He graduated in 2009 with a 2.1 from a reasonably good university, but he has never managed to succeed in an interview for a 'proper' engineering job.

Did the rest of his cohort ?

The degree may not 'expire' assuming he can still design stuff, and has not forgotten the theory, but I can well imagine his employability falls over time unless he does things to keep up to date.

Consider that in the UK at least there has not been a shortage of jobs in EE in the last 5 years, quite the reverse, so any potential employer is going to ask what has he been up to in the last 5 years that makes him so unemployable, which needs to be bounced back to be why they should take him now is...  Can he answer that question ?  Do not waste any more time going to an interviews until that one is nailed and there is a solid answer for it. It may sound harsh, but you, or really he need(s) to stand back and see it with the potential employer's goggles on.


Almost never does a hassled project manager say ' this project is failing fast, I know what we need, get me an inexperienced graduate'.  It is about as useful as 'let me through I'm a poet' at the scene of a car crash.


Where I work we get a fair number of graduate applications in most years and we see a good number of CVs from folk at various stages in their career.

So what folk get the jobs ? Well, the ones whose names and skills you can remember by 5 o'clock after interviewing half a dozen candidates from 10AM onwards, that's who.

Normally we find out what someone of that age might be good at by asking about the last few projects they were on, or their previous employer. Here this may not be relevant.

So, has be been doing any electronics at home for fun recently that he can talk about to show willing? Is he any good at fault finding, done any web design, evidence of interest and self motivation.

Is he clear what he wants to do, e.g. does he want to do technical sales, and travel the county/country/ world looking at other folks problems and seeing how they may be solved ?

perhaps he is he more of a bench creature, and fancies setting up benches of test gear to verify performance of some vital parts.

Is he able to remember how to  design ? - it is amazing how many folk cock  up the simple 'calculate the bias resistors for this NPN transistor circuit?'  'or what frequency is the antenna in this photo working at ? '  even op amps and RC time constant type questions that really ought to be a formality in interview. I do sometimes ask myself of some less successful candidates what sort of technical questions were they expecting.

Fresh graduates with no previous employer grade un officially into sheep and goats. Sheep have followed with the main herd and have completed the  course with no great deviations or initiative, though they may still be 1st class honours. Goats have done their own thing, tried stuff and may be either about to invent the next big win, or to burn the lab down, sometimes both on the same day,  and may have odd hobbies like mountain climbing or scuba diving.

QA, factory test and to some extent repairs, need the reliable follow the rule book sheep type.  Brainstorms for new designs,  fixes for previously unseen faults and anything really blue sky, needs a few goats, but not too many on the same job.

He needs to know before he applies if he is the right type.

Are there other limitations - is he tied geographically -  for work in some more niche subjects,  you need be able to go where the work is, and if need be, be ready to learn another language to do it, or less dramatically to commute at the weekend, and lodge for the week near the job.

Your  colleague needs also to be able to present himself, naturally, as to act is very dangerous, but to get his aims ambitions competences and generally what he likes to do,  as well as any limitations or caveats, out of his head and into that of the interviewer, with minimal pain to either, so some practice at presentation technique is useful.


So much waffle .


To the exam question,  Do engineering degrees die if they are not used ?

Only if the holder is not keeping their hand in the game.

 

He graduated in 2009 with a 2.1 from a reasonably good university, but he has never managed to succeed in an interview for a 'proper' engineering job.

Did the rest of his cohort ?

The degree may not 'expire' assuming he can still design stuff, and has not forgotten the theory, but I can well imagine his employability falls over time unless he does things to keep up to date.

Consider that in the UK at least there has not been a shortage of jobs in EE in the last 5 years, quite the reverse, so any potential employer is going to ask what has he been up to in the last 5 years that makes him so unemployable, which needs to be bounced back to be why they should take him now is...  Can he answer that question ?  Do not waste any more time going to an interviews until that one is nailed and there is a solid answer for it. It may sound harsh, but you, or really he need(s) to stand back and see it with the potential employer's goggles on.


Almost never does a hassled project manager say ' this project is failing fast, I know what we need, get me an inexperienced graduate'.  It is about as useful as 'let me through I'm a poet' at the scene of a car crash.


Where I work we get a fair number of graduate applications in most years and we see a good number of CVs from folk at various stages in their career.

So what folk get the jobs ? Well, the ones whose names and skills you can remember by 5 o'clock after interviewing half a dozen candidates from 10AM onwards, that's who.

Normally we find out what someone of that age might be good at by asking about the last few projects they were on, or their previous employer. Here this may not be relevant.

So, has be been doing any electronics at home for fun recently that he can talk about to show willing? Is he any good at fault finding, done any web design, evidence of interest and self motivation.

Is he clear what he wants to do, e.g. does he want to do technical sales, and travel the county/country/ world looking at other folks problems and seeing how they may be solved ?

perhaps he is he more of a bench creature, and fancies setting up benches of test gear to verify performance of some vital parts.

Is he able to remember how to  design ? - it is amazing how many folk cock  up the simple 'calculate the bias resistors for this NPN transistor circuit?'  'or what frequency is the antenna in this photo working at ? '  even op amps and RC time constant type questions that really ought to be a formality in interview. I do sometimes ask myself of some less successful candidates what sort of technical questions were they expecting.

Fresh graduates with no previous employer grade un officially into sheep and goats. Sheep have followed with the main herd and have completed the  course with no great deviations or initiative, though they may still be 1st class honours. Goats have done their own thing, tried stuff and may be either about to invent the next big win, or to burn the lab down, sometimes both on the same day,  and may have odd hobbies like mountain climbing or scuba diving.

QA, factory test and to some extent repairs, need the reliable follow the rule book sheep type.  Brainstorms for new designs,  fixes for previously unseen faults and anything really blue sky, needs a few goats, but not too many on the same job.

He needs to know before he applies if he is the right type.

Are there other limitations - is he tied geographically -  for work in some more niche subjects,  you need be able to go where the work is, and if need be, be ready to learn another language to do it, or less dramatically to commute at the weekend, and lodge for the week near the job.

Your  colleague needs also to be able to present himself, naturally, as to act is very dangerous, but to get his aims ambitions competences and generally what he likes to do,  as well as any limitations or caveats, out of his head and into that of the interviewer, with minimal pain to either, so some practice at presentation technique is useful.


So much waffle .


To the exam question,  Do engineering degrees die if they are not used ?

Only if the holder is not keeping their hand in the game.