Hard to find (RF) Engineers!

[Felis_Silvestris]

I was talking to my boss the other day about finding people to hire, as RF engineers. We agreed that it is (has been) hard to find people so I asked him why he thought that was. He tells me that most kids out of college want to be in marketing or sales. It was then that I realized that it isn't very appealing to work as a manufacturing engineer in a factory setting wearing static straps and a smock with expectations centering upon "hands on" skills including soldering and your day-to-day concerns having to do with part numbering systems of a given company. Why would anyone go through all that math to do that type of work? Yeah, I'm sure some kids getting out of college see this and simply turn the other way.


The art of RF and microwave engineering has become obsolete, like a dead (computer) language.

.

 

[cigarette78]

i do not think so

 

[123jack]

It is a direct consequence of ubiquitous educational incompetence.

When schools are more interested in being politically correct than they are in actually
teaching skills in maths, physics,chemistry geography etc. what you end up with is a generation of cabbages not fit for anything.

The UK has been breeding cabbages since 1974.

As a direct consequence of this - western civilisation as a whole is collapsing.
There is no other cause.

jack

 

[LvW]

Yes, I am very sorry about that - but I must agree to 123jack.
The mentioned educational incompetence - enhanced by rapidly decreasing motivation - is a direct consequence of the priorities which have been developped within out society (Money, success, long vacation, less work,...)

And the situation is even worse because on the other side of the desk (pupils, young people, students) it is not seen and realized that learning is and must be (from time to time) a hard job! Many of these young people are not curious anymore - instead they spend their time with TV, mobile phoning, twitter, facebook, computer games, internet surfing and similar "actions". (But they don't act anymore, they only react).
Sometimes - as a comunication engineer - I feel a bit guilty.

And - as far as the RF problem is concerned - most peaople think that "analog is out" and "digital is in"! And indeed, it seems so when you study the technical publications: 99% of the contributions are dealing with digital TV, digital books, i-phones, mobile internet,.... Why? Because it sells! That's sufficient.

Perhaps - and hopefully - I am too pessimistic.

 

[mvs sarma]

I feel that the present world scenario where there is demand for IT and software writers, and the pay structure , added to highly paid management posts with an MBA qualification are attracting the youth towards better life. Thus no student , I presume , is showing interest to continue and study in depth either analog, digital, Communication, or RF engineering.
One main aspect is , as already indicated, a person working in above fields is paid much less by the industry.
I would always say that one should know the work, to be able to lead or guide staff working with him. So an Engineer need not feel ashamed to wear uniform or conductive strap, if the situation needs. Look at the medical profession. It is discipline that is more needed along with skill, speed and efficiency.

All said, perhaps the industry is also responsible for the present plight of things.

 

[LvW]

All said, perhaps the industry is also responsible for the present plight of things.

I wouldn't blame the industry. It's a bit more complicated.
Anyway, I'll give you an example for my thinking:

I live in Bremen, Germany and we have a "University of applied sciences" with a variety of different studies. Here are some of them:

Aeronautical engineering
Architecture
Civil engineering
Electronics
Modern Energy systems
Communications
Environmental Engineering
Economics
Industrial Management
.
.
.

And for beginners the most attractive study is - International Tourism Management. (That's no joke).

 

[123jack]

mvs sarma hit the nail on the head if its ever to be fixed.

Technical people with genuine training and skills need to be paid far more
than those without.

There is no escaping the fact that we live in a society where respect is given
in direct relation to income.

Until such time as salaries for people that study and work in technical fields
are significantly above those of management trainees etc. there can be no respect.

Without respect there is no aspiration.
Without aspiration there are no staff and no students interested.

With no technical people a totally technical driven society will soon degenerate.
A massive part of the current BP disaster is a total lack of understanding what being "technical" means by untechnical management and hence a lack of
imperative to technical staff and activities.

Governments are to blame. Individual politicians and individual policies
can be pointed at as the cause.

The twisted fetish for getting as many people into fake jobs that don't even pay a living wage so they can pretend everything is ok - "look fewer unemployed" is a massive problem. Possibly a problem far worse than any other if the long term consequences are thought out.

Our civilisation needs to change dramatically. Or die. There ARE fewer jobs and more people. But those jobs are VERY highly skilled.

The stigma and problems of being "unemployed" needs to be removed from society
so resources can be put into maintaining enough highly skilled people to sustain and grow civilisation.

Unfortunately no one seems to care enough to actually do anything constructive.
That would be far too technical to fit into a sound bite.

 

[package78]

"Without respect there is no aspiration.
Without aspiration there are no staff and no students interested.

With no technical people a totally technical driven society will soon degenerate.
A massive part of the current BP disaster is a total lack of understanding what being "technical" means by untechnical management and hence a lack of
imperative to technical staff and activities. "

Is it ????
how funny!

 

[RBB]

This is a good example of a problem with students today...
#1284540
I don't mind helping students as long as they have specific question, but they just copy-and-paste their homework assignment into a forum and expect someone to do their homework for them.
This problem isn't unique to EE/CE programs either. www.codeproject.com has the same problem with CS students.

 

[Enlightenment]

If RF engineering is obsolete, then you need to throw your cell phone is the trash, because without RF engineering it would just be a portable computer.

 

[srizbf]

i think that the education world is plunging into
'everything is on paper' methodology.

i see that they have more work in preparing documents than teaching.

blackboard is almost forgotten.
precious times are wasted in powerpoint presentation.

and the university weigh them based on documents than on their classroom performance.

students are confused with whereto go syndrome with lots and lots of distractions .

blame both instructors(and university) and students for the present
staus.

universities dont give importance to 'basics'.
they are very much in advertising 'latesttttt.... stateofart....'

without foundation the building will one day crumble.

what todo. the world is advancing to latest ?

srizbf
20thjune2010

 

[E-design]

Another problem is that it is very expensive to equip RF labs. For the price of one of a latest generation VNA or signal source analyzer you can setup way much more in a digital lab. So it is also a question of money as well as student interest. Most students today take the easy subjects steering clear of the advanced math and science. They need more time to party it seems.