February 16 marks the beginning of National Engineers Week, a week founded by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) in 1951 to ensure a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing the understanding of, and interest in, engineering and technology careers.

Part of promoting the future of engineering is understanding the changes happening in engineering education. Just as technology has to constantly be updated to meet with what’s being done in the business and industry, so must all programs and curricula adjust to keep up with the new standards.
These new standards are dictated by the necessity to close the growing skills gap in the tech industry. There’s such a huge demand for talent in tech that roughly half a million jobs a year go unfilled.
One of the essentials to survive the skills gap is lifelong learning. Most jobs now measure this learning by some type of post-secondary education, credentialing, or certification.
Being open to alternatives like community colleges, apprenticeships, coding boot camps, and online schools offer the ability to continue learning in an affordable way.
These options — along with constantly reading and listening for the new trends — give employees greater value in their field, and ensure their place in the future of technology and engineering.