Vanishing Boundaries Create Interesting New Engineering Careers

The engineering landscape is very different today than it was in the 1950s, or even in the 1990’s. Every day that passes brings innovation and change to the engineering disciplines, the tools of the trade, the education required to succeed, the processes, and how the results of your engineering work are used. The strict boundaries that once defined and insulated engineers and engineering departments are rapidly being eliminated, or at the very least they are moving. As these boundaries are redefined, a diverse and interesting category of new career opportunities is being created for those engineers willing and able to capitalize on change.

Boundaries between IT and Engineering
It used to be that computers were just tools engineers used to get a specific task done. In the earliest days of computers there were many engineers that chose to continue using a slide rule rather than adapt to using the newest tool available. Now, there is virtually no separation between Engineering and IT and it is absolutely necessary that engineers have a thorough understanding of the role that Information Technology plays in manufacturing processes. According to Dr. Arden L. Bement, “Innovation in IT, and its integration into the manufacturing process, has boosted U.S. Productivity.”1 Information Technology has become so integrated in both the design and manufacturing processes that a new category of engineering careers is emerging where formal training in both traditional engineering skills and traditional information technology skills like programming are essential. Examples can be found in the proliferation of computer controlled machining (both design and operation), diagnostics of assembly lines, performance metrics and analysis, and Those engineers with specific knowledge and experience translating available IT innovations into successful engineering implementations, in manufacturing, assembly, design, process control, and diagnostics, will have a tremendous advantage in the engineering workforce for years to come.

Boundaries between Engineering and Biology
In 2004, the National Science Foundation identified a trend in 2004 where, “engineering’s involvement with biology is becoming much more pervasive than just certain specialties,” and went on to propose, “. . .that it may be time to enlarge the scientific foundations upon which engineering is built – to extend those foundations beyond mathematics, physics, and chemistry, to include biology.”2 Bioengineering is a rapidly growing field that is primarily made up of Biomedical Engineering and Agricultural Engineering. Biomedical engineering is projected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to grow “much faster than average,” or a rate of 27% + each year through 2014. There are many new career opportunities available for engineers with experience and formal education including biology such as food engineering, animal science, seed engineering, prosthetic design, and more.

Boundaries between Engineering Disciplines
The traditional divide between engineering disciplines can typically first be seen on college and university campuses around the United States. This is where engineers first embark on their chosen path within engineering and it is here that we see the beginnings of competition between the engineering disciplines. That competition and the separation between engineering disciplines should fade over the coming years as a more interdisciplinary approach to training engineers is adopted. There are distinct advantages to understanding and utilizing the training and skills that come from other engineering disciplines. Electrical and Electronics Engineers have pursued computer science degrees, and vice versa, for many years. Today, many processes rely on a mixture of both electronic and mechanical control systems and an engineer possessing skills from both electronics engineering and mechanical engineering can excel in the design and construction of these complex systems. Another blending of disciplines can be found in the field of prosthetics design where mechanical engineering and bioengineering can each be drawn upon to create innovative new products in a rapidly growing industry.

Boundaries between Engineering and Sales
As products and services become more complex the need for qualified sales engineers will continue to increase. However, a traditional sales engineer will not be the only point of interaction between engineering and sales. Opportunities will arise in training roles designed to educate the broader sales constituency on key features. Additional opportunities will exist for engineers with solid technical writing skills. Sales will continue to need well written materials that explain the product or service well from a technical standpoint and also communicate with the client in a language they can understand. There must be interdisciplinary support for most sales organizations to be successful. New careers will become available that are focused on communicating the importance of the engineering and the technical capability of the company to non-engineering audiences.

International Boundaries
The development of collaboration tools, the Internet, and the global marketplace have opened doors for US engineers to work abroad and for foreign nationals to work on projects within the U.S. as never before. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “The rise of the Internet has made it relatively easy for much of the engineering work previously done by engineers in this country to be done by engineers in other countries, a factor that will tend to hold down employment growth. Even so, the need for onsite engineers to interact with other employees and with clients will remain.” Furthermore, this doesn’t have to be a one way street. The same tools that allow for outsourcing of U.S. based work also allow U.S. based engineers to work on projects from around the world. The opportunities created by the removal of international boundaries will be both challenging and interesting to those engineers able to adapt to the changing landscape. Foreign language skills will be a definite advantage when pursuing the opportunities created by the removal of international boundaries.

The opportunities created by these shifting boundaries are very well described by process engineer Natalie Lowell in an article from Mold Making Technology Online. “We are in a world of vanishing boundaries as walls begin to fade away between engineering disciplines, between product design and manufacturing and between those individuals that work within those disciplines. At the heart of it all, knowledgeable, skilled employees provide the true competitive edge. Finding these skilled people, however, is a worldwide problem. Since manufacturing is not going to go away - because we will always need products - it is to a company's advantage to utilize all of its human resources. Adapt quickly and fully leverage all of your company's intellectual property and knowledge assets. That is the future - that is the real competitive advantage.”

As the boundaries outlined above and others within the engineering disciplines continue to move and erode, more unique career paths will become available to those engineers willing and able to adapt to the changing landscape. It may be that a mechanical engineer obtains a masters degree in bioengineering to create opportunity in prosthetic design or construction. Or, that a mechanical engineering student pursues a second major in IT to create an advantage when interviewing for manufacturing engineer positions. The possibilities are limitless. There are many companies in need of highly skilled and motivated engineers, particularly those with interdisciplinary experience. As those companies compete in the global marketplace, the path to success will be paved by educated, skilled, and experienced engineers; engineers who will have career opportunities available to them that the engineers of yesteryear couldn’t have even dreamed of.

1, 2. Dr. Arden L. Bement, Jr., March 29, 2004 Diminishing Dimensions and Vanishing Boundaries: Endless Possibilities – Remarks to American Society for Engineering Education