83% of engineers say they devote considerable time training themselves in new tech and techniques, according to poll
August 2020 - Engineering
83% of engineers say they devote considerable time training themselves in new tech and techniques: A survey asking engineers around the world what is important to them, for their careers and in the workplace, has found that 83% spend considerable time learning new technologies and techniques.The research, conducted by AspenCore, the parent company of EDN, polled 1,400 engineers looking at areas such as job satisfaction, adoption of new and emerging technologies, interaction with suppliers, as well as questions relating to working during the COVID-19 pandemic and the changes happening due to this.
Most adopted technologies
The research asked engineers about the technologies they have already adopted at work as well as the technologies they might be interested in adopting in two years. Sixty-two percent (62%) said they have adopted 'sensors', with 7% interested in the possibility of adopting the technology in the near future.
The second most popular adopted technology was 'analog/linear and digital signal processing' (53% - with 6% interested), followed by 'design tools/EDA/CAD' (52% with 5% interested), 'IoT' (51% - with 15% interested ), 'power management' (49% - with 7% interested) and 'industrial control and automation' (42% - with 11% interested). AI has been adopted by 41% although 22% said they might be interested within two years, while 40% have adopted 'electromechanical design' (with 7% interested).
Other adopted technologies cited by engineers included: 'wireless connectivity protocols' (38% - with 14% interested ); 'machine learning' (36% - with 20% interested); 'sensing and mobility' (33% with 13% interested); 'RF/microwave' (32% - with 6% interested); 'smart connect device design' (29% with 20% interested); 'big data' (25% - with 20% interested), while 'high temp/high power semiconductors' (24% - with 8% interested) were also mentioned.
Towards the lower end of the table, just over a fifth of respondents (21%) said they have adopted 'autonomous automotive' technologies (with 11% showing an interest), with the same percentage adopting 'data centre, cloud or network management security' (with 12% interested). For 5G, 20% said they have adopted the technology already (with 17% interested), followed by 'edge computing data security' (18% - with 12% interested), 'Bio diagnostics, detection' (16% - with 12% interested), and 'digital twin' (8% - with 7% interested).
The 2020 Mind of the Engineer Study found that while engineers from Europe and America tend to use desktop machines and laptops to carry out the bulk of engineering work, their Asian counterparts use mobile devices more frequently.
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