Training and retaining of new recruits is critical
THE consulting engineering industry is making slow, steady transformation progress as it seeks to become an industry that is truly representative of SA’s people.
Peter Viljoen, chairman of Consulting Engineering SA’s (Cesa’s) marketing and communications committee, says the profession falls far short of where it should be from a demographics perspective.
However, from another perspective the industry is doing well and Cesa’s member firms have put effort into transformation through mechanisms such as funding bursaries and extensive training and development.
“Of necessity it is a process that takes time and we cannot afford to rush it as people’s lives depend on the decisions engineers make. It takes years of training for engineers to qualify and at least five years of good experience to prepare them for more senior roles,” says Viljoen.
Another hurdle is engineers have to be good at mathematics and science, subjects that tend to be de-emphasised in many schools.
The relatively small pool of suitable students is in high demand as maths and science are requirements for many professions.
Some of Cesa’s members are actively involved at a high school level in promoting science and mathematics, and Cesa has an annual drive to attract people into the industry by inviting students into its member firms to see the work carried out by engineers.
But while these are issues that need to be addressed, the main impediment to transformation is the low industry workload.
“A lot of work has been done at a tertiary education level and the people coming out of universities and technikons are largely reflective of the country’s demographics. In addition, more women are training as engineers.
“However, there is a huge gap between an engineering graduate and an engineering professional with the years of project experience needed to add value to projects and mentor new entrants in the industry.
“Bridging this gap is a serious challenge as the industry’s workload has fallen significantly and there are delays in bringing many of the major infrastructure programmes to the market.
“Without a strong flow of work, new graduates do not have the projects in which they can participate and start gaining much needed experience,” says Viljoen.
He says that more work flow also means greater demand for skills and more resources available within firms to develop people.
Viljoen says that engineers not only need experience to become better engineers but also to take on the challenge of starting their own firms. An engineer working on a range of major projects such as Gautrain is developing far ahead of one who works on a few routine projects and spends most of his time tendering.
“We need to develop engineers who are our future leaders and mentors so that future generations will have the foundation they need to develop and grow within the industry,” says Viljoen.
He says there is a shortage of engineering talent around the world and that they are mobile, so SA is losing skilled people to other countries where there may be better opportunities. Further, engineers are popular with industries ranging from banking to management consulting and this is another drain on skilled resources.
“We have sufficient or even a surplus of engineers for our present workload. Once government’s infrastructure projects gain momentum, we will need more people and we will be able to attract people back to this country,” says Viljoen.