The solution to the problem is for engineers to be innovative. Most of them wait for white collar jobs & contracts. They should come up with inventions.

A good engineer can design and impliment the design, while a technican can only impliment design. so engineers are not in the same level with technicians.

Just like pathologist and medical laboratory scientist, psychiatrist and psychologist, obstetrian and midwife, pharmacist and pharmacy technician

ti-ebe:
well said Adefash. a technician and an Engineer do not do the same thing. therefore, while you will sometimes see an Engineer doing a technicians job, it is not his primary duty. and a technician can seem like an engineer, but is not an engineer. same as doctor and nurse, architect and bricklayer. . .

honeric01:

You mean the multi-million naira facilities often built by foreign coys? which ones are you talking about?

really, and you don't realise those buildings were first designed ?

that new hotel in ozumba mbadiwe in vi, i forget the name- i was part of the design team 8 years ago, when it was still in a pc

abeg stop highlighting your abysmal ignorance

@ Op - As a practicing Professional Engineer (P.Eng) with RF Engineering experience both in the Nigerian and North American telecommunications industry, I will tell you that there is no basis for comparing engineers with technicians as both have different task to perform as part of a technical team of an organization.

As an example, in the telecommunications industry, an RF Engineer typically may design, plan and/or optimize wireless communications system to meet specific coverage and capacity requirememnts in certain market. The system technicians typically drive test, install and/or maintain the system. If one or more of the key performance indicators (drop call rate, call setup success rate, etc) goes above the company defined minimum threshold or there is a customer complain, an RF Engineer assigned to look after the market may require a technician to drive test and collect call data along specific drive route and the data collected is then analyzed by the engineer to identify the problem and profer solution. A work order/ticket may be issued by the engineer to operations to do certain things with specific instruction on what need to be done (eg add or drop specific neighbours, channels etc)and the problem is solved.

In the above example, both the technician and Engineer involved in solving the network problem complement each other, each have their specific define task to perform for the overall good of the company that they work for. in some company, technicians are in operation/field services and report to their own Operations/Field Manager, while Engineers report to their own Engineering Manager in the Engineering department. In my experience with one of the wireless service provider in Nigeria, Engineers do the drive test by themselves and analyze the data (I do not know if this is still the case today in Nigeria, as I left the company a couple of years ago). In North America however, one of the service provider that I have worked for have a separate operations department with technicians that do drive test in addition to other task, Engineers does not typically do drive test, rather a ticket is issued for a technician to do the required drive test and provide the data for analysis.

Any technician that want to become an Engineer can do so at anytime by going back to school to get the proper education/degree is Engineering, pass a professional practice examination, have the required experience and be license as an Engineer, so there is no use equating technicians with engineers as equal. Just as Doctors and Nurses work together to solve patient health problems, Engineers and Technicians also work together to solve engineering problems cost effectively taking public safety into consideration.

Please stop diminishing the value of Nigerian Engineers. The last time I check, Nigerian Universities are still producing some quality Engineers that can compete favourably with other engineers from other Universities around the world. And there are so many Nigerian trained practicing professional engineers here is North America doing great things.

Y sud an engr wait 2supervis/always want 2supervis?it's lyk a medical doctor waitin 4who 2suprvis 2perform surgery or gv injection even though he or she has read 'all' d buk in d world

oyb:

really, and you don't realise those buildings were first designed ?

that new hotel in ozumba mbadiwe in vi, i forget the name- i was part of the design team 8 years ago, when it was still in a pc

abeg stop highlighting your abysmal ignorance

under a foreigner. Lol

i repeat again, until you people start creating/inventing, i wont rate Nigerian engineers highly. Btw, my elder bro's one too. Tired of paper engineers.

achi4u: NOTHING! nothing even a PVC ceiling or a rechargable latern
and portharcutboy was busy measuring the number of fuel in a TEXACO oil tank

you dey craze.Lol so so funny. Engineers don suffer for this country, imagine measuring TEXACO oil tank. LOl

honeric01:

under a foreigner. Lol

i repeat again, until you people start creating/inventing, i wont rate Nigerian engineers highly. Btw, my elder bro's one too. Tired of paper engineers.

