Having met with some considerable reader response to"Are We Engineers Really Professionals,"' it seemed in-

Engineering cumbent upon me to continue with further thoughts onthat unique entity, the engineer. The rub is, of course,

Professionalism that in so doing one is open to a certain amount ofclandestine and public criticism, the epitome of which is

and Society to be labeled either "naive" (horrors) or a "boat-rocker"(a truly crushing appellation). Surprisingly enough, after

(Or, Are We Engineers Reallythese outrageous slings and arrows have flown by, there

( A WR y is left a rather solid core of disgruntled individuals whoHuman Beings?) agree with the premise, nay fact, that the profession of

engineering as practiced in the United States leaves a bitto be desired. It is to these radicals and malcontents

GARY BLAKE JORDAN, Member, IEEE that this paper is addressed, primarily in the belief thatIlT-Federal Laboratories anyone truly content with his lot is not particularlySan Fernando, Calif. interested in learning about why he should, in reality, be

unhappy. Nor, for that matter, is that an intent here.Nothing is perhaps so lethargic or formidably unmove-able as a self-satisfied middle-class American wage earner

Abstract (ugly rumors about procrastinating Frenchmen andobtuse Germans not withstanding). But to stir the unease

The problems of engineering professionalism, working conditions, and of the overworked designer, to rile the bile of the long-ethics have long been a subject of much controversy but little well- suffering project leader, or even tickle the ulcer of thewritten material. In this paper, the author attempts to analyze some front-line engineer-manager: here indeed is a noble andof the more troublesome of these problems, and offers a few solutions worthy cause. And if it should be as a result that a fewof his own device. Although written in a semi-humorous vein, the of these doomed-to-an-early-demise-through-overwork

material deals directly with professional/ethical problems individuals decide to take some action besides complain-sucedbjecthe contemporary engineer working foranemployer.

ing to the wife and booting the dog under the televisionfaced by the contemporary engineer working for an employer, set, then so much the better.

Truly Believe It

Naturally there will be a certain amount of skepticismamong the more well-fed and pampered concerning thereally horrible conditions of servitude under which someEEs labor. However, if one could manage to sneak pastthe heavily armed guards to reach the innermost sanctumsof certain large electronics companies, facts heretoforecarefully hidden from the public would be readily andshockingly apparent: the degradation of hundreds of"professional" engineers walking in and punching a timeclock, for instance; or row upon row upon rank of desks,with engineers crammed into each little space, the overallnoise level approaching the threshold of pain; or perhapsthe programmed by-the-clock ten-minute coffee break ismore revolting. Then again, the so-called "standard"

Manuscript received October 3. 1967.'The author is now with TRW Systems, Redondo Beach, Calif. I G. B. Jordan, "Are we engineers really professionals ?" Ekec-

90278 tronic Eng., vol. 25, February 1967.

138 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AEROSPACE AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS VOL. AES-4, NO. 2 MARCH 1968

nine-hour working day of certain New York and Texas teachers must be somewhat less than the friendly neigh-EEs reminds one most of the reasons why labor unions borhood barber's) the child is told to shut up and conformwere created thirty and forty years ago. to the learning process. After having the early curiosity

In the more individual sphere, we see sound engineering stamped out of him, the child goes on through school,plans made unsound by nontechnical managers; the half reclusive because brains and intellectual curiositypersonnel department turning down extremely qualified are at best suspicious and at worst nonconformist andapplicants over forty years of age ostensibly because of dangerous.difficulty with the pension plan, while at the same time Later on, in high school perhaps, he becomes interestedhiring every minority group member regardless of qual- in science, probably because there are a few good teachersifications to demonstrate equal employment opportunity. available to indicate alternatives and partly because hisWe might also see most engineers being paid according parents see the good, honest life ahead if only junior canto salary charts on the basis of years since graduation become a "professional." And he, or she, immerses him-rather than individual contribution, with new-hire salaries self into the interesting exploration of science. Wow! Andincreasing such that often the seasoned man of several this often means an immersion to the exclusion of nearlyyears experience earns less than the new recruit. Intru- everything else in the learning process that might be use-sion of corporate strictions into personal life is nothing ful in making a human being instead of a technical robot.new, and miserable (or no) provisions for time during the Finally, college time arrives and the fellows go to schoolday to read or work on nonproject work for increasing and the girls, who could have become engineers, do not,knowledge in the engineering area often is the rule. And seemingly because of an unspoken social dictum thatpervading the whole is an aura of panic and rush not engineering is for men only-a shame. And once in col-paralleled since the Chinese were building the Great Wall lege the last part of the conditioning process starts withto keep out the gringos or something. There is much much a vengeance.more, but is this not enough? The whole emphasis of the college these days is on

