EVEN ten-year-olds are spurning engineering as a career option, because of misconceptions and stereotypes about the sector, according University of Southampton research. Images of dirty and physical work predominate, despite contact in schools with visiting engineers, according to the report, Career Perceptions and Decision Making. The study, sponsored by Heist, found that career decisions are made at an early age. By late primary school many children have already rejected jobs on the basis of perceptions.