You are clowning around. How many Nigerians engineers have you met abi na which kain beef be this sef?

Even wen u graduate 4rm uni, u re nt an engr, until u re a member of coren... So stop dat shit

nairalady: well, me thinks they are better

Exactly the way Nurses are better than doctors! Why consult an obstetrician when a traditional birth attendant can do the job and save you cost. Please cure yourself of poverty mentality.

U09ce: The truth is that d old engrs,though wit their experience,do not give to young engrs to make it.I think it also starts 4rm skul esp. the fed. Unis, where there is shortage of modern equipment,dearth of experienced lctrs nd others.

Do the Private or state Universities have better quality equipment or more experienced professors than the Federal Universities?

hopefullman: Y sud an engr wait 2supervis/always want 2supervis?it's lyk a medical doctor waitin 4who 2suprvis 2perform surgery or gv injection even though he or she has read 'all' d buk in d world

How many times in your life have you been injected by a doctor? A technician can never do the job of an Engineer.

fataiu: Even wen u graduate 4rm uni, u re nt an engr, until u re a member of coren... So stop dat shit

Exactly what many people dont know. What many people dont know is that graduating from a medical school doesnt qualify one to carryout surgery until after one has specialised.

naijababe:

You are clowning around. How many Nigerians engineers have you met abi na which kain beef be this sef?

wait o, u mean i need to meet 'engineers' before i see their inventions? Osanobuah, i've some very very close to me and i serve them as usual.

some of u are just saying nonsense,u dnt even know wat is an engineer and a technician..engineers are those who study in uni while technicians study in poly,mono and technical schools of d same course..engineers are theoritical well equiped while technicians are practically equiped..engineers cant stand technicians in practical and vice versa..and companies value practical dan theory

nice thread, i need to know

Hi bro, I believe there is a big difference between being an engineer and being a technician. As much as I dislike Nigerian engineers becos of their lack of skills and ideas, I still believe an engineer is not trained to work with his hand rather with his brain. The major work of an engineer is to design, oversea and text a system he doesn't have to concern himself with the implementation phase which is the sole job of a technician.

But there are so much trouble in the land, so many people doing some many people's job a lawyer is now trained to do the job of a valuer, cos its cheaper to get and manipulate a lawyer. Estate surveyor and estate manger?

Computer scientist/engineers and elect engineers to mention but few.

For me, corruption is obviously one of the causes of this deadly job overlap. Another is lack of research and development in our skools, simply put; poor state of our universities. Another cause is the fact the umbrella body for the engineers NSE only concerns itself wit making money from the member and not really doing much in projecting the engineers, check our NBA and NMA and u will understand what I mean. Peace!


quote author=vizboy]




if you are a good Electrical engineer that knows his work both practically and theory he can still called a technician i see no difference btw those two word as an electrical engineering student[/quote]

na wa o- wu open dis kain olodo thread
if u r an engineering undegrad/grad go and ask for a refund

honeric01:

under a foreigner. Lol

i repeat again, until you people start creating/inventing, i wont rate Nigerian engineers highly. Btw, my elder bro's one too. Tired of paper engineers.

paper engrs?
my ppl perish 4 lack of knowledge

You taking things too personal, ever heard of the saying " we're all entitle to our own opinions" as an engineer I believe you should learn to use fact rather than abuse. You talking of high rising building and oil ridge how many of those sky scrapers are in NAIJA? Am not talking of 1001 abi Wetin unna dey call am.sometimes I feel that's not even a sky scrapper sef, what people are discussing here have a direct link with Nigeria and Africa maybe wit the exception of South Africa. Naa unna engineers build 3rd mainland and cater bridge? Mind you am a computer engineer too. But like someone said, people like you will probably still patronize that road side mechanic or where do you service your car? Hyundai, Kia, Tata? Bunch of the folks there are technicians bro am talkin from experience the tides are changing even in Europe. People now pays for what you can do not those papers you had but you can't defend

oyb: abeg, next time you are building a multi million naira facility, or a high rise , call a technician

nonsense.

