originally posted on one of my several now defunct blogs, called On Engineering on 12th Jan 2012
The glance that resulted in the (low energy) lightbulb switching on in my head that in turn resulted in this blog was towards a book lying sideways on top of Dad’s collection of Marcel Proust’s recently translated In Remembrance of Things Past. The title (unlike that previous sentence) was pithy and the text large: “On Music,” it was Alfred Brendel’s collection of essays from his career as a pianist: about the music, its playing and interpretation, about selecting the right piano for the right piece and the like.
It set me thinking On Engineering. What sort of essays (blog posts, of course, these days) would that entail? Brendel’s writings range from the highly technical (“I note with regret that in bar 73 of A major II [Schubert] softened the staggering G major chord by turning it into a G sharp appoggiatura” is highlighted in the Guardian review) to the anecdotal, but he stays focussed on the subject of music. I had the notion (I may still be wrong and my Google searches insufficient) that there is little out there that seeks to describe in a similar way what it is to be an engineer. Whilst I am no Brendel of the engineering world (or Brunel, Tesla, or Tupolev) my blog should focus on the career of someone working as a hardware engineer.
So what is my engineering experience? What stories do I have up my sleeves to share with you? Why would you want to listen to me? Well, I have worked on climate control systems, tubing, boxes and packaging in my time. I have made carbon fibre wing sections and I have a patent to my name, plus a couple that didn’t quite make it. I have used many of the tools available to the engineer (Word, Excel and Outlook being the main ones, followed closely, I regret, by PowerPoint). I have travelled extensively. I have interfaced with chief engineers and interior designers as well as supplier shop-floor operators. I have used project management tools and I have been involved in most aspects of creating, producing and selling product. How much of all of this was taught to me during my undergraduate courses? Almost none of it. How much, conversely, have I used of my degree? Almost none of it. So can I still call myself an engineer if my studies and certificate appear to have been largely irrelevant? I believe so, but that’s one of the concepts we’ll explore in this blog.
There’s plenty of material there for me and, I rather hope, for you through your comments and suggestions, to put together a good picture of what being an engineer actually entails. With that picture painted, we can compare it with what being an engineer should mean and plot a corrective course if necessary.
