The Breakroom > The Water Cooler

Engineering...The Future+ My Son

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vtsteam:
I have similar questions about my daughter and her future. And she's only 6!

I believe that the most important thing to teach a child is how to love learning, itself. And how to feel capable and confident. And of course, teach them the classical school essentials.

I've worked at many jobs, both blue collar and white collar -- I've worked in the software industry and built CNC machines, done system control work professionally, but I think teaching hands-on capabilities first is much more important than teaching computer subjects. I'd rather my daughter learn to file well, and use a hacksaw and move on up to running machine tools (if mechanical engineering was her interest) Just as I believe that teaching math(s) is more important than teaching kids how to use a calculator. Well of course calculators are a thing of the past, it's cell phones now.

If a child has a love for learning, feels capable and confident, and has the important linguistic, social and mathematical, and physical training, I believe they will be well equipped for life. They have the tools to be the architects of their future, rather than the subjects of it. Things will change, they must be adaptable and must learn new things, even create new things, but they must master the basics to do that. And more than that, they must enjoy them. Enjoyment of learning is the most important thing you can teach a child. All other subjects follow.

Software, current software and computer hardware, will be as relevant ten years down the road, as this year's snow. Just a distant memory. Being able to write well, work out practical mathematical problems, build what they envision with their hands, with an awareness of history and the arts as well -- these are the real fundamentals for any direction they want to head in.

David Jupp:
Process Engineering (aka Chemical Engineering) is yet another of the many 'flavours' of Engineering careers.  Materials Engineering/Science also springs to mind.

I have connections to the Process Industries - for the last few years there has been a huge effort to get youngsters interested in the industries in general, and the many flavours of Engineering and Science that are required to support them.  It is currently reckoned that the UK has a shortfall of many thousands of Engineers.  Salaries and the esteem afforded to Engineers have improved.

Whilst I agree about the value of a University degree, that isn't for everyone (and in the UK the costs have leapt astronomically in recent years) - thankfully apprenticeships have made a return (and some are very good).

If tempted to go down the CAD/CAM route - do not splash significant cash.  Much more would be learnt by building/converting a simple machine, besides many schools these days have CNC routers and laser cutters along with associated CAD in the Design Technology Department.

DaveH:
It is difficult to know what the future holds, I'm pretty certain "the weather" will still be around. A good career is 'weather forecasting' on the TV - that, one can get completely wrong and one still has the job next day  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:
 :beer:
DaveH

AussieJimG:
Social skills will always be the most important skills. Wherever he works and whatever he does, it will be in concert with others. Who he knows will always be at least as important as what he knows - not in the sense of having a patron but in having someone to bounce ideas to and to talk to.

That's what we are doing here. Some of us work in isolation (at least intellectually) but we gather on this and similar forums to exchange ideas and to obtain inspiration.

So my advice would be to encourage your son to get out and make friends and have fun. And to spend quality time in the workshop with his Dad of course, he will remember that all his life.

Jim

minerva:
Dave,

As is the norm the thoughts and opinions of respected members of our forum have touched upon many specific aspects of this problem which predictably crops up with the passing of each successive generation and I can reassure you from personal experience it doesn't get any easier with the passing of time.
It would seem to me that a "two steps back" approach and a look at our countries recent history would go a long way at pointing us as a nation toward the right direction. In my youth (1950's) the country was rebuilding following WW11 but we as a nation were still proudly named the "Workshop of the World" and the accreditation "made in England" was its own mark of quality. jobs and training within the Engineering sector were readily available and the education system taught craft subjects which gave valuable life skills whether or not one was destined to life of engineering or manufacturing.

Sadly over the years our political leaders have seen fit to systematically dismantle most of the industries and infra-structure that supported the very fabric of our existence upon which our very quality of life depended only to replace it with a "live now pay later" culture which has generated the mountain of debt which underpins the problems that our nation faces today.
At this particular juncture the word "austerity" seems to be the buzz word of our leaders (accompanied by the usual "we are all in the same boat") and it comes in the form of a  cross we all have to bear and indeed if the current economic forecasts are to be believed will have to bear for several years to come.
I suspect it will take some really basic thinking and subsequently action on the part of our policy makers to address the current problems and expedite a return to a regime whereby we as a nation can once again take pride in producing quality goods thus generating tangible wealth for the benefit of all.
In order to accomplish this objective a re-assessment of values is required by all of us, no longer should the current celebrity culture prevail whereby a football player or pop star can command a higher salary than a design engineer.
Hope this doesn't seem too much of a rant but when all is said and done "bin there got the T shirt"
Regards Terry T

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