Unregistered |
31-07-2011 11:43 PM |
After working a few years as an Engineer, I think I knew the reasons behind this declining industry in SG, particularly in the electronic and embedded software department. In MNC, most of the engineers are only doing maintenance/ support work which requires very little skill. In SME, the engineers are stuck doing some uncompetitive OEM products which makes very little profit for the company. Then there are the companies that survive on Government funded projects like ST electronic (which IMO, such companies are also uncompetitive but there is no need for them to be competitive). Engineers working for these companies will have difficulties in honing/improving or learn new skill and their talent will not be used to full potential. We no longer have the expertise to compete with the likes of Apple, Sumsung or even logitech and ASUS. In fact, when I look at the counterfeit or innovative electronic products designed in China, I feel that our engineering capabilities are even inferior to theirs. I also do not think that by letting in more foreigners will help to boost our engineering industry. If you take a moment to think, you will realise that there is no incentive for top foreign talented Engineers from APPLE, microsoft, Google, Sumsung, SONY etc to move to Singapore since i am sure they are paid alot more in their own countries, and perhaps are having a better life/work balance too. The engineers we attract from overseas are IMO, very mediocre and cannot compete on the world's stage. All they do is to further drive down the wage of the low skilled local engineers.
Engineers were well respected in the 80s and 90s because a significant percentage of our GPD comes from electronic manufacturing. As our wages grew out of those developing world's salary, we lost the competitive edge in that sector and gradually the manufacturing is moved offshore.
If you want to know how the Engineering industry in SG is relevant today, you can visit the Communicasia exhibition which is held every year in June. The previous exhibition shows me that the engineering sector will be focusing on 1. Satellite internet for shipping 2. Cable layout for internet 3. some Mobile device development. The first one will means that Engineers will be on a contract job to create internet working on cargo ships. The second one most likely will be the fiber internet network layout for whole of SG. The third one I am guessing that there will be more companies coming here to seek help from Infineon's expertise on mobile chipset and network. In short, I do not think that prospect is looking too good for engineers here.
Occasionally there will be people who claimed that there are engineers that are earning a good pay (7-8k/month). The percentage of such engineers is very small and honestly speaking, 7-8k salary is nothing to shout about too.
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