How would such engineers be employed?
\The pattern of employment would certainly be different for engineers trained this way. Engineers in all fi elds might work for engineering fi rms similar to the way in which civil engineers work now, consulting on projects for government agencies or large corporations. The corpo- rate employers who now have numerous engineers on their staff would probably have far fewer engineers on the payroll, opting instead for a few professional engi- neers who would supervise the work of several less highly trained “engineering tech- nicians.” Adoption of this model would probably reduce the number of engineers in the work force, leading to higher earnings for those who remain. Those rele- gated to the ranks of engineering technicians would probably earn less than those currently employed as engineers.
2.3 CODES OF ETHICS An aspect of professional societies that has not been mentioned yet is the codes of ethics that engineering societies have adopted. These codes express the rights, duties, and obligations of the members of the profession. In this section, we will examine the codes of ethics of professional engineering societies.
It should be noted that although most of the discussion thus far has focused on professionalism and professional societies, codes of ethics are not limited to profes- sional organizations. They can also be found, for example, in corporations and uni- versities as well. We start with some general ideas about what codes of ethics are and what purpose they serve and then examine two professional engineering codes in more detail.
Chapter 2 Professionalism and Codes of Ethics 25