Re: Who is telling kids to avoid engineering?

I think Eric brings up a good point in his letter. Engineers struggling in an outsourcing environment are not the only people who question the value of an engineering career in the U.S. Several of my peers come from immigrant families. The parents, such as a vice president of research at a leading bioengineering firm, are often very successful scientists and engineers, and yet they consistently advise their children to study law or medicine.

While engineering may provide a sense of pride and accomplishment, there are huge financial disincentives for top students from pursuing engineering as a long-term career. As Harvard economist Richard Freeman says, “If we want more [scientists and engineers], we have to pay them better and give them better careers.” It irritates me when politicians — often former lawyers — suggest the perceived deficit of engineers will magically diminish by increasing money for scholarships or research. Young people want to get married, buy homes, and start families, and they pursue the jobs that allow them to fulfill their goals.

I believe my story is not atypical. A friend of mine and I attended the same university and received high GPA’s in engineering and physics. We both entered excellent graduate programs at the same time. He completed his law degree in 3 years, and I completed my PhD education in 6.5 years. I now generate patents in industry; he codifies them as a patent lawyer. These are both valuable activities arguably comparable in worth. However, the market does not bear this out. My friend’s salary is 2.5 times my own. Take any decent salary, multiply it by 2.5, and you have a very, very nice number. Guess which one of us owns a home?

Unless someone has a burning desire for graduate education in engineering, it is simply foolish from a financial standpoint. Young people have to ask: how much is a sense of accomplishment worth? Some of us are willing to make that trade. However, as long as the salaries of doctors, lawyers, management consultants, and investment bankers grossly outweigh engineers’ salaries, most smart kids will turn away from engineering. Our best American minds look elsewhere, and industry relies on inexpensive immigrants to make up the difference.

All the best

Chris Folk
MEMS Design and Applications Engineer
Microfabrica Inc.
Van Nuys
California

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