Satisfaction

This article discusses the results of a survey conducted to understand reasons why people give up engineering. The survey looked at engineers’ experiences in the workforce after they have graduated from college, including whether they have remained in engineering or not. The survey data show that there is not much difference in women’s and men’s retention in engineering when looking at new graduates. The results from the survey show that more than one in five of all engineers said that they are very satisfied with their job. The data show a complicated picture of job satisfaction that depends on gender, discipline, and whether they are still doing engineering work. The most satisfied men are chemical or electrical and computer engineers who are now in non-engineering jobs. The issue of equity in engineering is an important one for the Society of Women Engineers as an organization and for engineering as a discipline. There are larger differences in attrition across engineering disciplines. In addition, the data show that those who leave the job are not necessarily less satisfied with their jobs than those who stay.