Measuring professional skills misalignment based on early-career engineers’ perceptions of engineering expertise

Abstract

Professional skills have long been perceived as lacking in junior engineers. Adopting a social realist theoretical framework of knowledge in practice, a hypothesis-based survey study of early career engineers' perceptions of engineering expertise was conducted. It investigated a professional skills readiness difference between initial career trajectories (hypothesis 1) through an analysis of engineering expertise perception, and whether this difference decreases over time as engineers mature (hypothesis 2). Both hypotheses were supported by three statistical tests which established the specific nature and size of this difference. Three themes were identified: Academic bias, Technical competence bias, and Rationality bias. Thematic analysis through the framework of these three themes indicates how context and complexity (Semantic dimension) and Knowledge and Knower (Specialisation dimension) were understood in practice. The three themes expressed challenges over these two dimensions in understanding Technical knowledge, Collaboration, and the Legitimate basis for practice, leading to recommendations for education and practice.

A hard stop to the term “soft skills”

“…First, dismissing professional skills as "soft," or otherwise separating them from core engineering course content, misleads students to believe that these skills are optional, void of intrinsic merit, and not essential to their future career trajectories. Literature frequently documents areas where undergraduate perceptions are misaligned with the activities or competencies of practicing engineers (e.g., Flening et al, 2021;Jang, 2016;Lutz & Paretti, 2021;Trevelyan, 2019), and no wonder-for decades, most industry reports have called for engineers with strong interpersonal and communication skills. However, new graduates entering the workforce are surprised by the distribution of daily activities pertaining to social skills, collaboration, and communication (e.g., Domal & Trevelyan, 2009;Trevelyan & Tilli, 2008).…”

Which skills? A critical perspective on the skills facilitating the transfer of third-cycle students to knowledge-intensive SMEs

“…A primary reason is that it offers engineering students an opportunity to learn informal engineering skills. Although these skills are otherwise difficult to teach in higher education, the engineering discipline of a (secondcycle) engineering student can come with the expectation to quickly master such skills [20]. This cooperation also aligns well with strong contemporary initiatives such as CDIO [21], which seek to define best practice in the context of engineering education.…”

“…Engaging with the virtuous cycle regarding second-cycle students can both be appreciated by old colleagues and enable SMEs to hunt for talents aligned with growth needs. In fact, if this is based on a strong mutual trust it might enable secondcycle students to learn informal skills [17] and transition more easily to industry [20]. However, given the strong emphasis I and Table II, with technical consultancy highlighted in white.…”

Effectiveness of online and blended teaching methods in developing professional engineering cross-curricular skills: A study in the context of Latin America

“…These objections are more pronounced in economically underdeveloped areas of developing nations that have not yet achieved higher education for all citizens. Broo et al (2022), Flening et al (2022), Munir (2022), and Jiang and Chen (2022) agree that the optimal development of an engineering profile requires the enhancement of the following cross-curricular skills: deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning, leadership, teamwork, meticulousness, and multidisciplinarity.…”