Engineering as a Life-Long Career: Its Meaning, Its Satisfactions, Its Difficulties.

摘要

This paper deals with the career progression of mid-life engineers and with the variety of meanings that engineering has for people in that occupation. It is based on questionnaire data from 90 engineers at two points of time (first in 1970, age 30's to early 40's; second in 1978-9, all over 40) and on detailed interviews with 12 of them. The results show that changes in reactions to work are systematically associated with the degree to which the 1978-9 job differs from the 1970 one. The relations are complex and related to the personal meaning that engineering has for the respondents.