An engineer’s collaborative approach to unemployment explosion

Did you know that you are living in a crucial time? As if we don’t have enough problems already, 2020 appears to get itself ready for setting all of us on enormous stress. There are a lot of reasons I say this. One of the problems I’ve been worried about is the unemployment. The unemployment explosion, as The Hindu calls it, is all set to hit India by 2020. There are other statistics also, to prove this. I’ve been talking to many about this issue, but only a few seemed to care about this. I, however, think this is a problem for everyone, not just those who are unemployed. The reason I believe is that the increase in unemployment directly lowers the emotional and moral values of the unemployed. They are often forced to survive but feel left out of the race, not given a fair chance or even worse as a loser.

While unemployment is on the rise, globally, on the other side, we have engineers and scientists solving real-world problems. Neurotechnology, one of the hottest areas of engineering, has miraculously achieved with their research. Hacking the human brain to give vision to the blind, controlling robotic limbs by paralysed people and controlling a computer cursor with the mind are just a few examples. Research is still on to use neurotech to augment the cognitive, emotional and moral abilities of everyday people. These technological advances are indeed something that should interest people who argue that internet & mobile usage has caused a decline in the performance of kids at school.

While it is true that kids who engage most of their time on the internet and mobile are likely to perform less efficiently at school, you can’t conclude that technological advancements directly affect the cognitive skills. During my interactions with people from different industries, professions and ages about this topic, I realised that they all have one opinion in common. No one wants to take responsibility for this problem. Each one blames the other. More like a chicken and egg problem where you need one to exist for the other to come into existence. According to many, whom I have interacted with, the rise in unemployment is a problem with and can be resolved only by:

I stand to defer because I believe that, even though the causes for the unemployment could have been from different sources, I, as an engineer, am equally responsible for solving this real-world problem. I also firmly believe in a collaborative approach to solving this problem. At my heart is a strong passion for setting the fire of problem-solving in everyone’s mind. Imagine a world where everyone looks at a problem, as a problem they can solve. It takes a heart of an engineer to have this perspective.

This approach to solving unemployment problem is also a reason why I chose IEEE, the world’s most extensive technical professional network, to serve as a volunteer. I’ve seen great opportunities with IEEE. With the enormous volume of technical information from the researchers it has and the system of thought leaders in the industries, I strongly believe that IEEE can solve the unemployment problem with a collaborative approach. Some of the ways we could address this issue are:

When you address the unemployment problem in this collaborative approach, it’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.

• Unemployed don’t feel ignored
• The government can make impactful policies
• Schools can change the way kids learn
• Parents become more responsible to cognitive and emotional needs of their children
• The society becomes co-operative leading to a happy population

Oh, and what happens to the engineer? Well, he or she now looks for a new problem to solve 🙂

If you believe this collaborative approach can solve problems beyond unemployment, I invite you to share your views. I’d love to connect with you and help you in any way possible.