<p>An interesting post on the matter: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13042607-post73.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/13042607-post73.html</a>
Engineers have mixed fortunes in the current market, and individuals have different degrees of success. Some common problems include economic downturn (engineering work is pretty cyclical), H1-B visas (guest workers imported from abroad for cheap pennies), and the occasional loss of a large piece of engineering infrastructure (such as a factory closing). </p>
<p>There are individuals such as globaltraveler who have the good luck to be in a perpetual boom industry (military for the past two decades), and get massive salary boost and are wined and dined for their engineering prowess (some good choice involved, but clearly with a strong luck element in his favor). Mark77 also has some pretty valid points.</p>
<p>In short, YMMV and there are enough stories to go around.</p>
<p>I don’t consider the lack of a PE requirement to be particularly meaningful. Only certain disciplines require the PE. In my area of electrical engineering, nobody has a PE. Actually, I am aware of a single former colleague who has a PE, and I never understood why he bothered to get it, since he had no need of it. </p>
<p>As to why engineers are unemployed, there can be a number of different factors. Different technical areas are hot and cold at different times, so if the particular area you have experience in goes out of favor, you can get in trouble. Savvy experienced engineers are always trying to keep up-to-date on their skills and watching what is going on in the industry, trying to anticipate changes. </p>
<p>New grads with poor grades or no internship experience or who interview poorly are at a disadvantage. When I interview students or new grads for internship or permanent positions, I’m looking for someone who is smart, capable, and flexible. A new engineer should be eager to learn from whatever opportunities are given to them. If someone doesn’t give off that vibe, they are less likely to be hired. I’ve chosen not to hire otherwise qualified students or new grads who seemed inflexible, e.g. wanting to work on only a particular topic area or type of work. From the employer’s perspective, the new hire is the low man on the totem pole, who is given the work that nobody else wants to do, but in return is given the gift of being mentored by experienced engineers.</p>