How is Technology Impacting Career Development in Engineering?
The perception of what an engineer is and what an engineer does is rapidly changing. This is especially the case as we are now firmly in the ‘digital age’.
Google defines an engineer as ‘a person who designs, builds or maintains engines, machines or structures’. The second description for an engineer is classed as ‘a person that controls an engine, specifically an aircraft or ship’.
We can all agree that these definitions are extremely outdated, but that doesn’t mean that the role of an engineer itself is outdated. In fact, it means quite the opposite. Due to vast improvements of technology, this is a sector with lots of potential growth.
Engineering is about problem-solving
Engineering is about problem-solving, and it always has been.
The need for engineers will never disappear either; and we can clearly see that more and more jobs are evolving as a result of the progress in technology within engineering. As a rapidly expanding industry, now is as good a time as ever to be an engineer or to have studied the disciplines of engineering.
Where engineering is expanding
More and more businesses are migrating to cloud-based services and this results in a need for people that have a lot of design, data and system knowledge. The top three potential growth areas for engineers that we expect to see in the next decade are in IT, bio-engineering and energy.
There are expanding fields in the bio-engineering industries as genome sequencing for medicine, nanotechnology and manufacturing with graphene takes place. We have also seen some amazing breakthroughs in manipulating things at a molecular level which will create some brand new industries for engineers.
Prices are on the rise for fossil fuels and we can see global warming affecting food production. This has resulted in greater investments and risks being taken with solar and nuclear fusion. Thus, new specialist roles are being created for engineers in this area.
While the industry may be evolving and seeing job titles or roles changing, the skills required from engineers never really changes. Engineers need the ability to solve problems and work as a team. A good engineer is innovative and has a strong knowledge of mathematics and physics. If you’re able to learn as much as you can and use these skills, you will not be left without a job, no matter how much the engineering industry evolves and changes.
Here at Recruit Mint, we have a plethora of engineering jobs should you want to take the next step in your engineering career. Browse our range of jobs online and apply, or register with our agency.
