The Attributes and Areas for Improvement of Early Career Engineers in Sri Lanka

Over two thousand engineering graduates enter the job market in Sri Lanka annually from state and private sector universities. There is a growing concern in the industry whether those graduates have attained the required expectations of the employers. Academic literature also lacks sufficient evidence to demonstrate Sri Lankan early career engineers' strengths and areas for improvement. This study explores the strengths and areas for improvement of early career engineers from the perspectives of senior employer engineers in Sri Lanka. This study was conducted qualitatively by holding semi-structured face-to-face interviews with a purposively selected sample of twenty-two employer engineers. Voice-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed employing the inductive thematic analysis method. Analysis has revealed that enhanced technical knowledge, analytical skills and computer literacy are the strengths of early career engineers, while money-mindedness, negative attitudes, sticking only to the job role and lack of hard-working skills, interpersonal skills and practical knowledge as the areas for improvement of present-day early career engineers in Sri Lanka. Further, few employer engineers have suggested modifying the university education system and educating academics & training engineers to guide engineering undergraduates on the proper path to achieve the career success.