September 15 in India is celebrated as Engineers’ Day, honoring the birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. Born in a Telugu-speaking family in Muddenahalli near Bengaluru, Visvesvaraya graduated in Civil Engineering from the College of Engineering, Pune, and went on to pioneer dam construction across the Deccan Plateau. At the age of 93, he was rightfully awarded India’s highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna.
The very word “engineer” shares its root with “ingenious” and originally meant a problem-solver. Over time, it became tied to technology—software and hardware in particular—but it may be time to return to its core meaning.
In today’s age of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, confusion abounds about what engineering and engineering education really stand for. Software engineers vastly outnumber civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers. Traditionally, engineers applied science to solve everyday problems, and civil engineering distinguished itself from military engineering. With time, new branches—mechanical, electrical, and many others—took shape. A glance at regulatory bodies today reveals hundreds of specialized fields.
Computer science brought its own twist. Just a few decades ago, it was an offshoot of mathematics focused on algorithms for digital computers. Since algorithms could be directly applied to solve problems, computer science degrees naturally fell under engineering. Meanwhile, computer engineering focused more on hardware and electronics. Soon enough, the umbrella term “computer science engineering” emerged, partly to signal the blend of hardware and software, partly to retain the coveted “engineering” label.
As computing spread, the discipline shifted. Mathematics took a backseat, and demand rose for practical training in software tools and techniques. Specialized streams like software engineering or information technology were introduced, though often treated as inferior to computer science—even when their content overlapped almost entirely.
Now, AI and ML blur the lines further. Students increasingly don’t need to code; they only need to frame the problem, and AI handles the rest. In contrast, hardware innovation hasn’t kept pace with software. Decades ago, futurists imagined machines taking over physical labor while humans retained creative pursuits. Reality has flipped: machines now generate poems, paintings, even music—while physical labor still heavily relies on humans.
The demand for innovation in physical and hardware technologies is greater than ever, ideally powered by digital and AI techniques. Yet many young people assume software alone is enough. Universities too, facing financial pressures, often phase out traditional programs like mechanical engineering, while those that retain them struggle to integrate modern software and AI approaches.
Ultimately, engineering cannot thrive within rigid curricular boundaries. True problem-solving demands curiosity across fields. The future calls for a broader, generalist foundation—engineers trained in the basics of multiple disciplines, free to solve problems with an interdisciplinary lens. Perhaps it’s time not to defend old silos, but to break them open.