# Jobs Council Discusses Engineering Shortage



## envirotex (Aug 31, 2011)

Just saw this come across...

Call for Questions &amp; Input: The President’s Council on Jobs Session in Portland, Oregon

If you would like to listen and/or provide feedback and judging by some of the threads on this board there might be plenty of feedback follow the link above.

This is TODAY by the way...


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## MGX (Aug 31, 2011)

I always thought the engineer shortage was a myth in popular culture.


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## Capt Worley PE (Aug 31, 2011)

I'm with MGX. If there was a shortage, we'd be getting paid a lot more.


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## envirotex (Aug 31, 2011)

If the president says it, surely it must be true...

Some guy is talking, I don't think he knows his mic is hot...


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## envirotex (Aug 31, 2011)

India and China graduate engineers 10 to 1 compared to the US? Wow, that's sad.


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## Capt Worley PE (Aug 31, 2011)

envirotex said:


> India and China graduate engineers 10 to 1 compared to the US? Wow, that's sad.


They have a large need over there. they are building a huge amount of infrastructure and manufacturing.


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## willsee (Aug 31, 2011)

Quality &gt; Quantity

(in my experience)


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## envirotex (Aug 31, 2011)

Energy (In)Dependence = Next "Sputnik" moment...

according to the council.


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## Capt Worley PE (Aug 31, 2011)

Ummm...I beleive Carter tried that thirty some-odd years ago. Don't recall it working all that well.


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## MGX (Sep 1, 2011)

Truly great, monumental moments are made when humanity is wowed by its own achievement, not when an unelected nerd says so.


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## envirotex (Sep 1, 2011)

^^^I like that. Is that from you, or did you get that from someone else? I'm gonna use it later today, so I want to know who to cite...


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## Freon (Sep 1, 2011)

I think a lot of the "shortage" is due to location and the engineering field. My MIL still sends me jobs posting for chemical engineers in Nebraska to work in the food processing field. I decline because the paydays in the oil game are three times what I can make in the corn belt; and I like to be able to play golf in January! From my observations, there is a real shortage of Chemical and Petroleum Engineers; and damn few schools making them.


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## mizzoueng (Sep 1, 2011)

At an ASME meeting last night, I had several students ask me if they should get their masters or try to wing it with a BS.

I told them that when I graduated in 2005 the BS was enough and your would build on to that with just plain experience in the field (or office). Today's economy though and job fields are starting to require students to look at what will be needed in the next 5-10 years, not whats needed right now.

We discussed that there are not a whole lot of petro engineers out there and most of the time schools don't offer it as undergrad, so you could potentially get it as a MS. The petro industry (and most of the actually) are full of baby boomers that will be retiring soon and that we need to be able to fill the void. Companies are already looking for those people, but they are finding that there is a severe lack of qualified people/students that can even start to fill the spot of a 30 year engineer/trades guy that knows the refinery like the back of his hand and knows just what to do when pressures rise in a column for not apparent reason.

As we talked, I mentioned that most of the knowledge you need cannot be taught in the classroom. Most of your functional, marketable knowledge comes from actually working. If you get a MS, then a PhD, you can sometimes "over qualify" yourself for jobs. Some students were juniors and never had an internship. I told them that I got away with that when I was in school, but today you HAVE to get at least 1. Preferably you need to try your Freshman year and keep going after that. Co-ops help too. There is just a serious vacuum of knowledge in most engineers today (and I am no golden rule here, I am lacking too).


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## snickerd3 (Sep 1, 2011)

Freon said:


> I think a lot of the "shortage" is due to location and the engineering field. My MIL still sends me jobs posting for chemical engineers in Nebraska to work in the food processing field. I decline because the paydays in the oil game are three times what I can make in the corn belt; and I like to be able to play golf in January! From my observations, there is a real shortage of Chemical and Petroleum Engineers; and damn few schools making them.


good to see there is opportunity, but I don't want to move to nebraska


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## mizzoueng (Sep 1, 2011)

There are lots of opportunities, but you have to be willing to go to Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, or Alaska. To some extent the corn belt is starting to boom and there will be more opportunities depending on how the subsidies for ethanol are handled.

A little tid-bit I learned the other night. BP brought on 140+ interns to the Houston office. They had 50 for Alaska. Of those, only 1 was from St Louis. We have 2 engineering schools here and BP has all but given up coming here. I am not sure if that is the lack of education or drive from the engineering school to get BP to come back and consider our students.


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## snickerd3 (Sep 1, 2011)

^ they go to Illinois instead. There were always at *least* 6-8 BP folks and 2-3 tables at every job fair


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## Dexman PE PMP (Sep 1, 2011)

You'll be hard pressed finding many people from Colorado willing to relocate to Houston...


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## MGX (Sep 1, 2011)

envirotex said:


> ^^^I like that. Is that from you, or did you get that from someone else? I'm gonna use it later today, so I want to know who to cite...


Its probably a hodge podge from all the science books I read.



Dexman PE said:


> You'll be hard pressed finding many people from Colorado willing to relocate to Houston...


Or anyone to Houston for that matter...


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## FLBuff PE (Sep 1, 2011)

Dexman PE said:


> You'll be hard pressed finding many people from Colorado willing to relocate to Houston...


The skiing sucks in Texas.


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## envirotex (Sep 1, 2011)

Dexman PE said:


> You'll be hard pressed finding many people from Colorado willing to relocate to Houston...



The biggest petroleum engineering "boom" is actually is in San Antonio right now because of shale plays in south Texas.


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## FLBuff PE (Sep 2, 2011)

envirotex said:


> Dexman PE said:
> 
> 
> > You'll be hard pressed finding many people from Colorado willing to relocate to Houston...
> ...


O&amp;G is booming over here on the western slope of Colorado as well, also b/c of oil shale.


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## pelaw (Sep 23, 2011)

mizzoueng said:


> I told them that when I graduated in 2005 the BS was enough and your would build on to that with just plain experience in the field (or office). Today's economy though and job fields are starting to require students to look at what will be needed in the next 5-10 years, not whats needed right now.


C'mon man! 2005?! was yesterday.


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