As anyone working in the Engineering and Infrastructure Management fields in New Zealand, Australia, or much of the Western world knows, there is an Engineering Skills Shortage.

In my Ingenium Conference Paper, I outlined the Engineering Skills Shortage could well be a significant infrastructure management constraint in the future for New Zealand.

It is of such concern in this part of the world that there have been conferences, action plans by professional bodies, Future in Tech initiatives in high schools, additional government funding for University engineering courses, different placement of skilled migrants with engineering skills – the list goes on.

Taking a longer view, I think Debbie Sterling of Goldie Blox has put her finger on one of the significant problems.

Engineering is a male-dominated profession, and we find it very difficult to attract and retain women in our profession.

Can I encourage you to look at Debbie’s website and video – I think it is a cracking idea.

I have purchased Goldie Blox from Amazon for my two little girls supporting Debbie and hope to solve the engineering skills shortage.