Every six months Purdue sends out a magazine to its engineering alumni called Engineering impact. One of the articles this month focused on Remaking Engineering Education. It echoed some of the concerns I’ve had for a while -- As head down engineering functions move to low cost locations, there are still engineering jobs needed locally, but they require more of a renaissance person than just someone who knows how to design technical solutions.

When the head of Purdue’s Electrical and Computer Engineering school was in Dallas, I mentioned my concerns that as software development shifts from 3rd generation languages to higher level assemblies, quite different skills will be essential. The curriculum will need to change. It looks like I was not alone in expressing the need for this change. I’ve not seen the details, but this article looks like a start.

I’ve always thought that college was more about “learning how to learn”, than teaching me something I could use to hit the ground running. Little of what I studied was directly applicable to what I did when I got out of school. The areas required for the engineer of the future will be much broader and giving exposure to those areas in the relatively safe environment of the university will be a good thing. In the past, companies had internal indoctrination programs to orient people to the corporate culture and give them a framework to lean on for support. Those seem to have gone by the wayside and yet with larger more diverse companies, knowing how things work can be a critical skill to get things done.

Charlie Bess
EDS' Next Big Thing Blog