It is 2010 and thousands of people are converging on South Africa to witness the first Soccer World Cup in Africa. Passengers are disembarking at Johannesburg International airport from the new international concourse designed to cope with the new A380 Airbus aircraft. The majority of the international visitors board the Gautrain to reach their various destinations. Others catch a plane to a small destination in the Eastern Cape for a unique ecotourism environment in the middle of the bush. One feature of this new destination is that, although it has electricity, it has no huge electrical power lines – this facility is powered by a pebble-bed modular reactor.
This may be a few years in the future, but the reality is that it is about to happen. More importantly, this is going to happen thanks to a team of engineers with various grades of qualifications, who have become part of the new South Africa reality.
South Africa has come of age and is now being recognised internationally as a haven for technological development. Over the past 10 years, we have become part of a major international network of technology experts. Our products are finding niche markets in some of the most competitive global arenas in the world. South Africans are sought after to work with large international corporations to assist them with their technological developments. Suddenly, young South Africans who decided to take up a career in engineering and technology are finding fertile ground to become part of an environment where some of the most exciting engineering developments are taking place.
Engineers help to create an environment that provides opportunities for communities to seek their place in the sun. It is one of the most rewarding professions, since, as a result of one’s efforts, there is evidence of a short-term outcome. As the demands of the technological world become more sophisticated, technical training institutions have had to adapt their offerings to ensure that people graduating from these institutions are equipped to cope with the new world of high technology.
To this end, South African tertiary educational institutions are among the front-runners in providing candidates with the necessary skills to be able to go into the world of work and meet the challenges of a country that is growing at an unprecedented rate.
If you are considering a career that will provide you with unique opportunities and constant challenges, a career that will enable you to see the results of your efforts, a career that will enable you to contribute to the development of this country, a career that will enable you to be at the forefront and cutting edge of technology, there is no doubt that you should seriously consider pursuing a career in any one of the engineering disciplines.
Professor Roy Marcus is the chairperson of the Da Vinci Institute for Technology Management and a fellow of the South Africa Academy of Engineering