"getting admitted" and "staying in." To stay in, thecourse grade is the be-all and end-all of the present con-

Psychology 1 Revisited cept of engineering education, so that the engineeringstudent, particularly, is forced to pay attention to

Since almost everyone can agree that at least some of studies and little else. Nearly everyone takes 14 to 16the aspects of engineering today are medieval, why are credit hours per term while the EE grinds away on 18 tothe engineering serfs not doing anything about it? On 20 or more. And the grading is stiff, and thus hard study,the face of it, it would seem that since the EE is highly exam stealing, and crib sheets have nearly equal impor-educated, able, and dedicated (?), that as a whole the EE tance in doing that most important of all things-passingwould be in the fore of things, with better working condi- the course. No time to learn what people, learning, edu-tions, higher salary, and yes, even a very large voice in cation, or the philosophy of life is all about-just pass thepolitical life. This reasonable sounding statement is about required courses at all cost. And the required coursesas near 180 degrees from the facts as can be, and there very often bear about as much resemblance to what isare very good reasons why EEs often have poor working needed in the engineering world as an abacus bears to aconditions, little job security, tarnished public image (who modern computer, but that is an entire paper in itself.is the dullest cocktail party guest the EE, naturally), Comes the golden day for handing out the covetedand practically no political voice. sheepskin and for the first time the EE has a chance to

Pavlov could easily enunciate the reasons why engi- look up from his slide rule and see what is happening inneers are narrow-minded, dullard, care-nothing cloddys the world. The first thing he sees is that perhaps lessin everything save their narrow specialties, and the big than 20 percent of his peers who started with him asword is conditioning. The smart little six-year-old child freshmen are here to get BE degrees. The rest havegoes to school, and since he is bright he wants to ask flunked out or transferred to the School of Businessquestions. But because the school is 129 percent over- Administration. The next thing he notices are the com-crowded, and because the teacher invariably is not very pany recruiters circling like hungry vultures ready to plybright (the IQ and ability of most grade and high school him with wine and starting salaries inflated beyond what

JORDAN: ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALISM 139

the companies may be paying to men hired two years de-conditioning (awareness)ago who are still in their employ. fraternalizationSo our EE joins his first firm, and quickly learns the internal communication

prime rule-getting the project finished on time and external communication.within the budget is first and foremost, just like gettinggood grades. The conditioning process is now complete, Without going into great detail, the explanation offor the EE has been made to see that only technical work these four steps is readily stated. First, the present dayand its quality is what counts. Never mind your 2 by 4 EE must become considerably more aware of the socialoffice, the increasingly inequitable salary, or even that consequences of his acts and particularly of the processthe project itself is designed to blow up or sterilize half of education, which left him with a rather narrow socialthe world. To do the job of engineering without regard viewpoint. Many colleges are attempting to rectify thisto the consequences to self or society is the ultimate good. problem partially by including a much broader based

curriculum in the undergraduate studies. This is of littlehelp to the EE already in practice, though, who must firstbecome aware what his problems are and why the prob-lems exist.

Solutions and Solvents Fraternalization, in the sense of banding together forthe common good, is the next logical step. The individual

The foregoing was quite sharply critical, and of course EE cannot fight his battle alone since individually onedoes not represent the totality of engineering status. can do little to change the status quo. Collectively, how-Naturally, some organizations are not plagued with any ever, the strength of electronic engineers banded togetherof the ills discussed, nor are some engineers faced with for the common good would potentially be a force moreany of these difficulties. But on the average, most com- powerful than the AMA or the Bar. Very sadly, thepanies, and by inference quite a few engineers, face one IEEE has divorced itself from most activities concerningor more real deterrents to the establishment of even professionalism! According to a recent editorial insemi-ideal professional work/pay/status conditions. SPECTRUM replying to this author's questions, the charterOne highly significant cause of the unfortunate facts of the IEEE does not allow for such activity. One might

