This post contains affiliate links.
If you have been around your engineering field for a while, you might notice that many people leave the field for other non-engineering careers. You might have your own theory of why people leave engineering. The shocking thing is that this issue has been studied and observed for almost a decade. And you probably have never heard of it.
Around 75% of people with Engineering degrees generally end up working in other fields. This is mainly due to the low amount of available jobs compared to the number of fresh graduates each year. This has created high competition where only a small bunch work in their speciality while others have to join other fields.
However, this issue has two dimensions: The first is the statistical view which states that there are not enough jobs available. The second is the industry insight which states that most graduates lack the talent for the job.
To answer the question in more detail, we need to look at some statistics and issues within common engineering fields that have created this issue to draw a more comprehensive conclusion.
How 75% of Engineering & STEM graduates end up joining other fields
Several studies suggest that around 75% of STEM students end up joining non-STEM fields. While those studies are general to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Engineering students make up around 52% of STEM students, so we can use this data to track why only a few engineers end up working in the field.
There are several studies done to compare where engineering end up working after graduation.
The first study showed that only 15% of students work in engineering, with males being the dominant gender in this industry. See the link to the survey.
Another study on 02 June 2021 highlighted how STEM majors earn more than non-STEM majors. This study has clearly shown that there are simply not enough jobs in engineering and STEM fields available for fresh graduates. This is why the majority end up joining non-STEM fields, with few students with no engineering or STEM background working in STEM. See the link to the full article.
This should settle it, right? We just do not have enough jobs for everyone, and we have been graduating more students than we have jobs to give. Well, yes and no. While it is true that we have fewer jobs available and, in theory, we will never cover all demands, that still does not justify why only 15% of graduate-only work in their perspective fields? Where we can clearly see that other non-STEM majors work in STEM.
If we take a detailed view into those fields, we can still see that computers and engineering intake are not purely engineering and computer fields. It comes from other fields such as business and science-related. This might indicate that talent is still a big factor when hiring for technical companies, especially for positions that do not require a degree.
The reason behind the massive shortage of engineering jobs?
The short answer will be we do not have a shortage of STEM & engineering jobs. We just have a massive number of graduates, making it difficult to find employment for all of them. There are three sides to this story.
The Industry struggle
The first is the industry itself. The industry is finding issues in hiring talented graduates. Because of the easy requirements to do engineering today, we are getting fewer quality graduates, making it challenging to find suitable candidates.
Creating Jobs
The second issue is the lack of innovators and entrepreneurs. Yes, that is right, we need people that can provide more jobs. In fact, we will never have enough of them. More graduates are going to university to get a job in the fields instead of finding a problem to solve, which can create new jobs and industries. This is one of the biggest challenges engineers face today. Read: Do We Need More Engineers? What Challenges do Engineers Face?
Outdated university curriculum
Third universities do not provide engineers with the tools to succeed in the real world as engineers. Despite the current breakthrough in science and technology, we have not updated our university studies to match the current innovation. Most are outdated and old.
We extensively researched this topic and found that most of what you learn at university would not be used at all at work. This makes you wonder why we even do the degree? Read: How Much Of What You Learn At Engineering School Will Use At Work?
Conclusion
In conclusion, education is the biggest problem when it comes to the shortage of work. First, it made it easier for a huge bunch to do engineering; second, it does not provide much value for students in terms of real work skills. Most taught is theoretical with few or no practical aspects, which engineers need.
Why do you think the most prominent tech entrepreneurs in the 21st century have never completed or finished their engineering degrees? This might be an eye-opening What Is Wrong With Education? The Entrepreneurial View
Is going for no Engineering jobs mean less money?
Not going for engineering jobs has a positive effect on many engineers. Especially for women, not going for engineering is to leave the highly competitive jobs where you have to fight for promotion and pay rise with endless work.
Engineers are usually not paid well in their profession and for the amount of work they do. Yet what they get paid for is still quite high, especially for those who stay and persevere, which can pay very well. For details on engineering, salary read: Can Engineering Make you Rich? Are CEOs rich?
People who leave engineering for other fields usually do well, and they can get paid well. At least we know that from local observations. Yet The US Census Bureau study does not provide more details on how much engineers earn outside engineering. It shows that STEM majors usually earn more than non-STEM majors. Overall, there is not enough data to draw a conclusion on how much engineers get paid outside engineering.
Yet the truth is engineers are easy to employ. They have different skills that have prepared them to work in any industry, which they can probably do better than in then their original field. If they successfully found a non-engineering job, it would probably pay well enough to justify leaving work in your engineering field.
How can we fix the shortage in engineering jobs?
The main issue is that we need to educate more people on what it means to be an engineer. If you do engineering, there is a chance that you will be stuck with a degree you paid thousands of dollars on that you will never use.
Many students do engineering for money and status. Yet, they lose passion for engineering as soon as they face reality. It destroys their fantasy of what engineering is, and many end up leaving engineering. Read: 4 Reasons You Did Not Like Engineering In The First Place.
We could do a better job of making entry to engineering courses more challenging, bringing expectations down and reducing the number of students going into engineering. But because the private sector mostly controls education, it is more likely to see this trend for a very long time.
From our experience, you should only consider engineering if you are passionate about the job. Going for the wrong reasons will only set you up for a midlife crisis and a dead-end job you do not like. Read: Top 5 Reasons To NOT Be An Engineer. Actual Engineer Opinion.
