Is Engineering truly "Glamourous"???

[Travis Hoffman]

Here's one FIRST-related opinion:

http://machinedesign.texterity.com/m...0060309/?pg=14

So what do you think?

The author focuses on criticizing Dean's dream of elevating engineers to status symbol and celebrity levels in the eyes of the public. Do you think Dean believes we will ever achieve this on such a grand scale? Within the confines of our program, I believe we've been very successful at this, but will the general public ever buy it? Will we ever see companies paying $2 million for 30 seconds of commercial time during the worldwide broadcast of the Championship Event? Is that even a dream worth talking about, and does that kind of talk provide more ammo for detractors like the article's author?

I personally have never really cared too much about seeing the above take place. While it would be nice to be compared to LeBron James or Tom Cruise (well, not Tom Cruise), and it would REALLY be nice to be compensated in the same manner they are, I think that's just totally pie in the sky, at least in my lifetime.

I think the core goal of FIRST, getting more kids into engineering (or simply college, as far as I'm concerned), is a much more noble and realistic pursuit, and this is what drives me to continue my participation in this program. I can and have made a difference in this area.

The author seems to imply all you kids care about today is making money. While that's a natural goal for anyone to pursue, I'd like to think the main driving force behind more FIRST kids choosing engineering is not that they think they'll get rich, but that they believe in Dean's all-too-true sentiments that the world NEEDS more engineers and that there are far too many problems facing humanity for the current number of engineers to solve. And while kids don't necessarily believe that engineering is a "glamourous" profession, we engineers and mentors have shown them that it is definitely a "cool" one.

We mentors have to be careful to show these kids that engineering is also a "hard" profession, and that nothing we design, build, and accomplish comes easy. Despite recent assertions to the contrary , Andy Baker does not, in fact, magically conjure high-tech gearboxes out of thin air. He and Mark Koors spend lots of time applying knowledge they've gained over years of study and practice to churn out their great products, as do all the other engineers involved in FIRST. Kids need to understand this BEFORE they get into engineering, lest many of them be shocked to find out how much work is involved, punt, and move on to other, *easier*, and yes, potentially more lucrative jobs that won't have as big an impact on society.

Once we hook 'em, we gotta keep 'em hooked.