of life faced by many EEs is that same source that pays also be led to suspect a certain reticence due to the non-for so much engineering these days the government. The profit status of IEEE and the almost certain loss of thissimple fact that a large percentage of R&D funding tax exemption should IEEE begin anything approachingcomes from a huge governmental structure inherently a lobbying activity. Since so few engineers belong to thecreates many of the professional problems faced by the NSPE or EJC, this door also seems closed. The incon-modern engineer. The conditioning process given trovertible fact is that the majority of practicing EEspreviously abets this difficulty, with the result that prob- need a national organization looking out for their pro-lems peculiar to engineering as an occupation arises. For fessional interests. What is being advocated here is notexample, the government puts out an RFQ for bids to an AFL-CIO-type unionization that could very wellthree large, selected firms. If the amount of the antici- prove a giant step backwards. Rather, an organizationpated contract runs to several millions of dollars and the similar to the AMA, and operated by engineers, forinitial bidding sequence extends over many months, engineers, with the purpose of informing the public,each company might very well begin to "staff up" with lobbying Congress, and generally promoting the statusengineers to meet anticipated needs upon award of and welfare of the engineer is sorely needed.contract. The number of engineers added could be as Provided the first two criteria are met, the next logicalmany as a thousand on some large contracts. However, action would be to communicate the collective engineer-since only one company will be awarded the contract, ing needs both to fellow professionals, and more impor-the other two will go through massive layoffs of the tantly, to company management. A single worker com-2000 "surplus" professionals. plaining about inadequate salary can be easily ignored byDue to the conditioning process mentioned, few or the front office. A select body of engineers representing

none of those involved in the Black Friday layoff expe- their peers would certainly stand a much better chancerience will attempt to do anything to ameliorate the of being heard. There absolutely will not be any majorsocio-economic conditions that produced the event, change in engineering status for most engineers untilRather, most will simply seek new employment with the they unite to the extent that a solid, powerful, bargainingresult that in six to twelve months the whole process is force is created.repeated again and quantities of engineers are back to Finally, if the first three steps were underway it wouldthe routine of updating and mailing their resumes. become feasible to inform Congress, and other govern-The answers to these and other professional problems mental bodies, of engineering needs not being met. Cer-

must lie in a process of change which could be listed thus: tainly most large business concerns, doctors, lawyers, and

140 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AEROSPACE AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS MARCH 1968

many others, maintain continual liaison with the govern- BIBLIOGRAPHYment through lobbying activities and public relations [' M. 1. Mantell, Ethlics anid Professiontalism in Engineerinig.firms. Considering the success other professional groups New York: Macmillan, 1964.have had with such activity, it seems surprising that [2] C. C. Cutler, "The way to a more professional status," IEEEhave ad wihsuc actiity, t sees surrisin thatSpectrum (Spectral Linies), vol. 4, January 1967.engineers have not yet pursued this course. Although P]I "Forum," IEEE Spectrum, vol. 4, March, April, and Maythere is no way to predict the measure of success this 1967.[l[ "Industry and the young engineer," Entginieer, vol. 7, no. 4.might bring it certainly seems reasonable to assume that [01 M. B. Leeds, "Editorial: professional groups and personalat least the wildest peaks of the employment cycles might liberties," Electronic Design, July 5, 1965.be leveled. Perhaps the greatest benefit might simply be ['I Bruce, Freeman, Biega, and Hiller, "Letters," Electronic

Design, October and December 1965 and February 1966.a greater awareness on the part of both government and [71 A. Uris, Tlhe Executive Job Market. New York: McGraw-industry that engineers are not (or should not be) an Hill, 1965.easily tradeable commodity to be used as one might use 18] Black and Lynch, How To Move in Management. New York:

McGraw-Hill, 1967.any other tool, but are instead human beings, highly edu- 19] Dill et al., The New Mantagers. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Pren-cated, who could significantly contribute to real social tice-Hall, 1966.progress if given the freedom, latitude, and to an extent 110] B. Hoffmann, The Tyrannty of Testintg. New York: Crowell-

the securit enjoyed b other proessionals.Collier, 1962.the security enjoyed by other professionals. I'l] W. H. Whyte, Jr., The Organization Man. New York: Double-What do you think? day, 1956.

Gary Blake Jordan (M'61) was born in Urbana, Ill., on February 3, 1939. He receivedthe B.S.E.E. degree from Ohio University, Athens, and has done graduate study atNortheastern University, Boston, Mass., and San Fernando Valley State College,Northridge, Calif.He is presently with the Aerospace Division, ITT Federal Laboratories, Sylmar,

Calif. His primary field of endeavor, both for ITT and previous employers has beenin the area of electronic warfare and ECM-ECCM systems.

Mr. Jordan is a member of the Washington Academy of Science, the Ohio Academyof Sciences, the Radio Society of Great Britain, the Society of Technical Writers andPublishers, the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, theAmerican Radio Relay League, and the International Amateur Radio Club (Geneva,Switzerland).

JORDAN: ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALISM 141