Engineers - What Do They Do Then?

Findings of the first ever nationwide report into public attitudes and perceptions towards engineers and engineering have revealed that 2 in 3 young people know very little about engineering and almost 3 in 4 don't understand what engineers actually do. This could have serious implications if it affects their future career choice as the UK's output of engineers is already stagnating.

The report published by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Engineering Technology Board showed that typically it is seen as a male orientated profession related to construction and manual professions.
Seven out of 10 respondents said that the many types of engineering made it difficult for the ‘average’ person to understand. Engineering was seen as hard to define and vague and many put the confusion down to the misuse of the term engineering to describe other trades such as technicians or to describe repair work.

Misconceptions and misunderstanding of engineers and engineering are arguably the key fundamental cause of difficulties in recruiting young people to train, study for and develop their careers in the engineering field," John Morton, the ETB's Chief Executive, said.