'It pays to choose engineering as a career' - Indo

[just_society]

An honours engineering degree is indeed one of the toughest third level courses one can pursue. The electronics one is regarded by many as the toughest and since the dot com bubble (negative for electronics) and the celtic tiger mark 2 (positive for other sectors) as one of the worst paid of the engineering sector in Ireland.

But with a definite domestic and likely global recession underway, it might be safe enough as most electronics companies had to cut spending in the earlier part of the decade and are generally profitable and aren't carrying loads of debt. It's about as global an industry as you can get at the moment also, and sales to BRIC countries are healthy.

The move to the orient is to be watched, but I haven't noticed much in the way of new technologies from there compared to Europe and USA lately.

[Darren Mac an Phríora]

[quote=HanleyS]

That's what I love about a internet.

Muppet.

If I'm a muppet and even I know that there's only ONE D.I.T. then what does that make you? [/quote:1oa4zrns]

I don't think you understand what the term muppet means. Wink Wink

[HanleyS]

An honours engineering degree is indeed one of the toughest third level courses one can pursue. The electronics one is regarded by many as the toughest and since the dot com bubble (negative for electronics) and the celtic tiger mark 2 (positive for other sectors) as one of the worst paid of the engineering sector in Ireland.

But with a definite domestic and likely global recession underway, it might be safe enough as most electronics companies had to cut spending in the earlier part of the decade and are generally profitable and aren't carrying loads of debt. It's about as global an industry as you can get at the moment also, and sales to BRIC countries are healthy.

The move to the orient is to be watched, but I haven't noticed much in the way of new technologies from there compared to Europe and USA lately.

Good answer. Engineering is a very tough degree and the pay isn't very good. Good engineers seem to find their niche or don't seem to work as engineers for very long. I think it's a discipline that is applicable in many walks of life.

In the software industry it seems that most of what comes out of China isn't very imaginative or original. Most companies wouldn't work there because their technology would be stolen.

[mairteenpak]

Engineering in common with Nursing seems to experience leakage to other occupations.

The pay and conditions is obviously a factor.

Another Factor is that engineers in many cases go on to gain additional qualifications by way of a Business or management career and are no longer identified as Engineers.

An able young student would be likely to gain much better rewards in law, medicine, banking, or business than Engineering.

The Germans value their Engineers much more than we do. Engineers in Germany are much more likely to be the CEO of their company than in Ireland.

Germans address their Engineers by the formal title of Engineer in the same way as Doctors.

[michael1965]

for the life of me i dont know why anyone would go into IT as it seems inevitable its all shifting over to the orient ala the motor industry in the 80s.

It's not quite that bad. It's a bit harder to outsource software development than manufacturing. That's not to say it doesn't happen, but it definitely does not work in all branches of software engineering. Another good thing about it, is it's much easier to set up your own business in IT than any other branch of engineering (I mean a business that sells something other than professional services). I know lots of people who have done it.

It's true about overtime though. Nobody gets paid for it in this business

[socialdemocrate]

A study by Engineers Ireland found that salaries for Chartered Engineers in healthcare have grown by 27pc in three years -- from €67,250 in 2005 to €85,417 in 2008. Civil and structural engineering salaries increased by 28pc during that period, from €60,698 in 2005 to €77,500 in 2008.

In 2005, the average gross salary for someone working in engineering consultancy was €63,949; however, this has jumped to €75,165. The current wage rates are in contrast to the average industrial wage of €38,000. Starting salaries for engineering graduates were also found to be as high as €31,000.

the devil is in the detail here, Chartered engineers tend to have 10 years experience in industry and have to be members of the IEI. Most engineers are not in the IEI. Again most engineers are not consultants for the same reason reason. The average wage for a normal engineer is 45K. The independent really should do some journalistic research before they believe and print every over spun piece of garbage they are sent

[bm42]

It's not quite that bad. It's a bit harder to outsource software development than manufacturing.

You'd be surprised how difficult it is to outsource high volume manufacturing of complex products. New lines often require massive investment. Taking down existing lines to ship them overseas impacts production capacity for months which is a disaster for any company who're operating using lean manufacturing principles. Anyone not using lean manufacturing principles would be better off to start using them to optimise their operation before shipping it out to a contract manufacturer.
A few years back, all of the manufacturing in Ireland was going to be moved to lower cost locations in eastern europe. Some moved but the greater mobility of people as compared to manufacturing operations meant that the eastern europeans got the jobs alright, but they came here to Ireland for those job. Staff are similarly mobile in software development and with no production capital to move, a serviced office anywhere in the world along with some highly paid experienced staff directing the activities of cheap locals in bangalore.
Another thing that is starting to shift the balance back in favour of manufacturing local to markets, i.e. in Ireland for european markets, is the ever increasing cost of raw materials and oil. As these become a greater and greater component of operating costs, the labour advantage of the far east is reduced. Software can be transported over the ether instantly. Shipping gooods around the world costs money and takes time. The time involved increases the amount of inventory that has to be carried which costs more money and also reduces the speed at which manufacturing can react to market needs, at times of increased demand, if you haven't anticipated it in time, there's no product on the shelf, the ultimate customer dissatisfier.

[PaddyThePig]

My experience in Software is different at the moment. The government is pumping huge amounts of money into the industry. The only company I know of that was outsourcing in my sector was Cognotech. They haven't been doing too well lately.

I was thinking more of the kind of engineers represented by Engineers Ireland. Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronic, Fruit and Veg, Agricultural and Civil.

I'm sure Civils will do well with the NDP.

My experience was mainly with companies who outsourced the whole shooting match to China / India. In the private sector, particularly in
businesses with international exposure, the race to cut costs is vicious.

Any reason why Software Engineers aren't represented by Engineers Ireland BTW?

I'm not so sure about the NDP ; given the state of the public finances, I wouldn't be surprised to see serious re-thinking on this,
despite Cowen's assurances to the contrary. Also - and this may well be the wrong thing to do -but it will be interesting to
see if the 'huge amounts of money' being thrown at software by the Government suddenly start to dry up.

[akanji]

What a career to go for, sky is the limit for an engineer to be honest.

Just becuase i comment on engineering professions does not neccessarily mean that i want to become an engineer rather than something i remembered about the profession, that will then become a subject of talk of the world, well i think if people are having problems with the professions they want to choose they have absolute right to see a counsellors anyway.

However, i find some absurdity with some people to the extent that, if i made a mistake on my comment, is like a crime but if others made that mistake they'll not be failled, but this is not council house applications it about career not a fight for a place for a course, discriminations and racism inability to tolarate success of other race does persist in the cabal in this country and we will fight for our right because we know what we did and wrote down.


Before people can complain about us they should ask themself ''four questions'' first after that they can come back to me, for some slavery questions as if they're better than us rather than nature but ''wait and see''. I am in my life.

[CookieMonster]

What a career to go for, sky is the limit for an engineer to be honest.

Just becuase i comment on engineering professions does not neccessarily mean that i want to become an engineer rather than something i remembered about the profession, that will then become a subject of talk of the world, well i think if people are having problems with the professions they want to choose they have absolute right to see a counsellors anyway.

However, i find some absurdity with some people to the extent that, if i made a mistake on my comment, is like a crime but if others made that mistake they'll not be failled, but this is not council house applications it about career not a fight for a place for a course, discriminations and racism inability to tolarate success of other race does persist in the cabal in this country and we will fight for our right because we know what we did and wrote down.


Before people can complain about us they should ask themself ''four questions'' first after that they can come back to me, for some slavery questions as if they're better than us rather than nature but ''wait and see''. I am in my life.

What?