ROUNDTABLE ENGINEERING PROFESSION
neXt GENERATION
Are professional bodies in the construction sector still relevant to young engineers? How can senior professionals encourage newcomers to the industry to have more of a say in decisions that affect their future? Is a completely different approach to mentoring young engineers needed? A group of senior industry fi gures from Britain and the US came together to offer some grey-haired wisdom. Ewen Rose chaired
organisations. Should they even try? What do young engineers aspire to? And does it have anything to do with our industry’s ‘traditional’ centres of infl uence and leadership? These and other questions dominated
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the recent meeting of the heads of four leading professional bodies in London. Representatives from CIBSE, ASHRAE, IMechE and the Institute of Refrigeration (IoR) gathered at IMechE headquarters to discuss: ‘What should we, as leaders of professional institutions, be doing now, to empower the industry’s leaders of tomorrow?’ All agreed that the traditional methods
of communicating with members of professional bodies did not work for a new generation of engineers used to communicating immediately, and continually, via social media networks. Young engineers are also more likely to seek dialogue with other young engineers rather than the ‘grey-haired’ leaders of previous generations. Changing the orientation of traditional industry bodies to better cater for younger engineers was proving diffi cult, but needed to be done, said the senior engineers gathered around the table at the IMechE.
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rabbing the attention of young engineers – and keeping it – is proving a very diffi cult task for the industry’s professional
Who are the leaders? The baby-boomer generation (born between 1946 and 1964) accounts for nearly 50% of the current workforce, but many are approaching the end of their professional lives. The challenge, according to the group, was to engage the ‘millennial’ generation born in the ‘80s – and later – and now forming the bulk of the modern engineering workforce. ‘We have a tendency to focus on activities
that are near-term. We are also very good with technical things, but we avoid the more diffi cult question of developing leaders of tomorrow,’ said ASHRAE president Ron Jarnagin. ‘Our fi rst task is to identify them. Are they student members; those 35 and under, or others? How do we speak to them? What messages translate for them?’ CIBSE president Andy Ford said that
the emergence of the sustainability agenda would inevitably put young engineers at the top of the profession. ‘Sustainability is taught and understood by a younger generation,’ he said. ‘That is where the expertise is. We need to make use of that expertise and get rid of the assumption that as you get older you gain more knowledge. Our task is to enable the crossover.’ However, getting to grips with the motives of a new generation of engineers – totally different from their predecessors – is proving hard for professional bodies
November 2011 CIBSE Journal 23
David Warriner of IMechE discusses the role of young engineers in the industry
Simon Weir
www.simonweir.com
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