Vanadium's reference suggests to me the term 'technologist' is applying existing components to real world situations; the 'engineer' might be the person developing and designing such components. In the former AT&T where I worked, Bell Laboratories did fundamental research 'and engineering' and developed/invented transistors, lasers,etc, and while Western Electric, now roughly Alcatel-Lucent, were the 'technologists' that manufactured components and equipment like vacuum tube and the solid state radio transmitters used on towers all over the place.
Isaac1720 said:
will it be valuable in the future, and what courses would you need to focus on in order to become one?
The particular description you posted there focuses on renewable, that is, 'green', energy. A positive aspect of the renewable area of energy is that it is currently popular, and of course 'green', a negative is that it often requires governmental subsidies to be cost effective. I am beginning to see more studies that forecast a cooling climate rather than warming, mostly as a result of reduced sunspot activity. I have no idea if that's correct, but if accurate, the drive to reduce C02 emissions, and 'all things green', might suffer a quick reversal.
My understanding is that Great Britain and perhaps Germany are already cutting back on renewable subsidies as they have hurt corporate competitiveness in those countries. On the other hand, in the US, the Ominbus spending bill just passed in Congress reportedly includes another five years of wind and solar subsidies. Meantime fracking technology is producing low oil prices world wide. Here in NJ, USA, I just received a notice from my utility that my natural gas bill will be discounted 30% for Dec/Jan/Feb. You should check in Canada to see what is trending. How all this plays out is anybody's guess.
Here is one article to give you an idea of the complexity involved when politics and energy collide:
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-09-22/germany-s-green-energy-is-an-expensive-success
Another energy area, currently out of favor, is nuclear power. After Japan's nuclear power plant disaster [mostly because the Fukishima power plant was not only immediately adjacent to the ocean, and almost at sea level, but also in a Tsunami/earthquake zone.] and the environmental damage which resulted, governments have become skittish about nuclear power. In fact while nuclear power plants are quite safe when built in sensible locations, the radioactive waste remains a political issue.
You can search online if interested, to see relative costs of producing power via different methods. For example, last time I looked, large commercial solar arrays were reported to be about 25% more expensive than fossil fuel produced power. The costs of solar cells themselves have come down dramatically in the last ten years or so.
For US, try searching for the federal government Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational outlooks for expected growth and salaries in different job categories. Beware of ALL forecasts!
For example,
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/
