January/February 2018

Concepts
Engineering as a Commodity—During a Shortage?

BY SCOTT WERTEL, P.E.

Q: Is anyone else noticing that there are people with the skills available, but are simply unwilling to fill the gap at the wages offered?
Q: Is the impending skills gap overhyped?
Q: Are we, as engineers, missing a critical opportunity to remove our profession from commodity status?

I posted these three questions on the NSPE Communities Open Forum. (If you have never visited, I highly recommend stopping by and browsing: community.nspe.org.)

After reading yet another study about this infamous skills gap, I was curious what other engineers thought. In my mind, the laws of supply and demand should exist in a capitalist society and, if there truly is a shortage, then the engineer’s value should rise. Theoretically, engineers and engineering should, therefore, no longer be treated as a commodity. Are they still? And if so, why? More importantly, what can we do about it?

Unions, Guilds, and Societies

Having grown up in a blue-collar home, I understand the benefits that a good union can provide. During my career, I was represented by a union (as a nonpaying member), so I understand how terrible they can be because of how much they limited my career advancement. Historically, unions served the purpose of providing safety and well-being to their members. Think of coal miners during the first Industrial Revolution. But that responsibility has moved to government agencies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Are unions valuable? Absolutely! But, I believe they need to reimage themselves into something more than self-serving bargaining units before they will add value to engineering.

To compare engineering to other trades, many trades form guilds. I lived next to a neighbor who was a member of the Piano Technicians Guild and many of my extended family were in woodworking and trade guilds. The guild served the purpose of ensuring skills and training via the apprentice-journeyman-master cycle. It did little for the bargaining of wages. On the other hand, a musicians guild I know of does get together and makes sure its members are charging a fair and equivalent amount for each gig. I like the apprenticeship concept for licensure, but with states regulating continuing education I don’t think we need an engineering guild.

What about professional societies, like NSPE? Is it their responsibility to ensure collective bargaining agreements for all engineers? I vote no. Not only is price fixing unethical, it is also illegal. But, can a professional society, or a guild, or other group of individuals come together and impart the same influence as a union? By doing so, would such a collection change the perceived status of engineering? I don’t think so. I honestly don’t consider the two to be related.

Education, Income, Esteem

Other professions—doctors and lawyers, specifically—seem to make more than engineers and seem to have higher prestige. Is it their income that brings them prestige and prevents them from being considered commodities, or is it their education? Most engineers don’t have a doctorate. Yet, to be a professional engineer one must have at least a four-year undergraduate degree and four years of apprenticeship. That’s eight years before becoming an engineer. That’s the same time frame as a doctor, the difference being doctors do their residency while in school. They have no additional experience requirement. I consider that parity. Then again, I also agree that a master’s degree should be required for PE licensure.

I regret not obtaining a graduate degree, but I was burned out. Had I been able to obtain a graduate degree that qualified for licensure, I would have stuck it out. Of course, I would have needed to know this by the end of my freshman year. Nevertheless, I don’t think requiring a graduate degree would change engineering’s commodity status.

Finding Prestige

We are our own worst enemy and, therefore, we must be our own solution. Here are a couple quotes from NSPE members in the Communities thread.

“When you start negotiating your services based on wages or fees, then you’ve automatically relegated yourself to commodity status.”

“Why are engineers viewed as being all the same? There is no qualitative difference between us? Why? How did that happen?”

Just a small sample of the diversity of engineering disciplines illustrates that even engineers have a hard time agreeing because what is good for one discipline may be detrimental to another. Take a look within our own PE magazine at how often NSPE and state societies have to lobby the local governments to maintain qualifications-based selection and mini-Brooks Acts. It’s no wonder we’ve allowed ourselves to fall into commodity status when we can’t even agree on what constitutes engineering (reference licensure for software engineers).

The solution is simple; the implementation is hard. We must come together as engineers and demonstrate the value of protecting the health, safety, and well-being of the public. Only through licensure, which solidifies this oath, will engineering find its prestige. So, go out and start recruiting!

NSPE member Scott Wertel, P.E., is a cofounder of Aerospace Research and Development Group LLC and lives in Mesa, Arizona.