WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission needs more engineers today and will need even more very soon as 30 to 45 percent of its current engineers reach retirement age.
“We certainly wish there were more of us. … We have good engineers … but we need to stay state-of-the-art smart. … We need to be fluent in the language of the new digital technologies,” said Bruce Franca, acting chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology.
The critical and increasing demand for engineers was revealed at last week’s FCC meeting. It was the first meeting chaired by Michael K. Powell and the first time, according to long-time FCC watchers, that the agency did not vote on a single item. Rather Powell instructed each bureau chief and Franca to give a review of his or her bureau including what challenges lie ahead. The call for more engineers was often repeated.
The need for engineers is the result of a cycle that began after World War II. At that time, the FCC beefed up on engineering resources. Most of those engineers retired in the early 1970s and were replaced by those now reaching retirement age.
Powell is concerned that not only will he lose engineers at a time when he needs to be increasing-not decreasing-these resources, he will also lose institutional technical knowledge. The FCC’s engineering jobs require “on-the-job training,” he said.
While the agency is looking at many options to increase its attractiveness to engineers, the most obvious may be salary flexibility. Currently, valuable engineers are hired at less than $28,000 per year.
“I am very concerned about starting salaries that don’t even keep pace with other agencies within government,” said FCC Commissioner Susan Ness.
But it is not just money. It must be a whole package, said Powell. “People come to government for lots of reasons and it sure ain’t money,” he said. These include everything from “time to help develop your craft” to “new technical tools and assets that engineers like to play with,” he added.
While Powell has a dearth of engineers, he does have a lot of lawyers. But what he needs, he said, are lawyers that understand engineering. They have to be technically savvy, he said.
Powell’s change in meeting style followed on to the after-meeting press briefing, where he fielded most of the questions but still refused to lay out a policy agenda or even comment on policy issues based on what he had heard from his chiefs. “Stay tuned,” was all he would say.
