With what seems like increasing regularity, engineering trade publications have been publishing opinion pieces bemoaning the death of the American engineer. The scapegoat is sometimes off-shoring; other times, it is H-1B visa recipients. Yet other times, the source of gloom is nearby: some engineers claim that they would not recommend the profession to students making career choices.

I do not share these sentiments. Engineering has brought America prosperity, and the country will look to engineers to solve its future problems. Good engineers are vital to the continued success of the state.

Will off-shoring and outsourcing cause some American engineers to lose their jobs? Probably, but I find it unlikely that displaced engineers worth their salt will stay out of work for long. The good ones will find engineering employment or start their own ventures; the bad ones probably shouldn’t have been in engineering to begin with and should explore other fields.

What of H-1B visa recipients? Do they drive down wages for native-born engineers? Do they replace American engineers outright? Maybe, maybe not. If they are good at what they do, then I don’t see a problem with letting them contribute to the American industrial machine. They bring new ideas to the country, they pay taxes, and they have no less right to a happy life than anyone else. Almost all of us have immigrant ancestors; most of mine emigrated from Germany, Italy, and Belgium in the 1800s.

It really irritates me when people write that children should not pursue engineering as a career. The authors generally reason that children who are bright enough to be good engineers are also bright enough to be doctors and lawyers, and since those positions are better compensated financially, those should be the careers of pursuit. What corrosive words those are; to deny the world an engineer is to deny mankind its progress from the stones to the stars, the privilege of health and long life, the promise of prosperity itself. For an engineer at heart, only engineering will suffice. If an engineer desires wealth, he will find a way to achieve it — the richest man in the world was a de facto engineer.

I help encourage kids to pursue engineering, science, and math by volunteering for FIRST Lego League. I’ve served as a judge at several of the competitions, both for middle school and for high school, and I’ve always had a blast. Students do research on technology and build autonomous Lego Mindstorms-based robots that perform various feats. The more tasks that are completed in the allotted time, the more points are awarded (example). The passion that the students put into their creations and the competition is incredible. For these kids, engineering is not just books and long hours of problem solving — it’s fun!

I have great faith in the ability of America to produce and attract successful engineers. The rising competition from nations like China makes any alternative untenable.