The number of newly registered incorporated engineers continues to decline. The strategy of the Engineering Council is clearly not aligned to supporting the engineering technologist professional. Given the governments commitment to technical education the IET should create their own professional register to provide a relevant standard. It is obvious the current UKSPEC standard lacks credibility in terms of the IEng grade
I might be able to slightly answer your question with an example from my own career. For whatever reason I have always been happy to constructively challenge the status quo - if something looks stupid then let's find out if it is stupid, and if so change it - and also to take calculated risks when there is no status quo. If a solution is needed, and the existing rules do not apply, then I'm happy to work to create new rules. A consequence of this was that for very many years I have found myself in engineering management / leadership positions. The crucial point is that when I had staff they were very happy that I was in that position as (to paraphrase something that was very often said to me) "we don't want our heads above the parapet!". (This was tested a few times when I was moved to other positions and there was no rush by any of my team to take my place!)
It's absolutely not about higher or lower status, it's about people being in roles where they feel comfortable. I feel most comfortable in borderline unfamiliar situations where new solutions and change are needed, with consequent risk management, based on my existing knowledge. I get the impression this applies to yourself as well. Many engineers don't. This is a Good Thing for all concerned - vive la difference
(P.S. I will lob in here yet again my favourite example of my good friend the electrician, who does everything by the book, and consequently has a huge house, indoor swimming pool, and regular cruise holidays. My wife is very jealous, as far as I'm concerned good on him! It would drive me completely mad doing his job.)
I have full sympathy with your point about industry fears of innovation, I work in the rail industry - historically possibly the most change averse industry there is! The only comment I can offer on this is that what is often needed is sheer bloody-minded determination that your innovation is a good thing, with an understanding of how to ensure that your innovation is reducing risk (of whatever form) not increasing it. A lot of which is judo mentality, working with the systems to drive change through. As an example, some years back I led the development of a highly innovative, highly safety critical, train detection system, which Network Rail were able to see would both improve its reliability and improve its safety argument. So we worked together to bring it in - even though it didn't meet the industry standard (because the solution was new) which meant that we had to create a new acceptance argument from scratch. From this I was invited onto the industry standards committee to help rewrite the standard, which we finally released last week(!), so the innovation is now the standard. It's been a long haul, and we only got there because a few of us were convinced all the way through that we were doing the right thing, and made sure we thoroughly understood the systems we were working with, but it can be done.
I might be able to slightly answer your question with an example from my own career. For whatever reason I have always been happy to constructively challenge the status quo - if something looks stupid then let's find out if it is stupid, and if so change it - and also to take calculated risks when there is no status quo. If a solution is needed, and the existing rules do not apply, then I'm happy to work to create new rules. A consequence of this was that for very many years I have found myself in engineering management / leadership positions. The crucial point is that when I had staff they were very happy that I was in that position as (to paraphrase something that was very often said to me) "we don't want our heads above the parapet!". (This was tested a few times when I was moved to other positions and there was no rush by any of my team to take my place!)
It's absolutely not about higher or lower status, it's about people being in roles where they feel comfortable. I feel most comfortable in borderline unfamiliar situations where new solutions and change are needed, with consequent risk management, based on my existing knowledge. I get the impression this applies to yourself as well. Many engineers don't. This is a Good Thing for all concerned - vive la difference
(P.S. I will lob in here yet again my favourite example of my good friend the electrician, who does everything by the book, and consequently has a huge house, indoor swimming pool, and regular cruise holidays. My wife is very jealous, as far as I'm concerned good on him! It would drive me completely mad doing his job.)
I have full sympathy with your point about industry fears of innovation, I work in the rail industry - historically possibly the most change averse industry there is! The only comment I can offer on this is that what is often needed is sheer bloody-minded determination that your innovation is a good thing, with an understanding of how to ensure that your innovation is reducing risk (of whatever form) not increasing it. A lot of which is judo mentality, working with the systems to drive change through. As an example, some years back I led the development of a highly innovative, highly safety critical, train detection system, which Network Rail were able to see would both improve its reliability and improve its safety argument. So we worked together to bring it in - even though it didn't meet the industry standard (because the solution was new) which meant that we had to create a new acceptance argument from scratch. From this I was invited onto the industry standards committee to help rewrite the standard, which we finally released last week(!), so the innovation is now the standard. It's been a long haul, and we only got there because a few of us were convinced all the way through that we were doing the right thing, and made sure we thoroughly understood the systems we were working with, but it can be done.
