Comments on: Engineering and Technology Careers are Not Valued – Singapore is “High Cost Low Tech”

By: Engineering in Singapore?

Engineering in Singapore? — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:05:06 +0000

[...] a very interesting article on Salary.sg regarding engineering in Singapore. It worries that Singapore is increasingly becoming “high cost, low tech”, and that [...]

By: admin

admin — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 14:25:43 +0000

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By: Undergrad

Undergrad — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:57:57 +0000

To Drachir,
Sorry that I misunderstood your qn. Anyway, I do agree with you that a lot of engineering grad succeed in banking, especially in finance related jobs due to the analytical nature and good handling of figures present in most engineers due to the nature of their course. A lot of banks are actually holding recruitment drives in NUS and NTU engineering to recruit engineers into financial sectors.
To lower cost-lower tech,
I suggest that before you post anymore comments, go check out the recent news and development of education and careers in Singapore.
Firstly, President Nathan has already revealed the commencement of a 4th university in Singapore, and MOE has just held a press conference stating that the 4th university will be a university of applied technology, situated in Changi.
Secondly, if you are a bright spark in engineering, you will most probably won’t go into production or manufacturing, but rather research areas in which singapore is pouring a lot of money into. You can go check out how much good researchers earn in institutes like Astar. I know they earn a lot. Alternatively, if you are a bright spark, you may even excel if you venture in the banking/finance sector, or even become an entrepreneur.

By: Drahcir

Drahcir — Sun, 31 May 2009 06:27:12 +0000

To Undergrad:

U misunderstand my qns. Anyway, what I am trying to tell you is for engineering graduate to go into sale/bank is hard, but we will still try, becoz of the limitation of engineering in spore. The biggest of all challenge coming from China. In a nutshell, cost. Meaning that our manufacturing plant which is owned by foreign MNC will move out one day. can be very fast. And giving the environment banking will be one of the key pillar to be developed in spore. And trust me, a lot of engineering graduate succeed in banking

By: lower cost-lower tech

lower cost-lower tech — Wed, 27 May 2009 10:31:19 +0000

hi
m i still doing well, if i m bright spark going far in a low cost low tech place ?

By: finance

finance — Wed, 27 May 2009 06:32:54 +0000

As long as the government value the finance industry more than engineering, finance grads will always earn more on the whole, regardless of whether they are bright sparks or average performer. We’re talking about what’s the best industry to go into for the average student. If you’re a bright spark, no matter where you go you’ll still do well (with a bit of luck of course).
I give you 2 extreme examples to illustrate my point:
Imagine you’re average, and you decide to do ballet. How to survive in Singapore as an average ballerina?
Now imagine you’re an average back office operations guy in UOB bank or MAS. You’ll have a stable career with above-average pay barring unforeseen circumstances like retrenchments (UOB has no retrenchment thus far in this crisis and MAS has never retrenched any staff).

By: lower cost-lower tech

lower cost-lower tech — Wed, 27 May 2009 01:58:19 +0000

when will we see a new university setup with an aim of providing an engineering education from another approach, without mass producing non-holistic engineering graduates who can only think for the not valued, low cost-low tech sg manufacturing plants ??

By: Undergrad

Undergrad — Wed, 27 May 2009 01:47:16 +0000

To Drahcir,
As what goodie has mentioned, success is determined by a very complex combination of factors. Of course education and environment is one of them, but they are not the only determining ones.
Do you really think going into the finance sector or any other sector from engineering is an “easy way out”? I believe to be able to succeed in any industry, there is no easy way out, especially in Singapore. Also, what kind of limitation are you talking about? Career prospects? Annual income? Starting a company? If you are talking about all these, then there is limitation in all sectors and industries, because currently i do not know of any sector or industry which can allow most people in the industry, if not all, to be able to do very well in the above mentioned fields.

By: Goodie

Goodie — Wed, 27 May 2009 01:26:41 +0000

Read the Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Success is a combination of many factors, and luck plays a major, major part.

By: Drahcir

Drahcir — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:44:52 +0000

But if you are no good, the outcome will be the same, regardless of whatever degree you have.

I do not agreed. What make a person so good, if he is not gifted by nature. It is the education and the environment. My qns is: Do you think that people from engineering background is aiming for a easy way out or rather they have been in this environment, hence know the limitation of this industry, esp in spore.