Engineering - the plight for accurate perception

In January 2018, the ‘Royal Academy of Engineering’ launched their “This is Engineering” campaign, to help address the UK’s persistent skills and diversity shortfall. After 35 million views of the campaign films, 72% of teens who have seen them say that they would consider a career in engineering, compared to 39% before the campaign launched.

With the success of the ‘Royal Academy of Engineer’s’ campaign in mind, we at Anders, would like to do our bit to engage with young people, who for us, will be the next generation of technology talent.

Like the Academy, we’d like to follow their agenda to change the current perception of what engineering means and how it’s observed by the next generation.

Our UK manufacturing journals educate us on a near daily basis about the crisis we may face when the skill gap shortage becomes a reality.This is why we need to focus our attention on the influential role that we need to play, like the one being led by the Academy to ensure that the skills we hold today, can be passed down to the team of tomorrow.

To do this, we have a responsibility to ensure that those young people perusing a career in engineering are presented with an accurate picture of what a day in the life of an engineer actually is, in today’s fast paced, design-led, technological world.

To do this, we spoke to our Engineering Team Leader, Christian Madella, about Anders and the reality of what engineering looks like in our company and why it’s important for all.

Anders, #ThePeopleBehindTheScreen.

“If I look at Anders through the eyes of the Royal Academy of Engineering’s agenda, we are representative of the type of company that they would like to showcase.

We are a diverse enterprise, who benefits from being a mixture of nationalities and age groups, coming together to make a varied and viable company.

Why is that important to a company and to the engineering team within it?

Well, as a profession, engineering often means that you have the opportunity to work with global organisations, and it’s your job, as the company interface, to make the process easy and seamless. Even though we are mainly a young team of engineering professionals, our in-house accumulation of experience accounts to over 40 years.

Why is it important to be in a mixed team?

It means that you continuously learn from those around you, whilst having the autonomy to drive your own design through to reality. As a young engineer, working with a company that embraces being a learning organisation is key to your future development and progression.

Over 40% of our company is made up of engineering experts who cover every key engineering discipline; firmware, hardware, mechanical, optical, and software allowing us to continually optimise our engineering expertise gained over decades in the embedded display landscape.

Why is it important to be multi-disciplined?

Many organisations will claim to be design and engineering led, but their business model would suggest otherwise. To immerse yourself into an engineering culture, you’re looking to work within a company that invests in engineering resources and talent. The headcount ratio should be an easy indicator.

Also, the ability to become a multi-disciplined engineer is attractive. Like many professions, you select your area of specialism at an early age and follow this path of study. Being able to then enter the workplace and gain true hands-on experience can lead to a change in direction.

Being open to that change and the opportunity to practice it is priceless.

Why is that important to be in touch with tech?

Being part of a company that is the leader in the technology that they bring to the market is exciting, fast paced and dynamic. As a leader, your company is the go-to company, meaning that your engineering in an environment that doesn’t sit still.

Couple this with being involved in the technology that is driving change in how the user engages with the product and/or the application and you know that you as an individual are working in field that will keep you relevant.”

So, let’s inspire the next generation of engineers and let’s fill this country with them.