Comments on: What is an Engineer?

By: Kalen

Kalen — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:13:43 +0000

As an engineer I often find myself in the “who’s better” debate between engineers and scientists. Scientists give us tools we need to be successful in developing technology but they wouldn’t have any purpose of contructing many theories if they weren’t applied. Scientists also have the “it’s not possible” attitude whereas engineers are told that if something needs to be done they need to make it possible.

By: Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog » IBM Fellow Grady Booch on the Value of Engineering?

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:21:49 +0000

[...] What is an Engineer? – Engineer Tried to Save His Sister and Invented a Breakthrough Medical Device – The [...]

By: Shaw

Shaw — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 02:04:09 +0000

Chris,

While not an engineer, I have to say that I thouroughly appreciated the article. One of the themes that I got from this article is that engineers are problem solvers, and in reality, at the core of all business is the need to be able to solve peoples problems. Who ever does the best problem solving makes the most!

I as well am a believer in KISS, and flexibility. These days, it seems like that is so hard to come by. People like to make thinks harder than they need to be, and…they only want to do it their way… anway, thanks for the insight! Shaw

By: Eamonn

Eamonn — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:28:25 +0000

I enjoyed the points above especially with respect to solving solutions in the simplest manner possible. I’m a design engineer who continually has to refine my tool set for evolving problems every day. If I looked for the best solution every time, we would never get the projects finished. It is therefore important to concentrate on the getting to final result rather than the processes involved in getting to the result. I notice this with system architects who design ingenious solutions but are difficult to implement and even harder to maintain

By: Chris Gammell

Chris Gammell — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 16:56:15 +0000

Hi Raj!

Thanks for commenting, I’m always glad when others read the stuff that I write and I was very grateful to John for re-posting this article. In fact, part of my newest post (see the link on my name) take your question into account. I wrote it more about young engineers entering first and second jobs and wanting to shake things up, but not knowing the implications (cost and time). Of course, this is not limited to just the younger engineers. I think a bit of business acumen on the part of all engineers would do many different corporations some good (government contractors come to mind). A little bit of business skills and managing to keep their solutions simple, yet effective can make for a great all-around engineer. Thanks again Raj, hope to hear from you soon.

Chris

By: Raj Krishnaswamy

Raj Krishnaswamy — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:19:00 +0000

Chris: I thoroughly enjoyed this article being a hardcore engineer at heart. I am glad you stressed the importance of math knowledge; and this is important not only for electrical engineers but even for metallurgical engineers. I for one was amazed to meet some metallurgical engineers that could not even understand what a fourier transformation is, and did not even know the basics of differential calculus. How does such a person solve complicated problems of fracture mechanics then, which is very much a part of materials and metallurgical engineering? Therefore, I am glad that you brought forth the importance of math skills for the aspiring engineer. There is one other item I would like to bring forth and see if you agree and that is the engineer needs to come up with the lowest cost practical solution to a problem in order for his solution to be of commercial value. Many engineers seem to discount the effect of economics in real life. Anyway, great article. Thank you.