My dad had more than 30 years with a local defense contractor when he retired… he was one of the last engineers that had that “job for life” thing going… that’s so gone. He retired about the time the defense industry imploded (mid-late 80’s).
My mom had the job for life thing too – worked for the county… first for a politician (Hedgecock when he was supervisor) then for a non-elective department.
My dad didn’t face the stress of losing his job till the end. My mom never faced that.
I followed my dad into engineering. (Maybe I should have done what teaboy suggests – and gotten my greedy claws into an enabler, lol). I got a bsee from sdsu… much cheaper than Harvey Mudd. I’ve been lucky… I’ve only been laid off once (when defense jobs imploded here in San Diego in 1990) But I would NOT encourage my sons to go into engineering unless they show a passion for it… QC may be pulling back on the offshoring – but my employer is definitely not. They’ve built several new buildings in Bangalore and are building more in China. The writing is on the wall.
I like the idea of vocational schools. A good plumber, mechanic, electrician, etc will never starve.