Is it true if your engineering degreeing isn't ABET accredited then it is worthless.

[sakky]

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I agree that HR strategy is important, but my point is you can’t just double salaries and that’ll fix things automatically. It has to be part of a broader overall strategy. There has to be some sort of expectation of greater revenue, and I’m not convinced this alone will do.

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<p>Greater revenue…or lower cost. Yep, lower cost. Again, allow me to point out, by paying better, you would be attracting the most productive engineers, which would ultimately mean that you may actually be able to lower your labor costs. That is precisely what Ford found - by doubling wages, he actually lowered total labor costs due to decreased turnover and increased productivity due to the high quality and high morale of his (well-paid) workers. </p>

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Of course those low-cost firms will have people that will work there. Do you think that everybody with an engineering degree will be get hired by those A+ firms? Of course not. There will always be those at the bottom, and they will end up working for companies at the bottom. That’s not going to change. That’s not what I consider to be the problem.

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<p>Nor do I. I never meant to imply that we need to eliminate all the mediocre firms. Heck, like you said, somebody need to employ the mediocre workers. </p>

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The problem is that clients are willing to hire those low-cost firms and won’t put a premium on the quality of the product. We have to change the mindset of those with the money.

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<p>You got it. </p>

<p>But the term ‘quality’ needs to be explored because it is very much in the eye of the beholder and therefore a concept that can (and is) manipulated. For example, is the Prius really a “high quality” car? Not if you consider quality to be the actual environmental savings, which as I have said, are quite minor. But it is clearly a very high quality car in terms of being able to brag to your neighbors about how environmentally conscious you are. </p>

<p>Similarly, numerous white-collar service firms have actually found that high rates actually increases demand. Yep, you charge more, and customers exhibit more demand. Why? Because the “quality” of these services are often times extremely hard to judge, meaning that you don’t really know who’s good and who isn’t, and so customers often take high price as a mark of “quality”, or in other words, if you can really charge that much, you must be good. For example, I seem to recall reading a reading study on consulting firms that found that those firms that increased their rates actually gained business. </p>

<p>But the bottom line is this. If engineering firms are going to treat their product as a commodity, then they should be surprised when consumers are going to be willing to pay only commodity prices. Engineering firms who want to break out of that trap will have to learn to treat themselves as luxury designer goods, for which consumers hire you not because you’re cheap but because you’re fashionable. That’s how Apple can charge $200 for what is basically a $50 hard drive.</p>