Slashdot Mirror
Japan "Running Out of Engineers"
bfwebster writes "A story in the New York Times reports that Japan, a country that rebuilt itself as a technological power after World War II, now faces an increasing shortage of college graduates with degrees in science and engineering. Says the article: 'By one ministry of internal affairs estimate, the digital technology industry here is already short almost half a million engineers.' The article goes on to point out that the overall trend of waning interest in science and technology has been going on for 'almost two decades' and that the shortage is made worse by the traditional reluctance of Japanese companies to hire and use foreign workers. The US has had a similar trend for quite some time: 'Undergraduate engineering enrollment declined through most of the 1980s and 1990s, rose from 2000 through 2003, and declined slightly in recent years.'"
Considering the overlap between techies and otaku is something like 4200%, I fear for the future of US-Japan relations after the first big wave of American emigration hits their shores.
Joe, is that you? I need you to come to my office and give a presentation on how many 'engines' you've been 'ering.' The Mid-Level Lower-Sector Managers would like it to be at least 30 slides and I want to ensure that you can re-write it by tomorrow.
There are no loopholes. It's either legal or it's not.
I found my new hobby... Searching posters who make prickish comments and posting random things that I find...
From http://www.blogger.com/profile/17225343404051767382:
LaskoVortex
About Me
After a short but painful stint as a mercenary for a small multiplanetary militia, I spent a number of millennia as a freelance smuggler and bounty hunter. Smuggling pays the bills well, but is high stress and you have to travel--alot. I consider bounty hunting to be the most fun I have ever had. I don't promise to provide live prisoners as a matter of policy, so I can't demand fees high enough to really make it my day job.
Georgia Tech has a "Management" major. It's where all the folks who couldn't cut it in their engineering programs wind up.
Game... blouses.
...does a story about an engineer shortage in Japan turn into an argument about the definition of censorship in the first post!
The path to enlightenment is truly through homemade drugs!
Maybe I should go to Japan, I am an engineer and I could help with the dropping birthrates.
I don't know about you, but I went into Engineering for the chicks.
I consider it a long-term investment.
=Smidge=
(...any day now...)
No they are not. You can buy an engineering degree for ~$1000 in India.
My Blog | Badsh
I don't know about you, but I went into Engineering for the chicks.
Don't forget the beer. Its the one thing engineering students can count on, before and after graduation.
An economist is not a "bean counter". An accountant is a bean counter
exactly his point, at least a bean counter can count beans! Economists...
A physicist, a chemist and an economist are stranded on an island, with nothing to eat. A can of soup washes ashore. The physicist says, "Lets smash the can open with a rock." The chemist says, "Let's build a fire and heat the can first." The economist says, "Lets assume that we have a can-opener..."
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Not too long ago Slashdot was posting articles about how Japan was replacing it's laborers with robots because of it's low birth rates. Now Japan's running out of people who actually build the frigging robots?
Look Japan if you need help with impregnating your women I'd be happy to help.
I have nothing compelling to say
I fear japanese youth has been idioticized by all the bogus videogaming scene in the past few decades. While old pictures of japanese showed serious, hard-working people, today we look at casual hipsters with colored hair, anime-inspired clothes and seemingly no goals towards life other than getting to the next level in some virtual world...
I pity them.
I don't feel like it...