Presentation Research!
Tymkrs
Posts: 539
I need help answering the following questions from engineers and non-engineers alike! So please please ask your friends/family/coworkers - I'd love it if I got both engineer and non-engineer answers - thanks!:
1) Are you an engineer? If so, what kind?
2) What do you think engineering is?
1) Are you an engineer? If so, what kind?
2) What do you think engineering is?
Comments
2) An engineer drives the train.
2) Running large scale garden trains.
2./ I tend to view an engineer as being a subject matter expert in a particular field who specializes in design, construction and problem solving. So engineering is the production of an item or process that has been specifically defined by an engineer or group of engineers.
Jeff T.
2) Engineers (of the electronic persuasion) do circuit design and programming. (Hey, wait! That's what I do!) Because they've passed stringent exams and received certification, they can also contribute to and sign off on projects that require certification and serve as expert witnesses in a court of law.
-Phil
2) From my perspective, engineering is a creative endeavor that seeks cost-effective solutions to problems that affect our lives.
1) I have a college degree in it, does that count?
2) Engineering is what I do when I'm not doing art, when I'm not doing science, when I'm not taking care of bodily functions, not thinking about the meaning of life, not performing sexual rituals, not asking questions on this forum, or otherwise not being a nuisance.
2) What is an engineer? So many interpretations, but my favorite: Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes.
Amanda
2) Engineers are methodical problem solvers. My experience is that Engineers tend to focus on hows then whys... ...while the Scientists tend to focus on whys then hows...
1) yes, Software Quality Engineer
2) In general - engineers "make stuff". More specificically, engineers design based on requirements, and built based on the design. My function is to ensure that the requirements are documented, and are reasonable; and the design is documented, addresses the requirements, and is reasonable. I make a paper trail for the engineering development process.
1) Yes, Locomotive
2) Well according to most people an Engineer is responsible for the most unnecessary noise pollution, of course. CHOO CHOO
An electrical engineer is someone who designs a prototype product which looks like a "rats nest" of wires and it works perfectly. Then he "cleans it up" into a nice neat looking finished product, then it smokes when power applied or no longer works. And he does this again and again with various products, never giving up!
An engineer I once met, who owns a large structural engineering firm, thinks engineers are legal professionals who handle lawsuits all the time from anyone who slips and falls in a building their firm designed!
My neighbor, who used to work in a school of engineering, thinks engineers are people who can't spell.
one who puts science into practice; or who maintains systems; or who implement systems, one who dismantles EVERYTHING; who tinkers, wonders,dreams....
I'm the kind of engineer that does a lot of things for a lot of people so they can do a lot of things. (like make a call without a cord in central Africa)
2. A "real" engineer is a man/woman who can think outside of the box and come up with new or improved solutions to help mankind in different ways.
/Johannes
http://holykaw.alltop.com/an-engineering-flowchart
2) I think of an engineer as someone who designs things that he/she expects to build or have built. I like your definition from message #8.
2)Engineering is the ability to build something by applying science (rather than experience or luck).
-Phil
Experience helps direct you towards a solution, but in engineering it's not suitable justification for the result. In contrast, a craftsman justifies by experience.
That's a rather narrow view of experience. Yes, experience is important in craft and, believe it or not, despite what your professors might tell you, craft plays a vital role in engineering. But, most importantly, having experience means that you don't have to reinvent the wheel from first principles every time you endeavor on a new project.
I don't blame you for your limited viewpoint, though. College has a way of emphasizing analysis at the expense of intuition. But that's to be expected. It takes more than four years to develop intuition in any field.
One has to look no further than the late Bob Pease or Jim Williams to understand the important role a life's experience plays in contributing to an engineering profession. Hopefully, you will be lucky enough in future years to work with and absorb wisdom from someone like Bob or Jim.
-Phil
And, as you get even older, you'll come to appreciate the role luck plays in everything.
I wasn't going to go there, but yeah. Like billiard balls caroming across felt-covered slate, it's amazing how our lives are directed by seemingly insignificant chance encounters. It takes training and experience, though, to leverage them to advantage.
-Phil
"Engineering is the ability to build something by applying science (rather than experience or luck)"
Those engineers with experience tend to use after the fact application of science. They have already gone through and tested the different ways of doing something, and found those that did not work. In the future, with this experience they are able to skip directly to a valid method. But it's still based on their original testing, and if asked an engineer can always justify their design with sound science. They don't use proof #10 (luck) and #36 (intuition) or any of them on this list.
These thoughts are all my own. Professors rarely go into "engineering" philosophy (or practice or skills), and prefer to focus on things that fit better into a multiple choice exam.
Not quite chance!
Coriolis's book on the physics of billiards...
http://www.coriolisbilliards.com
What?!! You don't have to show your work anymore? I guess that's one benefit of skyrocketing tuition. I only paid $4000/year but, as a consequence, had to show every derivation step in an exam.
BTW, after reading your last post, I think we're on the same page re: experience.
____________
bill190,
That book was published in 1835, well before quantum mechanics became a tabloid sensation.
-Phil
-Phil
If you have a formal major degree in a ABET Accredited BS EET or EE ( 4 year ) .
Further more If you are Licensed Eng ( took the PE exam ect ) then you are a Licensed Eng .
As has been noted, getting professional designation includes graduation from an accredited engineering program ( ABET in the US, CEAB in Canada, others around the world), developing skills over a period of supervised or mentored work experience and be willing to take responsibility (in the legal sense) for work which you undertake.
Cheers,
1. Yes, I am an engineer. I have an E.I.T. certification issued by the State of California' Board of Professional Engineers upon successful completion of their two day examination. E.I.T stands for Engineer-in-Training. After 4 years or so of work with an engineering firm, one may take a Professional Engineer's License Exam for some disciplines. For that exam, I declared a specialty of computer program on the second day -on a lark. (But I did pass and on my first exam attempt.)
2. What kind of engineer? I am not exactly sure. How can that be? The exam covered just about everything - Mechanical engineering, Fluid Dynamics, Electronics, Chemical Engineering, Computers, and so much more. The objective is to take this certification to demonstrate that you have a knowledge equivalence of a 4 year degree at a university engineering department. But I studied Architecture and Fine Art in university with a B.S. degree in Art.
I have done complete home design, civil engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and more - but I am still not sure. The truth is that all the disciplines share a common thread of mathematics and physics. It is great to learn about all of them. The thermodynamics and fluid dynamics were a bit difficult - but having the overview is really wonderful and has opened a lot of areas to being understandable.