Engineers of the past spent hours drawing the intricacies of designs. With various tools they navigated the boundaries of physics, science and mathematics to iconic forms to life. The engineer of the current then emerges using CAD and many other digital tools – achieving the same thing but just faster and more accurately as they solved harder and more complex problems.
As these digital tools become more advanced and automated, engineers now need to evolve even further to keep relevant in the digital economy. At the break of a New Age of intelligence the machines they actually helped to design could now disrupt the very engineers who created them.
So what does the new generation engineer look like? Creativity is no longer the be-and-end-all. Defying stereotypes is the new essential of employable engineers – in fact all graduates. Evolution is needed and Engineers need to become more important and crucial to our progress in the World.
It will be Engineers who are going to figure out how to incorporate artificial intelligence, wearable devices and robotics into our infrastructure and communities to move us towards being smart countries / nations. It will be Engineers who will figure out how to curtail emissions and drive energy efficiency after ratification of the climate change agreement. It will be engineers who will figure out how to critically fit growing populations into smaller spaces and less land.
Tomorrows countries will look for unconventional thinkers who will boldly say ” You’ve got an issue, but you have identified the incorrect problem”. These “thinkers” will have the desire to challenge what is normal and then shape ideas in search of what might be. They will have the ability to look past the obvious for clients seeking to invest in the future.
Engineers have an exciting future ahead ! It’s the future though that is in jeopardy. It’s the Engineers time now to fight back. They need to be tenacious, relentless at problem solving and finding different tool-kits.
