The Engineering Club in RJ

Open Letter to the Members of the Engineering Club and to Engineers in General

01_ It is well known that the Engineering Club, engineers, and engineering firms established here have had glorious times, both technically and politically, in Brazil and abroad, which greatly honors our profession and our activities.

02_ On many occasions, the Club has been involved in matters that transcended engineering, but always in defense of the interests of Brazilian engineering, national pride, and the job market. In this, the Club was brave, great, and victorious.

03_ However, in the wake of success, both the Club and we engineers, at least over the last 30 years, have neglected the greater goals, becoming involved in political-party-ideological discussions, union matters, and even topics that are typically dealt with by neighborhood associations, with the Council meetings sometimes resembling a "domestic condominium meeting."

04_ Not that these activities aren’t important exercises in citizenship, but by dedicating ourselves to them within the Engineering Club, we have failed to focus on our professional interests and how we can better help our nation: by doing good engineering without diminishing ourselves.

05_ At the same time, by prioritizing these other matters and escalating non-professional divergences, the Club has become emptied, allowing the category to disperse.

06_ Today, it can be said that the Club is in decline. Cause or effect? It doesn’t matter. It is in decline. It has failed to address the corporate interests of engineering that it claims to represent and does not make its voice heard on the broader academic issues of engineering education, struggling with merely bureaucratic matters.

07_ In recent times, during controversies involving various public and private engineering companies led by engineers, the Club neither attacked nor defended effectively, as if the matters didn’t concern it, with a few exceptions of individual actions by colleagues, timidly supported by the Club.

08_ How can we reverse this?

09_ Certainly, it won’t be by continuing to do the same things.

10_ If in the 1970s, we had clear issues that united us, today, attempts are being made to create battle horses where these issues don’t exist, merely as instruments and political strategies in the pursuit of power at any cost.

11_ Those who know me know that, since 1966, the year I entered EEUFRJ, I have participated in professional politics because I believe it is our duty, but I have never run for office.

12_ I graduated in engineering from UFRJ in 1970 and have been a member of the Club since then. That’s 54 years. I ran for the Club’s Council in the last 3 elections, always through honorable invitations from more active colleagues, never on my own initiative. I was not elected the first time nor the last, so I am leaving the Council.

13_ I thank the 89 votes I received from the 256 who voted. The most voted candidate had 143 votes, I finished in 26th place and, therefore, was not re-elected for the 25 vacancies of this third of 75. It should be noted that this was an election with incredible problems in the management of the electronic ballots, with the cancellation of the election on August 25th after it had already started, which was then redone on August 31st.

14_ I also apologize for the period I served as a Councilor, as I think I was a bad Councilor in that I did not do enough to combat the bland issues that dominate the agenda of these meetings, opting for political correctness or the path of least effort, I "settled."

15_ I emphasize that, if the "Engineering Club" remains focused on this student union model, in the hands of a majority of colleagues "trained in engineering" but not engineers, those who are hands-on will not participate. Many because they lack the time, many because they lack the motivation. All because they don’t see the Club taking an interest in their profession as active engineers, with their real market problems.

16_ I conclude by praising the work of facilitating lectures, which, if not for the Club, would not have a place to take place. Congratulations to the DTEs (Technical Divisions).

September 2022 (January 2023 version)

Engineer Miguel Fernández y Fernández