Hi
Regarding the shortage of engineers problem: Yes I believe there is a shortage. We in the FR brigade are seeing a shortage in the winter months and once the summer schedule kicks back in there is expected to be a severe lack of engineers experienced or not.
Regarding the experience shortage: I absolutely agree. The experience pool is being severely diluted due to commercial constraints. Since the companies cannot get the better more experienced guys they are now taking anything that has the required pieces of paper just to make sure all the relevant boxes are ticked.
Regarding the responsibility of pilots and engineers: I absolutely understand that a pilot (and more specifically a captain) has a large responsibility but I would not play down the responsibilities of a certifying engineer especially when I consider that on any given night I personally will sign off up to 5 aircraft and in doing so I state that any maintenance I have carried out that night, be it routine inspection or heavy complex unscheduled work is carried out in a safe and satisfactory manner which will permit those 5 aircraft to fly about 5000 people safely through the sky for a day. That to me is no small responsibility and I would like to see engineers as a body recognized for it.