Can you tell what a forest is like from looking at some leaves of the trees? More or less. So I think we are going to remake ourselves into an engineering nation. It would never be called that but it is if we use the terms we are familiar with. Just like they used to call the automobile the horseless carriage. We are preparing ourselves for an innovative high tech future with the public service as a massive incubator for engineering talent. We are going to significantly reduce the loss of engineering to non engineering careers. All these are not in the article but you can more or less guess the 180 degree change in thinking and attitude the government has toward engineering. This could be the biggest learning from from the mismanagement of our rail infrastructure.
Twenty years from now, many engineers will be trained and equipped from their service in the public service to create innovative tech start-ups.
I have a blog post about the post MNC Singapore from analyzing this year budget. It doesn't mean we throw these companies out but they become secondary instead of primary to our economic strategy. Nurturing engineers is part of that "made at home" instead of "buy from abroad" strategy. The next world require uniquely home made products and services or we will get stuck in a race to the bottom price war with others.
Nope you're wrong. Govt direction is merely to return to the old days of 1970s and 1980s. Govt aim is still going to be producing armies of homegrown engineering workers for MNCs & GLCs. And MNCs & GLCs are still going to be the engine for S'pore. You will vomit if you know the extent of how much govt ministries & agencies like MOM, MTI, EDB, JTC, IRAS, MND, Ascendas, Mapletree all bend backwards (or bend over) for foreigner MNCs.
ReplyDeleteThe best & brightest engineers will still gravitate to banks & the financial sector. As for those engineers going into civil service --- just like from 1970s until today, 99% of them won't do engineering, only talk cock sing song; they won't really be using what they have been trained for.
So the high-scoring ENG graduates will go for high-paying jobs in banks and civil service. While non-engineering companies like banks will actively recruit top ENG graduates as they are proven smart, driven, and logically-trained in thinking and solving problems. This is the reason why all banks in S'pore so aggressive in hiring engineers back in the late-1980s to mid-1990s.
Govt's aim is that there are enough mediocre engineers left (like in 70s-90s) that can fill engineering positions required for MNCs and GLCs.