• Question: Is there a shortage of engineers at the moment?

    Asked by 635sftb43 to Matthew, Neil, Paula, Pete, Philippa on 13 Mar 2015. This question was also asked by 536sftb43.
    • Photo: Matthew Gall

      Matthew Gall answered on 13 Mar 2015:

      Hey 635sftb43,

      Great question! There is absolutely a shortage of engineers these days, for a multitude of reasons! Hence why I’m participating in I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here, to try and show you guys just how awesome engineering is, and how you should totally get onboard!

    • Photo: Philippa Jefferis

      Philippa Jefferis answered on 15 Mar 2015:

      There is currently a shortage, but more worrying is the number of engineers we will need for the future – and yet not enough people are studing STEM subjects past GCSEs. We have some big challenges ahead of us, and we need lots more people to take up engineering to ensure we are able to find the best solutions to our problems.

    • Photo: Neil Taylor

      Neil Taylor answered on 15 Mar 2015:

      Hi 635stfb43!

      Yes – especially in the UK, where we are experiencing what is being reported as a “crisis”. It’s estimated that around 55,000 engineers will be needed to keep up with the demand… and a failure to find these engineers could cost the UK economy up to £27 Billion every year!

      That’s too much money for me to picture in my head – but I’m sure that you get the picture! 🙂

      If you’d like to find out more, this is an interesting article where I got my figures above from:

      http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2015/jan/skills-shortage-engineering.cfm

      Hope this helps!

    • Photo: Pete Symons

      Pete Symons answered on 17 Mar 2015:

      Hi 635,

      Absolutely, and it will only get worse, if we don’t do something to get more of the younger generation into engineering. The problem about having less of an engineering resource in the UK means that big ‘things’ wont get built here creating jobs for a lot of people in the UK, this would mean more unemployment and also the UK looses its capability to manufacture things which other countries buy, it all starts to get quite political then! We have already seen this to some extent with the loss of a lot of our (UKs) ship building capability, we used to build a lot of ships, now there are only a few places in the UK left.

      Hopefully with events like this and with STEM ambassadors (which I am) helping to communicate what it is to be an engineer, we might be able to get the younger generation interested in a career in engineering, and you should at least consider it if you are interested, it’s a great career to be a part of 🙂

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