Renewables and liveability front of mind for engineers Tuesday, 09 January 2018

Results of a new survey have revealed that 86% of Australian engineers believe renewable and alternative energy will have the biggest impact on engineering in the future.

Hays Engineering’s study of 340 engineers found 85% also said city expansion and water management will impact the engineering sector, followed closely by population control (84%). The results also revealed that 75% of engineers believe that making a positive contribution to our living environment helps them thrive in their jobs and 41% said solving problems made them feel proud of their work.

This shows that engineers have their hearts and heads in the right places, but Hays’ report ‘The Modern Engineer: What it Takes to Succeed’ recommends to ensure employability in the future, engineers require environmentally sustainable design knowledge, life cycle assessment and expertise and upskilling in the latest technology. At present, these include tech like GPS positioning, drones, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) but the report said these are only in use by a minority of engineers.

In the survey, 44% of engineers said 3D modelling skills are important as 2D will start to lose relevance while 17% said the industry struggles to find civil engineers with the right level of 12d Model software skills.

However, Consult Australia CEO Megan Motto also warned that automation and artificial intelligence (AI) may threaten many engineers’ traditional and base level skills. Personal and professional development is the way to go and these are encouraged by Engineers Australia through development and differentiation.

The report’s key findings also found:

• 72% of surveyed engineers expected to add to their skills through upskilling on-the-job

• 73% said having calculation and math skills are very/extremely important

• 41% believe that by 2020, job opportunities resulting from infrastructure projects will rise

• 65% hold a Bachelor of Engineering while 26% hold a Master of Engineering

• 85% said they are responsible for sustainability, along with the government (88%), clients (84%), architects (77%) and builders/contractors (66%) being also accountable

• 92% want to take more ownership of the building process.

 

Author: Desi Corbett