Why did you decide to become an engineer? 10

[bigTomHanks]

Why did you decide to become an engineer and what was the biggest misconception that you had about what an engineer does before working in the profession?

For me I started taking automechanics at community college and realized quickly that I didn't need to pay someone to teach me how to repair cars. I also wanted to know how engines were designed but didn't know that mechanical engineering was what I needed to study until already in college.

I thought that the work done my most engineers in industry couldn't be completed without the knowledge gained in school.

 

[TheBlacksmith]

What would you have ended up being if not an engineer?

An architect.

 

[Lion06]

This will probably sound arrogant, but, even though the general public doesn't view our profession with the respect it deserves, I've always considered engineers to be the best thinkers and problems solvers. It was like my "cool-kids club". That being said, I love the profession and wouldn't want to do anything else, with the lofty status in my own mind or not.

 

[patprimmer]

I have noticed that even those who make disparaging remarks and call me a nerd or boffin and compare me to Adrian Monk, or Sheldon from Big Bang Theory or the Nutty Professor, all come to me when they need things fixed so they work properly. They then call me Grisham or Q, for a little while anyways.

Regards
Pat
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[ctopher]

I just sort fell into it.
I was always been good at drawing as a kid. Had taken drafting class and woodshop throughout Jr High and High School.
Was headed into the USAF when I received a call that Douglas Aircraft wanted to hire me (1985). I took it, forget the military.
I had a good boss at McD that trained me in whatever I wanted to learn.

Chris
SolidWorks 10 SP5.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[JohnRBaker]

Chris, in 1985 I was also working for McDonnell Douglas, actually McAuto, their software and engineering services division in Cypress (CA) until 1991 when MDC sold the commercial side of that business to EDS. They still owe me a pension, which I'll start collecting in a bit over a year from now (although the checks will be coming from Boeing).

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Design Solutions
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA

http://www.siemens.com/plm

http://www.plmworld.com/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[MikeMech]

Math and science always came effortlessly in high school, and Dad was an engineer, so I went to college as an engineering major.

Me home for Xmas break: "Mom, Dad, I want to major in Philosophy!"

Parents: "Then you'd better figure out a way to pay your own way though school."

Me: "Maybe I'll stick with engineering, and get the philosophy degree later on."

Parents: "Good choice, son. Pass the stuffing."

 

[patprimmer]

Mike, was that the stuffing they just figuratively beat out of you?

Regards
Pat
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[SomptingGuy]

It probably helps if you grow up knowing a few engineers. I grew up in the shadow of Devonport Dockyard, where "engineers" filed metal and fixed ships. My father sold life assurance, played music and was the town crier. I had to leave home, big time, to find out what engineering was about.

- Steve

 

[MikeMech]

Pat,

Mom and Dad were right, it was a good choice. I find it much more interesting and useful to be working on problems that have solutions than philosophizing about problems that don't.

But sometimes, in the wee hours, I still listen for the sound of one hand clapping...

 

[ctopher]

John,
I remember that. I grew up in Cypress, still live there.
I was laid off from Boeing across the street from you two years ago.

Chris
SolidWorks 10 SP5.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[csd72]

When i was young I thought that I wanted to be an architect but then i realised that the real work was done by the engineer. I then steered more towards the civil side as this was more likely to be outdoors but as my first experience was with structural then that was the way my career tended to lead me.

Prior to Uni I contemplated industrial chemistry or IT but I really did not want to be stuck in a lab or chained to a computer.

 

[mauricestoker]

I went to school on a full scholarship for philosophy. I couldn't be philosophical about dish washing jobs or mopping lung butter the rest of my life, so I dropped the scholarship and switched to engineering. I understood creep stress already, so it worked out.

 

[csd72]

Oh I forgot to answer the second question.

I was under the misconception that my valuable contribution to society would be appreciated. What a laugh that is!

 

[321GO]

Lego Technic's

 

[p14175]

I wanted to be an engineer since I was a kid but, back when I was kid, girls weren't encouraged to become engineers so I became and drafter/designer/CAD person instead. Then I got a BS in mathematics and got stuck in IT. A few years back, in my 40s, I finally got a degree in engineering, worked for a few years and then headed back to school to get my masters.

At this point if I can't get an engineering career going, I'll probably head into LED lighting design or digital imaging.

 

[msquared48]

I was exposed to Civil Engineering at a young age - 10 or so - with large Hydroelectric projects, and my father's friends were Civil engineers at the Electric company where he and they worked. They took me through many places only the operators were able to see, bith in construction and completed. In fact, I was able to monitor one dam from start to finish. That spiked my interest. Nothing like being 3 feet from a 3 foot diameter turbine shaft turning at 1200 rpm. Talk about whiners!

Plus, I was good at math and conceptual ability in school which didn't hurt. So, I kinda gravitated there naturally. While in undergraduate and graduate school, I served as a Civil Engineering intern for four years at the same utility. Got to see a lot if the inner workings and politics too.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[SteveMartin]

I sort of fell into my engineering degree/career. I started out heading into a physics major, dropped that because I didn't see many careers at the end other than research or teaching and didn't want either of those (ironic, because now teaching physics is high on the list of things to consider if/when I leave my current job). So I switched into computer science, which I really enjoyed and did well in up until the last class in the linear portion of that track, which I just couldn't grasp (found out later it was at least partly due to being a badly taught class). At this point having 'wasted' what I considered too much of my four years and still being somewhat uncertain where I really wanted to go, plus reeling from failing the CS class - something which I wasn't used to or prepared for, I switched to what I considered a 'safe' major for both my natural skillset and flexibility in deciding just what I wanted to make of it after graduation - mechanical engineer.

Biggest misconception - I thought that I'd actually be using the various advanced math I learned in the middle years of university.

 

[MechEngr07]

I guess everyone has a defining moment in their life, I am not saying this was the ONLY reason I went into engineering, but it got me thinking along those lines.

Being of the ‘ancient variety’ I grew up in the 50’s. One of the biggest events of the year, in a small town, was Halloween. It afforded me the opportunity to collect way more candy than I needed. Being 5 years old I took on the responsibility of introducing a young friend of mine to the delights of free candy.

She and I circled the block filling our sack with candy. I though why stop here, there are more houses in the next block. We ventured on and on, eventually getting several blocks from home. All was going well and according to plan till we came to one old house.

As we stood on the porch, the door opened and an old man (at five years of age, everyone looks old!) reached his hand out and dropped a hot penny into my little friend’s hand. Of course she began to cry immediately, I didn’t know what to do so I took her straight home.

I tearfully explained to her dad (a mechanical engineer) what happened. He calmly asked if I could find the house again. I told him I could. As we walked there together he explained to me what he wanted me to do “Just go up to the door, ring the doorbell then step back”. It all seems reasonable to me. Everything went as outlined, as I stepped back, he stepped up and grabbed the guy and pulled him out onto the porch. In no uncertain terms, he ‘explained’ to him the error of his ways. Right then and there I knew I wanted to be an engineer!

Although the above is a true story, it is by no means the only reason I choose my profession; the love of mechanical things and the curiosity of how and why they worked fueled my desire to venture into this field.

 

[FeX32]

Nice story MechEngr07.
I once got soup from a house whilst trick-or-treating. Never got a not penny.
But I could imagine what we would have done with the penny...... hope he didn't drive a merc..



Fe

 

[MacGyverS2000]

At this point if I can't get an engineering career going, I'll probably head into LED lighting design or digital imaging.

Now you're talking my language Though at this point I'd rather work for someone else for LED design than continue doing it myself, and I haven't worked on an imaging project in years (and sorely miss it).

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com