the proud ignorance of the nigerian whose idea of engineering project is a 2 bedroom bungalow

vandarsar: You taking things too personal, ever heard of the saying " we're all entitle to our own opinions" as an engineer I believe you should learn to use fact rather than abuse. You talking of high rising building and oil ridge how many of those sky scrapers are in NAIJA? Am not talking of 1001 abi Wetin unna dey call am.sometimes I feel that's not even a sky scrapper sef, what people are discussing here have a direct link with Nigeria and Africa maybe wit the exception of South Africa. Naa unna engineers build 3rd mainland and cater bridge? Mind you am a computer engineer too. But like someone said, people like you will probably still patronize that road side mechanic or where do you service your car? Hyundai, Kia, Tata? Bunch of the folks there are technicians bro am talkin from experience the tides are changing even in Europe. People now pays for what you can do not those papers you had but you can't defend

Atrocious grammar...are you sure you're a graduate?

Lol I am and I can do more than that. Took toefl with 105 that's ma best shot. But do me a favour, drop dead!!!

snthesis:
paper engrs?
my ppl perish 4 lack of knowledge

Yes paper engineers, you read me right, until you people start proving your worth, threads like this won't stop coming up. you can only compare what has alternatives, abi i lie ni?

No one can compare Nurses with doctors, this should give you a clue as to why the comparison of technicians/engineers is coming up.

@ OP U R very correct, this is why a lot of engineering structures in Nigeria dont last, thus U see buildings falling here and there, machines breaking breaking down not so long after purchased or installed and a lot of poor proffessional maitainance strategy. Engineers are naturally creative thus younger engineers ought to have coupled their creativity with mordern technology but in Nigeria the reverse is the case because the older Engineers fear loosing their job to them thus their weldare is opposed,U can imagine ENGINEERS TEACHING DURING NYSC. . .

Chuksgeo: @ OP U R very correct, this is why a lot of engineering structures in Nigeria dont last, thus U see buildings falling here and there, machines breaking breaking down not so long after purchased or installed and a lot of poor proffessional maitainance strategy. Engineers are naturally creative thus younger engineers ought to have coupled their creativity with mordern technology but in Nigeria the reverse is the case because the older Engineers fear loosing their job to them thus their weldare is opposed,U can imagine ENGINEERS TEACHING DURING NYSC. . .

Please stop exposing your ignorance.NYSC members are not engineers but graduates of engineering.

People keep comparing doctors and nurse. Are they not both medical practitioners. Or you think nurses dont go to school incase you dont know the nurses does the real work

texazzpete:

Atrocious grammar...are you sure you're a graduate?

i wonder why ppl derive pleasure in derailing a nice thread.what has good english got to do with being a graduate.i didnt study english in university afterall. i believe if a graduate of english language uses current instead of voltage,ppl will not cast him down,despite the fact that he did elementary science and integrated science.
even in england,their students fail english.why all these crap?

obyrich: How many times in your life have you been injected by a doctor? A technician can never do the job of an Engineer.

agreed only 4a COMPETENT engr who knows theory&practical.mst engrs in nig havnt distinguish thmslvs 4rm d so cald technicians in terms of competence,knowledgebase &xperience.doctors in nig hv ben abl 2 distinguish thmslvs even in d mst critical&xtreme conditions so doc cnt be compared 2a nurse

honeric01:


wait o, u mean i need to meet 'engineers' before i see their inventions? Osanobuah, i've some very very close to me and i serve them as usual.

Like I said before, quit clowning. Your posts are very ignorant to say the least.

naijababe:

Like I said before, quit clowning. Your posts are very ignorant to say the least.

You can do better than this, i need more and i am not joking. i feel sad knowing fully well we have thousands of graduates coming out of school as engineers (all kind), but rarely do you see any of them inventing/creating and hitting a milestone so i want you to show me why engineers in Nigeria should be rated highly.

By their FRUIT, ye shall know them, by the word "FRUIT", they're recognized, so what are these fruits engineers are known for that separates them/puts them above technicians?

A 200L computer science student, yet to be taught any practicals in his field. (You can switch to Nigeria info 99.3 to hear this yourself)
These are students from the university, a computer science student without a practical exposure in his field of profession.

this thread is a waste of time, engrs in naija hav nothing to prove, get ur definitions of the terms correctly, then just mayb i cud spend a lil time clarifying issues.