The increase in the importance of innovations in the economy and the rapid change in dominant technologies sharply tighten the requirements for the basic education of engineers, the quality of their intellectual, strong-willed and organizational abilities. This is especially significant in the context of the 4th industrial revolution, which determines the requirements for the technologies used and the quality of training for engineers. One of the reasons for the shortage of engineering personnel during their mass graduation from universities is the low motivation of applicants to choose engineering specialties, while the economic security of enterprises, regions and the country as a whole depends on the level of qualifications and adaptation of young graduates of universities to the engineering profession, its maintenance and working conditions at enterprises. The aim of the research is to study the ideas of engineering students about their future profession. To achieve this goal, the authors used the following methods: dialectical; structural and functional analysis; comparative analysis of data analysis of philosophical, managerial, sociological, pedagogical literature; questioning; comparative data analysis. the authors interviewed 627 engineering students of the Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin. The authors determined the motivation of students when entering a university and satisfaction with the chosen specialty and university; an idea of the content, nature and specifics of professional activity in the chosen specialty and personality traits that are important for an engineer; factors influencing the formation of personal, communicative and informational competence of an engineer; professional plans and expectations after graduation. The results of this study were used in the development of conceptual documents on the organization of educational activities in Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin, approved in 2021. The results obtained can be used in the educational process In Russian universities when teaching the discipline "Introduction to the specialty" for students of engineering specialties, the interaction of the university with employers and their active involvement in the educational process.