Civil Engineering September 2022 | Vol 30 No 8

8 September 2022 Civil Engineering Le t ter to the ed i tor O ver the past 14 or so years I have been mentoring young graduate engineers towards professional registration and have assisted about 40 to become registered. In my opinion, the essence of mentoring goes beyond merely the registration process but also involves motivating the mentees to become good and fruitful engineers and to enjoy their chosen profession. I have thus had long discussions with these young engineers about their future as they see it. Unfortunately, there are two aspects that stick out during these discussions. One is the expressed desire of more than half the young engineers of all races and gender with whom I interact to seek employment overseas once they become registered. The second is the predilection of many of them to enter into post- graduate studies in fields such as MBAs and engineering management. I have tried to point out to the young engineers wishing to study further the desirability of developing their engineering skills, both by study, but particularly through sound experience in the early years following registration. Unfortunately, the prospects and even expectations of management posts in their near future seems to trump their further engineering development. During my earlier career engineers only opened their own practices after decades of developing their engineering capabilities and gaining a good reputation in engineering, or became public sector managers in engineering after at least two to three decades of experience as practising engineers. Does anyone have any insight into the current thinking of many young engineers? Dr MalcolmMitchell Pr Eng, FSAICE Retired Deputy Director-General of Transport malcolm3511@gmail.com A worrying phenomenon among many young engineers • Earth embankments • Bridge abutments • Cut slopes • Steep channels • River banks • Culvert inlets/outlets APPLICATION: UNIQUE PRODUCTS: • Florawall (earth terrace retaining support) • Earthform (natural support for terraces) • Enviro-Wall & RocEnviro-Wall (retaining wall system) Find our branches at www.technicrete.co.za p a v i n g | m i n i n g | m a s o n r y | k e r b s | e r o s i o n p r o t e c t i o n | r e t a i n i n g w a l l s | d r a i n a g e Technicrete is a subsidiary of ISG, a leading supplier of innovative infrastructure products to the construction and mining markets in Southern Africa.