Engineering Careers Short-Circuiting

8BitWimp writes "Today's edition of the Christian Science Monitor has an interesting article discussing the current plight of the U.S. engineering profession. One 29-year-old engineer recently caught in Nortel Network's layoffs said "I spent seven years in school, and it resulted in a six-year career." The article goes on to say a California computer science professor has statistics to show that a programmer's career is not much longer than a pro-football player. What do other Slash-Dot readers think of this situation as related to their programming and engineering careers? Would you pursue the same career path again?"

Comments

Re:Programming "Career"

[richieb]

I enjoyed a programming "career" for 5 years following high-school. I am self-taught, and managed, developed and implemented databases at an ISP, a TV Broadcast Company, and for a Freight Brokerage.

I'm happy that you found a new career. Please leave building software to people who were trained how to do it. Would you go to a "self-taught" surgeon?

Re:Well, I've already noticed...

[grammar fascist]

That's called a "Straw Man" argument. This line is especially telling:

Your suggestion? Deport the curry eaters. Brown faced little bastards are taking jobs away from good ol' American boys.

In case you missed it in whatever fine school you were educated at, here's how it works:

1. Joe makes an assertion.
2. Charlie casts Joe's assertion as something else.
3. Charlie's cast of Joe's assertion is wrong, therefore Joe's original assertion is wrong.

You're Charlie. Good day.