In some ways, there is 'good disconnect' if the disconnect is that the academia merely informs your thinking, not your immediate actions. It shows that you learned the fundamentals in an insular environment that doesn't muddle them. If there is full disconnect, that is rough though

I Live in the Border city of Windsor to Detroit. We have a University that had been hailed for its engineering program. What I'm hearing from students/employers (big 3) is that the entire program is mostly mathematics, they have no usable engineering skills to begin work in the field because of minimal labs, and methods. Almost no CAD work/design control systems etc. They're so far behind the curve it's like they ignore that computers have automated so much of the math that they are teaching. More community college engineering graduates are getting jobs at the big 3 due to actually obtaining skills needed to do the job through labs and education that's on par with today's engineering.

> More community college engineering graduates are getting jobs at the big 3 due to actually obtaining skills needed to do the job through labs and education that's on par with today's engineering.

How does this work in Canada in regards to professional licensing? In the US, it my understanding that getting an engineering license requires an accredited program and that majority of a reddit programs are 4 year bachelors degrees. Even most master degrees dont have the right accreditation.

There are no US requirements for a PE stamp. There are 50 state level requirements, all somewhat different.

In my state, a four year BS degree in an engineering discipline is an automatic accept, although a non-engineering but engineering-related degree is accepted with four years of experience working essentially as a PE's apprentice. And regardless of degree situation, six years of PE apprentice type work qualifies. The criteria are not set by the state gov but by a professional cert board.

So a BS in EE from an ABET approved school is an automatic accept to start stamping civil engineering sewer projects, which seems a little weird as if obtaining a neuroscience degree qualifies one to perform open heart surgery, but whatever. My BS in computer science is "engineering like" enough that a four year apprenticeship under a PE would qualify me, although I didn't pursue that path. My SiL's primary K12 educator degree would qualify her after six years of apprenticeship under a PE, hilariously implying her liberal arts degree counts negative two years toward learning to be a PE, LOL.

I know some PEs and the required written test is reportedly very easy if you recently graduated, virtually impossible the longer you've been focused tightly in one industry. Stealth ageism much like how CS jobs "require" algorithm whiteboarding.

My state is extremely interested in prior felony convictions as a criteria. Not sure why that's relevant in any fashion to PE stamp a civil engineering project. I don't know how common that weird fixation is, this might be doc dropping what state I live in?

Anyway, in summary, there are 49 other states with differing opinions.

In Canada, you need a B.Eng if you're graduating today, or an equivalent from a foreign university+1 year local practice. There are engineers practicing in Canada that got grandfathered in on different academic systems, but there's not much leeway in the system these days.

There isn't the same disconnect in other STEM areas, a Biology or Chemistry student will do plenty of lab work to learn the techniques used in experiments.

That's a good thing, otherwise universities might be teaching 1950s "industry standards" that employers need to un-teach interns. Let the schools teach first principles and the industry shape new graduates.

The stuff you can learn on the job, you should. The stuff you won't is what college is for.

The weird thing is that people always seem to blame academia for the disconnect.

If an industry wants its employees to receive a specific kind of training, it should pay for it.

In my industry (infosec), they do and it works quite well. Fact of the matter is that you really don't need that much training for most jobs.