Reply to: Graduate unemployment has risen to its highest level for 17 years

[Aman]

I wanted to be one of those.

Sadly, I lost the will to live halfway through filling in the application form.

I'm not surprised. The whole process is very contractor unfriendly.

"Have your line manager sign the form."

"Capture any individual career plans and development activities agreed with line manager or human resources department"

Hmm, I can see that going down well with a client.

UK-SPEC should enable individuals and employers to find out whether they or their staff can meet the requirements,

I was browsing through the IET and BCS websites at the weekend looking for free courses and tutorials and it got me thinking about re-registration. I stopped paying fees to the UK PEIs and the Engineering Council several years ago, after the IEE refused to try and connect me with a mentor, insisting it was a careers advisor I needed. Taking a direct debit from my account on [IIRC] 1 Jan, when if I'm working I am always on at least 2 weeks forced leave wasn't particularly helpful of them.

CBA with all that now.

The Engineering Council and the PEIs appear to be imploding.
For those who haven't taken the traditional route, the self employed, contractors, those not in a paternalistic company, they make what should be straightforward rather tricky.


The EC couldn't run the (part 2) exams when I took them.. there was a dearth of courses, the exam syllabus was vague, a third to half of the books were out of print, I couldn't find the Weibull paper I needed to practice for the Q&RE exam anywhere, they booked my test at the other end of the country from the test centre I paid and registered to be entered for the exams at.


Ideally, the exams would have been administered and marketed like those in the various accounting professions. There are all sorts of accountancy exam preparation materials in libraries and bookshops. As far as I know irrespective of degree all accountants have to take the exams of the particular branch of the profession.

There used to be a mature candidates route to chartered engineer, which involved writing up a major project the candidate had a significant role in as an engineer or technical PM. I'm not sure if that still exists.


I'd written up hundreds of hours of CPD to SARTOR 1, then was told I'd need to write everything up again in a different format. Now the format has changed again.
The EC eventually had to enlist the CGLI to run the exams.
EC are dropping the exams in 2011, with only re-sits being available in 2012. They cite lack of people interested in wanting to become chartered.

It's not that people aren't interested in becoming chartered, incorporated or whatever, I think it's more likely that people don't want to work and study to earn a title which the regulating institution makes no efforts to protect.

There's no mention of the Engineering Council or PEIs in the 2010 SOC consultations with the Office of National Statistics, so the skilled trades (group 5 occupations) will still be littered with job titles with engineer in them.
The IET had to start admitting electricians in and have lowered the standards for membership (MIET) to an electrical installation inspection and testing certificate. That's three wires FFS! It's hardly the pinnacle of formal test engineering.
Edit: No just checked the site again and the IET actually accept people with CGLI 236 Pt 1 & 2. That's not enough to 'qualify' as an electrician!
Rather than lowering standards they would have been better promoting other ways for people with more diverse circumstances to meet the existing standards.




It appears Bob is still interested in becoming Chartered Engineers though, as a way to enter the UK.

IET Young Professionals page, overseas, Facebook

See which types of jobs available in UK regarding Electrical,There are hundreds of them in Worldwide such countries as UK,USA,Japan All these for only IET members who having IET memberships,not for all graduates,joining IET means You will be a Worldwide Charted Engineer,just keep that it in ur mind, No need to wait and ...worry anymore.Join IET.It will be a huge saving for your future lives.

[GreenLabel]

Hmmm I suppose foreign languages are useful to those low-skilled itinerant jobbers who need to travel far and wide earning a pittance...

You mean like this guy?

[shaunbhoy]

So he did get promoted after all.

Straight after he informed him that B&Q had "headhunted" him.

Then he blew his payrise on a new eco-shed!!!

[d000hg]

So he did get promoted after all.

[shaunbhoy]

Don't worry. It's not like you get anywhere near real money of any colour or currency. Your language skills aren't the problem, it's the fact they wouldn't trust you with monopoly money.

They would not trust sasguru to count his gooleys and get the same number twice. That is why the nearest they let him get to any corporate decision-making is when they let him mop the boardroom floor!!

[d000hg]

Ah so the real money is in China and Japan.
And I didn't even notice. My bad.

Don't worry. It's not like you get anywhere near real money of any colour or currency. Your language skills aren't the problem, it's the fact they wouldn't trust you with monopoly money.

[Sysman]

Hmmm, how does this square with the "IT Skills Shortage" bollocks that's cureently being spouted?

Full article

Possibly this?

Recently a director at a huge bank asked me “Do British students learn algorithms?”

At first I thought he was joking, but even though he was paying three times what the average new grad gets paid, he felt despair. Because of similar experiences I was surprised to read that only 17 per cent of CompSci grads from last year haven’t got a job yet.

Many are Java programmers. OK, I’m no fanboi, but many seem to know no other language, with bog standard languages like SQL, VB, Perl, et al being alien to them. I’m an old git, but still value leading edge stuff such as F# and CUDA, which show you are able to do stuff that others can’t. I am uniformly disappointed.

Yes there are many people doing Java, but that is of almost no importance. What matters is the number of jobs per person chasing them, and that has an awful ratio. Everyone in India, from waiters to religious gurus, knows Java, and so do all recent western CompSci grads. That is the supply/demand ratio from hell, and it’s getting worse.

[sasguru]

FTFY

You think the City deals with just sterling and dollars?
There's a reason why you live off your overdraft you know.

[shaunbhoy]

Ah so the real money is in China and Japan.
So all that money in the City is quantitatively eased
And I didn't even notice. My bad.
jeez has someone opened a moron school specially for Cukkers?

FTFY

[sasguru]

Of course if one wanted to talk to people where the real money is, like China and Japan, one might claim you are an idiot.

Ah so the real money is in China and Japan.
So all that money in the City is fake.
And I didn't even notice. My bad.
jeez has someone opened a moron school specially for Cukkers?

[thunderlizard]

Of course 2010 is the year by which the Labour government wanted to achieve the 50% rate for further education. It's not that the "like-for-like" graduate unemployment rate has gone up - it's more that the "graduate rate" has gone up.

[TimberWolf]

I wanted to be one of those.

Sadly, I lost the will to live halfway through filling in the application form.

It's not all boring.


IGMC

[Ignis Fatuus]

So skills shortage = willing to do work better than the British and at a lower cost.

Is there a bit missing from this sentence? I am having some trouble with it.

[d000hg]

Hmmm I suppose foreign languages are useful to those low-skilled itinerant jobbers who need to travel far and wide earning a pittance, rather than having an easy life earning the lucrative rewards available in the richest part of Europe, the City.

Of course if one wanted to talk to people where the real money is, like China and Japan, one might claim you are an idiot.

[GreenLabel]

The skills shortage is real. One has only to observe CUK posters for a while to see how many cannot reason, cannot make judgements based on the balance of probabilities, are not familiar with using data to back up theories, cannot count, don't have basic social skills in the real world, don't know how science works etc. etc.
Of course these posters tend to be in the low paying/dead-end/dull roles - there's a reason for that.

That would explain why you've stuck around for close to 20,000 posts.