Universal engineer in box seat

It has echoes of a science-fiction script, but the hunt for “the universal engineer’’ is a very real phenomenon.

As modern engineers ply their trade in an international market, they require more than one-dimensional technical skills to stand out from the crowd.

At the Young Engineers National Summit in September, the key theme to emerge was the need for engineers to acquire “soft skills’’ that can translate across different companies and cultures.

That means having multiple skillsets covering technical and managerial tasks while demonstrating an appreciation for socially responsible development.

Communication and negotiation skills are in. People skills are a must. Second-language capabilities are desirable.

Cohan Drew, vice-chair of Young Engineers Australia, says the emphasis is on developing engineers who are “globally employable’’.

“It’s really aimed at the Gen Ys who tend to be very disloyal to their employers and shift around to see different parts of the world and have a good time doing it,’’ he says.

“So if your aim is to see the world and to travel with your degree and travel with your work, then what sorts of things make you employable?’’

Drew says employers are clearly starting to place more emphasis on skills other than mere technical competence.

“You need to be a good communicator across cultures, particularly if you’re working on projects that are spanning countries. You might be working in teams that are geographically separated, and quite often they’re across different disciplines as well.’’

“Empathy’’ -a quality not always associated with technically minded engineers -is another word that featured at the summit. “That kept popping up as a soft people skill and I guess that’s part of the whole (requirement for) leadership qualities,’’ Drew says.

An electrical engineer at Maunsell Australia, Drew says pressure is growing on universities to deliver a wider range of skills to engineering graduates.

Employers, too, will have to fast-track training of employees in non-technical disciplines.

“I think some of the responsibility for employers is that they need to accept the fact that they need to grow their own employees and grow the skill-sets that they require.’’

The demand for well-rounded young engineers compounds an already critical overall shortage of engineers.

Engineers Australia estimates that Australia presently has a shortfall of 28,000 engineers, and expects the situation to get worse as government pours money into infrastructure and climate change projects.

The body reveals that the number of university and TAFE graduates in engineering has remained static at about 9000 a year.

And during a five-year period leading up to the 2011 Census, Engineers Australia predicts that an expected 45,000 graduates will not even cover the losses of the 70,000 engineering professionals who are likely to retire or leave the sector.

The upshot is that the remaining pool of engineers will have to fill the void and utilise a broader base of skills.

Steven Perry, an engineering director at Hatch Group, an engineering and management consultant to the mining, energy and infrastructure sectors, agrees that the era of the universal engineer has arrived.

“Technical aspects (of the job) are only a small element of it,’’ says Perry, who attended the Young Engineers summit.

Perry says the blueprint for a modern engineer is someone with sound technical skills who can work collaboratively with managers, clients and peers.

“And he’s got to have a global focus.’’

With offices in South America, Asia, North America, Africa, the United Kingdom and Australia, Hatch fits the mould.

Ross Grafton, a graduate mechatronics engineer at Hatch in Western Australia, is one of a new breed of employees ramping up their skills.

“I graduated two years ago and I’ve been working for Hatch since then, but with university you really just leave with some technical background. Those soft skills are not something you get a grasp of at uni.’’

Through on-the-job experience and a professional development program at Hatch, he is now acquiring those additional skills.

Grafton says in a diverse global market, engineering companies often have to work on projects together and share their specialist talents. That requires communication.

“It’s important for us to be able to communicate and we can do that now because we have the technology to be able to actually speak to people in other countries and get their input on a project.’’

Communication skills aside, Grafton says management, leadership and cross-generational competencies are also necessary. “Generation Y has to work with Generation X and the babyboomers as well. Each group is uniquely different.’’

At Young Engineers Australia, Drew acknowledges that there is considerable conjecture within the sector about how to better foster soft skills through university degrees.

“I don’t think that universities really pump out graduates with those skills already. There’s a lot of debate and contention over whether that will dumb down a traditionally technical degree or not.

“I think if you look at the stereotypical engineer they don’t generally have those skills. However, there are certainly exceptional people within the field and there are many inspirational young engineers who have political savvy and people skills as well as being very cluey technically.’’