Engineers and global economy in the 21st century: a conceptual analysis

Abstract

Profile of an engineer of the 21st century is very different from that of a conventional engineer of earlier century. This is an era of “Knowledge Economy” where business environments have changed from catering to a one product requirement to complete solutions. New industries, new working environment and new technologies are emerging. Modern age engineers’ job description is multidisciplinary and global, and it requires broad management skills. Beyond the hard core, basic technical skills, engineers need to develop talents associated with project management, systems engineering, global marketing, foreign languages interpersonal relations and even communications. The best engineers will be the ones who can organize, work in multidisciplinary and multicultural business environment and think globally. In Malaysia too, continued health of engineering profession will be a key driver of national economic growth. This paper is an attempt to conceptualize the future of engineering profession in general and of Malaysian engineers specifically, in a globalized world of 2020.