Our May Career Corner argued that education (RF and microwave engineering, in our case) is a key factor in the global competition for technology and jobs. Generating engineering graduates is the key to sustaining domestic technology jobs, as much as it is a bottleneck for expanding offshoring destinations.
A recent study by Engineering Trends examined the projected number of engineering graduates based on enrollment figures. The report shows a steady and concerning decline in the number of enrollments to science and engineering faculties, including Bachelor degrees, Master degrees and PhD programs. Lower enrollment was explained by other experts as caused by expectations of decreasing employment in those fields. Is it possible that the “outsourcing” and “offshoring” buzzwords are becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy?
This must not happen because: a) It is the wrong conclusion and b) Going along with this approach makes things worse.
Blaming offshoring and taking for granted declining employment is an underdog state-of-mind, which will lead to corresponding results.
Employment is the product of several forces: One should remember that offshoring is part of a global dynamic spreading over several years. Learning from the past, we can anticipate offshoring to create the counter effects, such as an inevitable increase in wages alongside developing consumer societies.
Another phenomenon to consider in this context is that corporations emerging in offshoring destinations like China and India build an industrial presence in the US, resulting in additional jobs. This observation reinforces the argument (made in the April Career Corner) that corporations establish R&D centers where top engineering talent is available.
In the long run, employment is the product of several forces acting in different directions. A declining number of science and engineering graduates will limit this nation’s ability to sustain its jobs as well as its leading position in core technologies, microwave engineering included.
Having sufficient engineering talent to offer is the way to sustain technology jobs: The problem does not start and end with offshoring and global economies alone. These merely add to the challenge and urgency. The real issue is with cultivating the human resources responding to future economy needs. Corporations establish R&D centers where top engineering talent is available (because there is never enough of it). This is where science and engineering faculties get into the picture...
As for RF/microwave engineers: The demand for RF and microwave engineering skills is still high, which is an even further vital reason to mind that enrollment figures and engineering faculties keep with the pace.
The current shortage in RF engineers works even further in favor of offshoring as it ensures those jobs will be filled in other regions of the world. The number of jobs that we will eventually have equals the number of RF engineering graduates that we make available.
Isaac Mendelson
ElectroMagneticCareers.com
Isaac@ElectroMagneticCareers.com
