The Incredible Shrinking Job Description: Trends And Consequences Of An Increasingly Technical Engineering Profession

ASEE promotes the importance of graduating engineers who possess a host of nontechnical skills to complement their technical competencies. As this year of dialog draws to a close, the authors are interested in the extent to which such well-roundedness is reflected in the actual work that engages engineering graduates. Using quantitative data from the 1993, 1997 and 2003 National Survey of College Graduates, this paper analyses the changes in work characteristics of jobs that employ graduates of U.S. engineering programs. Contrary to expectations, the authors find that engineering work has become more narrowly technical over the last decade. While some may celebrate this trend as evidence of an increased “purity” in engineering work, the authors argue that if this trend continues, serious negative consequences could ensue for engineering education, industry, and the social conception of engineering.