The objective of the current study was to investigate the personality characteristics of a group of engineers with a variety of years of experience. It was executed to remedy shortcomings of the literature concerning this issue and to produce suggestions for a postgraduate training programme for engineers. A total of 103 engineers were tested with the five-factor personality inventory (FFPI), a "big five" personality test of Dutch origin. The engineers were shown to score lower on the factor agreeableness, and higher on the factors extraversion, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and autonomy than a national comparison group. The older the engineers, the more conscientious and autonomous they were. In addition, engineers with lower degrees were more conscientious than engineers with higher degrees. A practical implication of the findings for the postgraduate training of engineers is that more attention should be paid to the development of interpersonal skills. (Contains 3 tables.)