One fact that should be known by anyone thinking about getting into engineering is that by the time you are forty, you are basically finished. The ideal engineer to companies is someone about three years out of school. They figure you have enough experience to be productive but do not demand a high wage. They also think that older engineers’ knowledge is out of date. The only way up for engineers is to go into management but there are a lot fewer slots than there are engineers.
I think this accounts for the huge number of people with STEM degrees but are not working in the field as mentioned in the article.
Engineers can grow in situ.