DISQUS

Master of the Obvious: ‘Deep’ Engineering: an Endangered species in Singapore?

  • jiinjoo · 1 year ago
    bleah ;p

    On the other hand, I thought innovation is overly deconstructed and overly lamented. Think about it this way, "Deep Engineering" can be fundamental to MNC's survival, but it is not the only thing that the MNC need, and would probably not rank the highest in most MNC's books (think customer relationship, business models, onshore/offshore/insource/outsource etc.) Similarly, who say school isn't fun - did you see the kids face in the recent code::xtremeapps? Yes there are issues for the _venture capitals_ who wants to find "Deep Engineering" companies and startups that could be bought up / invested in so that they can be a crucial part of a MNC's portfolio in the future, but if it isn't happening, why can't they put their money on other types of capabilities?

    Without understanding specifically what SOC is facing, enrollment numbers for _all_ computing schools in the world is decreasing, so I thought it is pretty much the trend. Can't we attribute it to the global shake out, that the Oracles who bought the BEAs essentially cut the "deep engineering" need instantly? that the 3 billion people who came on board in the last 10 years essentially fill in the gap? that the number of schools in the whole world is just in oversupply?

    不要跟大毛比
  • motochan · 1 year ago
    jiinjoo,

    I agree that there are many areas that would also be important to MNCs, such as those you mentioned. However, without core technology that is defensible, there are no customer relationships, business models, on/off/near/inshoring to speak off.

    Although I was not schooled locally, I do sincerely believe that we have good 'hardware' in the form of our 2 technical universities, NUS and NTU. What we are weaker in is the image and perception of Infocomm in general.

    The interim global trend may very well be such that students as a whole are losing interest in Computer Science as a genre. That doesn't mean it's a good enough reason for us to sit on our hands and do nothing about it.

    Infocomm will continue to be an integral part of our lives, and increasingly so. Check out "The Uncanny Impact of Computing" by J. Srother Moore. Pure economics alone (add a dash of greed of man) will ensure that Computer Science as a subject will continue to flourish, although it may go through cyclical dips in the near term.