TLDR: The passion and rigor for study/education died and it shows Being from the same decade , could not agree more. It was really selection through fire (esp

TLDR: The passion and rigor for study/education died and it shows Being from the same decade , could not agree more. It was really selection through fire (especially if you were in general category of applicants) . Not all set their sights on this degree , the later part of the decade set about this whole boom of software engineers (Y2K , eCommerce etc.) Those who didn't get in , then got into roles of lecturers in these colleges that mushroomed. The quality started going down in GP , 1/2 cooked engineers produced 1/4 cooked ones and this went on. I think what is to blame as well was the fact that the path was all too easy and clear , finish engineering , pass through some quant tests , 3 month bootcamp and lo you have your job (or in some variant of this). Attitudes changed toward this easy life. Compared to this other professions like Charted Accountants (CPA equivalent) , Actuaries (who i think are the best data scientists around) or Doctors where there is a lot more work in the first decade of one's career post undergrad , engineering was a cake walk.