Thread regarding Ford layoffs

Engineers have to compete with the entire world on our own soil.

Tech oligarchs and politicians hate you.

How ‘bout welding?

@1ghs At least the Titanic had a band...

Interesting question... My very young nephew proudly announced at Sunday dinner he was going to grow up and be a school bus driver. The lively dinner conversation stopped abruptly and turned on the young boy berating his idea, telling him he was stupid, it was a terrible choice, asking what in the h#×%
was he thinking, etc etc etc. Devastated my nephew ran to his bedroom. As I sat with him on his bed wiping his tears I said he could be whatever he wanted to be, and I'd stand by him. When he calmed down I gently asked why he wanted to be a bus driver. His eyes lit up when he explained whenever he's on the bus - that's the only time he feels happy cause the bus driver always smiles at him and asks how his day was going. Then he whispered his mom dad and dad don't ask him about his day and almost never smile.

So, it wasn't about being a bus driver, it was about "how he felt" when he was with the bus driver.

If the 10yo boy wants to be a ford engineer, maybe change the question and ask him why. His innocent response may be very different than you expect.

I would say forget about it and become a military contractor to the us government.

Have him learn a skilled trade and to be his own person and to own his own business and destiny.
Getting an expensive degree from an indoctrination center will only teach him how to be an obedient slave and likely saddle him with debt. There really is no job security anymore and corporations are looking for cheap foreign labor -outsourcing.

Learn to grow weed.

YOU'RE FIRED!!!

After working in both aero and auto for a bit, I'd say to focus on a specific engineering discipline rather than a specific industry (software, cfd/aero, design/fea, systems, testing). That way when each has its down cycle you have a back-up. Also, I wouldn't move to a town that has less than 2-3 major employers again. And when the work is truly fulfilling or you're on a team you really enjoy, try to be present and enjoy it while it lasts.

The new economy is not certain unfortunately, which makes long term planning for houses and kids hard, especially when factoring in your partner's career trajectory as well. Avoid debt, live below your means, stay flexible, keep up-skilling, invest in employers that view engineering as a non-cost center (ie west coast sw companies).

Working at Ford ki--s talent!
If Ford knew how to train and keep people they didn't have cars burning!!!
Oh my God of am so happy I got cut in 2008 I hate fcking PDC Mark Field fclung way forward and all Ford Management
They had a stupid lady with associate degree in art as an engineering manager
I am surprised they still in business

Good engineers will always be in demand. I use the analogy that an architect can’t be a civil engineer but a civil engineer can be an architect.

Life is too short to say no. Go for it. In 10 to 12 years there will be jobs and occupation that don’t exist today.

Alas,
I didn't know engineering might have become a dead end already for kids in 2020s. I remember when I was a kid, I was taught to look up to those working at Daimler, Jaguar, Citroen, and GM, so here I am. Even those working at AvtoVAZ were not too bad as role models. ( but probably it is even more difficult than Ford for them now )

It is clear.... and very obvious,

Boys all over the world tend to like cars as soon as cars started to exist, and when they grow up, probably the best of them either become automotive engineers or designers. Some become race car drivers, and some others might become mechanics,. Those boys have to do something with cars when they grow up. I am still somewhere not far away from automotive world myself, sometimes having to make difficult decisions like Bruce Ismay or Thomas Andrews.
It takes character and honor to make the right decisions, not easy ones, and it takes lifelong education since the time when I was too young to read.

Where would be a pathway, for a 10yo boy in 2022 who sincerely loves cars, loves MG TFs, Mercedes 126s, Saab 9-5s, Ligier JS50, who cannot live a day without them, to be at peace with himself when he grows up? To do something he fully enjoys, like Soichiro Honda, Zora Arkus-Duntov?

Instead of studying the math and the MATH for engineering, put all of that energy into business and finance. Work at a bank or some other investment firm and earn how to invest money yourself. I know friends from college who went into business and finance and retired at 40. Work for yourself. Working really hard and making sacrifices for some big company is not the answer. Forget automotive. Forget engineering.

“What would you say to a 10yo boy wanting to be an automotive engineer when growing up? If he wants to work at Ford”?

Pick up a guitar and be a rockstar.

I would say forget it. Don’t be an engineer. It can and always will be outsourced for a lower cost.

You need to get a life.