SINGAPORE: Engineers online, including those who have been in the industry for 20 years, have advised others to consider another profession amid low pay, heavy workloads, and long hours, with one saying that being an engineer “saps the life out of you.”
Their comments came after Channel News Asia (CNA) reported that traditional engineering fields such as aerospace, civil, mechanical, electrical, and chemical engineering have struggled to attract and retain talent. Many have left for better-paying industries like finance and technology, leaving a gap that has grown more visible over the years.
According to the Ministry of Education, only 22.2 per cent of university students were enrolled in engineering sciences in 2023, down from 42.9 per cent in 2003. A similar drop was seen in polytechnics, from 43.3 per cent to 27.9 per cent during the same period.
The CNA report also pointed out that many engineering graduates eventually end up choosing other career paths.
Environment consultancy Arup’s Asia-Pacific managing director Chew Tai Chong, who has been in the industry for over 40 years, said, “The consequences of not having enough engineers will be catastrophic for the future generation.”
However, engineers online said the decline in interest didn’t come as a surprise, calling it a long time coming.
One tenured engineer said that while everyone recognises the need for more engineers, “the industry is not paying to attract talents,” adding that as someone who has been in the industry for about 20 years, “it has always been this situation.”
He also described the work as “back-breaking,” often in non-air-conditioned environments, and rarely within normal working hours.
Another engineer who joined right after university said the field was promising in the early 2000s but has since gone downhill, describing how the industry had high turnover and “sapped the life out of you.”
He shared how he went from feeling optimistic to being “demoralised” after years of overtime and constant staff turnover.
He said, “Many people left for other industries (usually property, finance, and civil services). I was the last person in my batch to leave. Why? Maybe I was so demoralised that I just went through the motions of work. I started as optimistic about my job, then tapered to be realistic, then I got angry, then depressed, then indifferent.”
“I got into meaningless arguments with my boss and his boss. I had to work overtime every day because most of my team had left. Every new hire stayed less than three years, so I saw no point in training them properly,” he added.
One day, after years of frustration, he decided to quit on the spot. “I just snapped. I Googled for [a] resignation letter, changed some contents, printed it out and marched to my team leader’s office and said I’m quitting. I had never looked back since.”
Meanwhile, others shared how interns in engineering firms vowed never to pursue the profession after their stints, as “the responsibility, technical expertise, and hours do not match up to the pay at all.” One noted that some of those he knew who graduated in the field ended up switching to driving for Grab instead.
“It’s only those that are really passionate, or have no choice, that stay on,” another remarked. /TISG
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Featured image by Depositphotos (for illustration purposes only)
