybe a shortage of engineers who can spell hire. But seriously... In the short term we have to hire foreign talent when there is no US citizen available with specialist skills. Believe me I don''t need the hassle & expense of visas etc. but if the skilled US workers I need are out there, I can''t find them. In the long term, yes, US engineers have to be paid more to bring more smart kids into the profession. Engineers are usually the lowest-paid professionals in a tech company - behind HR, legal, sales, bus dev etc... Kind of ironic but true!

at 8/6/2007 9:35:55 AM, Paganelo said:
The only "specialist skills" they have is absence of families here and therefore they are able to split apartment renting cost with other aliens and to work unlimited hours for fixed salary in order to over compete US residents in bottom line survivor race. Leave market to take care about engineers shortage problem and soon you will find available engineers in your neighborhood.

at 8/8/2007 12:42:56 PM, Meredith Poor said:
Every five years processor power increases by one order of magnitude. In 1995 (when Netscape went public) Pentiums ran at 100Mhz and a PC normally had 16 Mb of memory. In 2000 that was 1Ghz and 128Mb, respectively, by 2005 one could get a 3Ghz, dual core, 64 bit processor with 512Mb by default and 1Gb if you needed it. The number of commercially viable applications should have increased by 100 times over the last ten years, if hardware costs are the only meaningful constraint. Certainly the world doesn't have 100 times as many engineers now as it did in 1995.

at 8/20/2007 4:24:23 AM, Frank said:
Blah, blah, blah...More industry spin bullcrap propaganda...again! You're screwing the existing technical workforce & then put out articles wondering why there aren't more American college students willing to submit themselves to the corporate whims of an engineering career, when they can have an easier & more rewarding path getting into business, medicine, law, etc. You think toys with lead from Commie China is a surprise now, wait till that's the ONLY place you can find enough cheap engineer meat!

at 8/21/2007 12:54:49 PM, Michael Miller said:
Anyone remember when Irwin Feerst warned us this was coming, way,way,WAY back in 1980? I do. And it all came true. Here's a challenge for the corporates. If the issue isn't free labor, why are none of you pushing hard for green cards for everyone who has the skills you want? EVERYONE no exceptions. That way, they can leave anytime, as a Capitalist system is supposed to work, when or if a better offer appears. But I've noticed that places whose names I dare not mention here are consistantly at the front of the "H1-B" or "Z-1" import line, demanding MORE single-employer licenses to import talent. I wonder if any of you feel even a hint of shame when you are called on this nonsense?

at 9/10/2007 8:40:57 PM, Anony Mous said:
That's not the right question to start with. You idiot should be asking yourself - How much are you willing to pay?

at 9/21/2007 1:32:12 AM, JACOB said:
Don't complain. Train people you see around you. I see trends of not to hire Americans and permanent residents and use “temporary” works force instead. Temporary workers include interns with no or low pay, no benefits and any kind of visa holders aliens. United States has highest educated workforce in the world, and trying to lower living standards and increase corporations profits using “self proclaimed labor shortage strategy” is very bad excuse. Labor market shouldn’t be manipulated, and if labor shortage really exists salaries must rise

at 9/26/2007 12:47:21 PM, Doug said:
Hummnn. Let me think. An 8 hour marketing day or a 12 hour engineering day for less money.

at 10/25/2007 2:31:33 PM, Mel said:
In my years of engineering I've noticed there is always are reported "shortage" of engineers for the new "hot" technology of the day. Companies want engineers to take the risk and guess where the next big demand is going to be and then terminate them when that technology fad is over. This game has been going on for decades. After a few cycles of this the wise engineers realize that being in management pays better and they don't have to face the technological obsolescence axe every few years.

at 11/20/2007 4:17:32 PM, i_am_useful said:
Actually, I do not care about pay as much as I want a job. I hold a BEE, MSCS, and have 12 years experience and have not been able to find work for the last 2 years. I presently wash dishes and keep house for my wife and daughter. But I would very much love to feel useful again. Please contact i_am_useful@yahoo.com if anyone out there is actually serious about hiring a US engineer with experience.

at 12/6/2007 8:54:40 PM, engineer said:
The problem with US engineers are that they are afraid to work hard. This is true for US-born or immigrants who have been here for long time. We always compare ourselves to marketing and tell our kids not to work too hard. Let's face it, engineering is by definition 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Those who choose to be engineers do so because they love the job. If you just want a job and keep comparing yourself with marketing folks, then engineering is not for you. Those who think that they can make better money doing something else, should do so.

at 12/18/2007 11:05:02 AM, ex-engineer said:
Just a little logic will tell you what the H1B program does. The law of supply and demand applies to labor. When supply increases or demand decreases the price of a commodity(like labor) goes down. Producers make less, supply decreases and the price reaches a balance. It's a nice feedback system that works well, It's called Capitalism and Free trade. When Government interferes in the Free market that is socialism or Communism. The Cheap visa indentured servants who lack the rights of Americans to change jobs, join unions, negotiate salaries, and who are baited with the Carrot of U.S. citizenship and the favorable exchange rate. More Visas = greater supply of engineers= lower wages = less Americans entering field = lobbying for more cheap labor H1B's..... Less visas = increased wages for engineers = Americans entering field = Less visas needed. The companies who whine about the lack of engineers are the same ones who glorify free trade with country's that have lower standards of living, and few if any enforced labor or environmental laws. Also does anyone know the proportion of male to female visas? I see very few women getting these, shouldn't it be around %50 or is the program deliberately biased?

at 1/15/2008 6:43:31 AM, EDN reader said:
Do you remember this issue? "Copernicus-Grecham Law of Worse Money" The same with engineers. Kind regards EDN Reader

at 6/24/2008 3:39:17 AM, Wiseguy said:
So why dont u guys go open toffee shops in India.. Maybe that way you could funnel some of the money back into our own country.

at 8/21/2008 2:32:55 PM, JAE said:
The companies no longer have any investment in individuals - people are a dime a dozen. H1B is just another facet of globalization. Why should a company pay for training an employee? Get rid of an older employee and you get rid of someone who is in a higher vacation and pay bracket-all is well. Engineers will eventually have to pay for their own training, just as machinists traditionally have to purchase their own tools. Here where I have recently relocated I am seeing engineers who have their own personal laptops instead of company provided gear because the company''s gear is garbage, and to meet deadlines you have to use good gear that gets the job done. Personal gear on the company net used to be unheard of. I am talking about more than one company here. The old paradigm is dead, and a new one is emerging, we just don''t really know what it is yet. I_Am_Useful is going to find out that he is not useful enough. Where are all the engineers? In unemployment lines-and it is not going to change any time soon.

at 10/7/2008 2:23:58 PM, protn7 said:
all of the members of the Chinese presidium that rules Mainland China are engineers. There are more engineers in china than any other country. They are going to be big competition for us folks in the USA.

at 3/4/2009 2:28:45 PM, PLURB said:
I would be very interested in knowing if any Co.s responded seriously to I_am_useful. I doubt it! Soo many US co.s just resume collect from U.S. Engineers and then run to H.R. for the next immigrunt. So the exploitation continues. Any good Engineer works with their friends and angels to do a startup and hope to get a big contract. Woe if there's ever a real big War because there will not be anyone around with clearances to work on the weapons.

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