What is the best engineering advice you ever received? 205

[tulum]

I would like to continue engineerdaves series of threads; what frustrates you at work, and what satisfies you at work...

I just finished reading one of Donald Trumps books entitled "the way to the top". What he did was he asked the top executives across the US to submit the one single most important thing they learned to help them achieve businees success.

For example one qoute was (and is very applicable to engineering):

"Although you can't always control where you are planted-to which department or specific project you are assigned-you can control the experience while you are there...bloom where you are planted."

So my question to the forum is: What is the best engineering advice you ever received?

 

[MotorCity]

"Sometimes it is better to have the right questions instead of the answers"

 

[Snork]

Best advice ever?

Never piss off your tech's because if you do they will pay you back by doing EXACTLY what you tell them to do - from my mother in law

don't drown another guys teddy bear - from a retired engineer who owned a John Deere dealership.

 

[KM]

Listen to the tradesmen.

 

[TheTick]

A paraphrased quote I heard regarding decisions...

Decision is clean cut, easily mended, blended, repaired or removed. Indecision is ragged edged with loose threads that jam up everything around it.

Due to illness, the part of The Tick will be played by... The Tick.

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

 

[QCE]

The first law of quality control is that the function you didn't test is the one most likely not to work.

 

[Standing]

Best advise I have received.
“Save your self some I quit money.”
You may never use it and tell your boss you quit, but it does change your attitude.


Bradley

 

[automationbabe]

If you don't have time to do it right the first time, when are you going to have time to fix it?

 

[IRstuff]

No one, on their deathbed, complains about not having spent enough time at work.

TTFN

 

[metengr]

Listen first, and "Keep an open mind" toward solving field engineering problems. Just when you think you have seen it all - that's when you are humbled.

 

[aspearin1]

"Progress means learning from someone else's mistakes." That's my own personal motto.

But to quote, "The opposite of progress is congress."

ChemE, M.E. EIT
"The only constant in life is change." -Bruce Lee

 

[Lorentz]

Wonderful quote IRstuff. Who is it attributed too?

 

[fea123]

I have to thank my dissertation advisor for this one:

If you have to understand a paper or similar material give it a chance and read it at least thrice before coming to the conclusion that it is too complex.

If a research or engineering task seems overwhelming, give it some structure by labeling what you are trying to accomplish in the next half hour and give it three tries.

I am amazed at what can be achieved with this attitude. The most important lesson is probably the realization that there is a fine line between not understanding something and a deep and abiding understanding.

I have made this suggestion to several of my employees who had bad habits of throwing their hands up at the first sign of difficulty when executing a project and it has helped them to switch to a more independent way of functioning and thinking.

 

[IRstuff]

Apparently, it's attributed to Paul Tsongas:

NUMBER: 61790
QUOTATION: No one on his deathbed ever said, “I wish I had spent more time on my business.”
ATTRIBUTION: Paul E. Tsongas (20th century), U.S. politician. “Blind Ambition,” as quoted by Anna Quindlen in Living Out Loud (1988).

from Bartleby.com:

http://www.bartleby.com/66/90/61790.html

TTFN

 

[TheTick]

I've heard this one since I was a kid. I think it's an oldy-but-goody that's obscure enough to seem new to many.

My dad seems determined to be an exception to this rule.

Due to illness, the part of The Tick will be played by... The Tick.

http://www.EsoxRepublic.com

 

[profengmen]

"Never check your own analysis, and don't submit a drawing the same day you finished it."

 

[ChrisConley]

Profengmen,

If I could give you two stars I would. I never received that advice, but rather learned (the hard way) how true it is.

This isn't engineering advice, but it was the advice given to me when I first started. It is supposedly the advice given to new plumbers when they first start:

1) S$%t flows downhill.
2) Payday's on Friday.
3) Don't bite your fingernails.

So true for the work I do...

**If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the precipitate.**

 

[wrathofcon]

A few come to mind, not just for engineering...

"Illigitmi non corborundum" - 'Don't let the bastards get you down!'

"If it was easy, everyone would be doing it." Graduate level electromagnetics teacher... saying it with a smile.

One of mine... "If it ain't your dog, don't walk it."

 

[jmw]

"Free advice is worth what you pay for it." used to be a good one but is obviously now proven false by this web-site.

JMW

http://www.viscoanalyser.com

Eng-Tips: Pro bono publico, by engineers, for engineers.

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

 

[crossframe]

"Remember, your design is going to be built by someone that spells "dirt" with an "e."

And,

"Never take down a fence until you know why it was put up in the first place." - Robert Frost

 

[bvigg]

See "matter-of-fact, normal,inconvenience" as an angel telling you to review your work.

For example, you dropped the leads 2 or 3 times to your meter as you were testing, take a second to see if the meter is turned on before you try picking up the leads again.

Life talks...Listen