IT engineers to learn more than just programming

Yes, Its true: future IT engineers are to be taught social skills with the programming skills in a new course at Potsdam University in Germany. Apparently, its thought that Engineers do not have a good social life as they are not able to get along with non-technical people. Hence this masters course at this university aims at teaching IT engineers some interpersonal skills so that they are successful in their private as well as their social life.
whats even more interesting is that the course includes teaching things like how to send flirtatious text messages and emails (I remember being detained for doing that once in high school ;-). although, this course also include important things like body language, public speaking, stress management and presentation skills. So far over 400 students have already enrolled for this course. Read the article here.

Another interesting article i came across was about this wearable robotic "exoskeleton".
See picture below:


This device, which can be worn by any human, can help in lifting heavy things and also people disabled by stroke or degenerative diseases. Last time i remember seeing something like this was in the movie Spider-man-2. Dr. Octopus's character had something similar:-

Now this device is actually being developed at Jack Baskin School of Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz. The most challenging part of this device, according to researchers, is the human-machine interface. If successful the Brain would be able to control the machine with the same signals as it does are very own muscles. WOW
who knows, we might see a real Dr. Octopus pretty soon, Not so evil though :-).
Read the article about this research (Medical robotics) here.

Energy Sector Opportunities

While other sectors feel the heat of downturn in economy, energy sector sees lot of opportunities. Read the full article on the link given below:
http://www.courant.com/business/careers/hc-workwise1229.art0dec29,0,4587728.story

Engineering : Education and Rewards

I have been writing about engineering salaries for quite some time now in my blog
http://engineersalaries.blogspot.com, Here i explore other aspects regarding engineering education like job market and more importantly why engineering jobs have been the most difficult positions for employers to fill in the U.S.
according to a survey released by Manpower Inc engineering have been the most difficult position to fill in the year 2008 for the companies. Amazingly in 2007 engineering was not even on this list although in 2006 it was at number two position. The reason is simple: according to this survey there has been a decline of 3 percent in number of engineering graduates when the number of college graduates have increased by 50 percent!! Astonishing, isnt it? The reason for this decline is simple to understand: the cost of studying engineering from a good college, on top of it the amount of hard work required in doing engineering and to top it all after graduating one may find competing with people who are very happy to work for US$5 per hour (technicians who have been working for 20-30 years in industry without any formmal education).
Another important thing to note is that there are more engineering graduates than there are jobs, then why is it difficult for companies to fill engineering positions. One reason might be that many engineering students in college are from outside the country and will not remain in US to work. Also the quality of engineering graduate is very important when companies hire them.
Although some surveys and reports have reported a hiring pinch so far this year, the hiring picture for some recent college graduates isn't all that bad — particularly for those with engineering degrees. Read the detailed article here with all the statistics and survey links

"Is there a crisis in engineering? Yes. Is engineering being dumbed down in universities and in industry? Yes. It's a crisis that must be addressed," Professor Craig says.

An estimated half million new engineers may be needed over the next decade to replace those who retire. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.