ESD PRESIDENT MESSAGE
CHANGE IS AT HAND
Engineering is entering an exciting time!
W
hat an exciting time to be an engineer. Almost every segment of the industry is seeing growth, development and transition. We are seeing new fields, new types of careers and tremendous opportunity. This is the biggest time of change we have seen in decades—especially in the auto industry—take a look at some of the other new opportunities: Software engineers—This is a field no longer for just game designers, PC programmers or main frame developers. Now many opportunities in transportation, aerospace, medical/healthcare and construction are emerging. In the automotive industry, autonomous drive, artificial intelligence, infotainment or instrument clusters are key areas to watch. Cyber security—Engineers in this field are a growing breed. Currently the demand is high and the supply is very limited. Manufacturing—With the development of 3D printing and the Internet of Things (IoT), many, many new opportunities exist. Mechanical—A big change is coming in the evolution of mechanical systems (controlled by hardware) to electrical mechanical systems (controlled by software). This offers flexibility to add features and more easily improve operations, but it also adds security risks. Mechanical experts are needed for this integration. Big data analysis—With technological growth comes information. A lot of it. A lot of data. We will need people with the know-how to analyze data, both from a business standpoint (what does the data mean to our services?) and from an engineering standpoint (how do we correlate, analyze and extract relationships in the data?) What’s next on the horizon? It seems the sky is the limit! It’s an exciting time for engineers. Let’s make sure we stay involved and informed to make the most of new developments and the entrepreneurial spirit embracing our industry today.
Douglas Patton, FESD President, The Engineering Society of Detroit Executive Vice President & CTO, DENSO International America, Inc.
4 | TechCentury | SPRING 2017