Professional Development
We perceive the biggest challenge for engineers is the ability to apply our technologies professionally. A lot of great engineers do this. But many more do not, or simply cannot, do this – mostly because of no fault of their own. We lose too many engineers from our professions before they can apply their skills in a professional way. This is a major loss to the individual, to our profession, and to society.
Geotheta Professional Development is here to turn this around.
Engineering is an exciting field and profession. Where else can you continuously mix aspects of art, science, technology, and writing? It is of course only exciting and challenging to those who can do and apply all these aspects.
Why don’t more youngsters enter the field? Why do we lose so many engineers along the way? This is not only a recent phenomenon: many from Ian’s 1975 final year have stopped being engineers. Engineers who lose their purpose will stop trying to be engineers.
We need to rehabilitate the excitement and purpose.
Mid-level engineers – senior engineers – are scarce in our field: the middle engineering level lacks resources. Why? Do we blame education? Do we blame lack of life skills? Do we blame lack of or limited mentorship? We consider it’s a combination of these leading to loss of purpose, which leads to a loss of excitement.
Although we have seemingly declining engineering student enrolments (or do we really have this?), there is no shortage of graduate engineers and technicians knocking on our door.
Engineers are solution driven. In engineering one is a problems solver. When a problem is properly identified you can find a solution. We researched the engineering dilemma and identified this: graduates are not being trained in life skills, problem recognition, finances, basic business skills, and understanding and application of the technology.
Mentorship and apprenticing is also limited or lacking in a lot of areas.
Our solution:
We have created Geotheta Professional Development where recently qualified engineers and technicians can do post-qualification development to acquire:
Not to forget the abilities to be an entrepreneur too.
Geotheta Professional Development is a non-profit organisation. We have supervisors in full-time training. Existing staff will go through this on a volunteer basis. New graduates are being sought.
The objective is to take this up to a new level of professional development: to create very fine people, who make very fine engineers, who make valuable and fine engineering products!
This is a 3-year development programme with alternating 6 months study and training and 6 months secondment to selected engineering businesses per year.
We have worldwide support of other companies and persons in our field. We all want to make this work!
In our view well-rounded engineers will make a huge difference to civil society: and we are going to produce well-rounded engineers in large numbers.
Feel free to communicate to us if you want to contribute to this in some or other way.
Also follow Geotheta on LinkedIn for more news and updates on this.