Working engineers’ satisfaction with helping people and society through their jobs

This research explored the extent that working engineers were satisfied with their ability to help or serve people and/or society through their jobs. Over 450 engineering graduates responded to an online survey, including alumni recently transitioning to the workforce from 16 U.S. institutions and professional volunteers with Engineers Without Borders-U.S.A. Only 18% of the respondents currently working in engineering jobs had some level of dissatisfaction with helping others through their job; this differed by job sector and discipline but not gender or between recent alumni and service-active engineers. Forty per cent cited dissatisfaction with service aspects of their work as a contributing factor for leaving an engineering job. A few seemed to have left engineering careers due to dissatisfaction with their ability to help others. The results point to the importance of aligning personal goals for helping people/society with engineering careers; employers facilitating these connections may reap benefits in employee retention.