Generation Game

Following on from my look back at 2019 in the last blog a number of records were broken at last year’s BCIA Annual Awards Celebration, with a particularly significant one, in my view, being the 12 bright stars competing for the Young Engineer prize. With the ability of the new generations of college leavers coming through readily able to adapt and embrace the rapid development of smart technology, it’s crucial that we now capitalise on the combination of skills that we have across the generations.

Over the past decade, technology has moved at a pace that has been hard for the whole supply chain to keep up with and I believe the next 10 years will be a time when we actually catch up and get both existing and new technology working better and smoother to deliver the real potential for efficiency and comfort.

Add to this the generational challenge with many business leaders and strategy makers being in the last third of their careers and many engineers designing and commissioning new technology being in the first third of theirs, this is a fascinating juxtaposition and embracing this and all diversity is a real opportunity for us in the 2020s. ‘Reverse mentoring’ might not be a new initiative but is one that shouldn’t be ignored.

We’re now 30 years away from 2050 which is the UK’s self-imposed deadline for becoming carbon neutral. Our shared goal is to convert the destination that is 2050 to the journey that is 30 years. There is a terrific business opportunity for our sector and if you are just starting out on your career, you are in for a very engaged and exciting few decades where you can make the difference by 2025, 2030, etc, etc. This will also be a period when the expectation of IoT and smart buildings will be realised.