COTD: Engineers now required to master business management and digital tools

In 2022 there were 134,767 job posts for engineers.

Engineers are now required to have business management skills and utilise digital applications and tools.

In 2022, the hiring demand for engineers reached 134,767 posts with new growth areas such as Industry 4.0 (I4.0) and sustainable engineering driving the demand.

Jobs in this segment include manufacturing engineers, environmental engineers, and quantity surveyors.

The total relative importance of business management, data management, production management, applications and tools clusters, and core competencies skills increased from 51.1% in 2012 to 52.6% in 2022.

The CCS increased in relative importance for this job family from 4.1% in 2012 to 5.8% in 2017 but decreased to 3% in 2022.

The top five demanded CCS in this segment are communication, problem-solving, collaboration, creative thinking, and self-management are also the top five demanded skills for the Singapore economy.

For the business management cluster for engineers, the top demanded skills include documentation, quality assurance, and continuous improvement management. Additionally, stakeholder management skills appeared in 2022 but did not consistently appear in 2021 and 2017.

For the data management cluster, the most demanded skills are engineering problem-solving, application support and enhancement, and programming and coding. New skills that appeared in 2022 include AI application, continuous integration and continuous deployment, and customer data analysis.

Meanwhile, for the apps and tools cluster, AUTOCAD, Excel, and SolidWorks are the top-demanded skills with Python, Java, C++, Kubernetes, and PowerPoint emerging as newly demanded skills.