What does being an engineer mean to you?

What characteristics do you feel determine you as an engineer?

The ability to solve problems, design solutions and come up with innovate ways to improve daily life.

Electronics involves smoke and mirrors. In my early days we worked on valve equipment which meant you could see where the smoke should be, and it never really escaped (it got tired).

I am able to work out which bits had had the magic smoke released, but the hard part is working out why it got released.

How did you come to the realisation you wanted to be an engineer?

From an early age I was pulling things apart and putting them back together, or making things. During High School I stumbled into electronics, and with support from my parents brought a kitset radio.

It was a total disaster and required help from a local 'guru', we rebuilt it (well he did most of it .. and now 40yrs later I help him). He helped me get my Radio Amateurs licence at 14, and the seed was set.

When I left High school at 15 I was told I couldn't get a job in the Post Office as an Electronics Technician, so I proved them wrong.

Are there any ‘rites of passage’ an engineer should go through?

You need to fail to understand the world doesn't stop revolving, and that it can be rectified.

You need to succeed to know it sometimes takes hard work, long hours and some inspiration, and other times just blind luck!.

As Douglas said " ..how to solve any problem .." is a method of ensuring you fully understand the problem, symptoms, and any conditions which contribute.

You need a methodical approach to solving it by changing only one thing at a time, rather than a 'scatter gun" approach (otherwise you don't really know what solved it)

What advice would you give to any budding engineers?

Be confident enough in your own abilities to accept you will fail.

Never assume you know everything (you never will). Try not to portray that impression  ... it never sits well with your work peers.

Don't be afraid to discuss the problem with someone else, even if you think they may have zero idea of how this technology works (you might be surprised).

When you talk with various stakeholders, you'll find different characteristics ie the sales people ignore problems, while engineers/technicians see any potential issues and the accountants just see the cost.

Try to understand the problem you are attempting to fix, and try to replicate it before trying to fix it ..... otherwise how do you know its fixed.?

Probably the most important advice is "If you don't understand ASK" ...  .. Yes you might think you look stupid, but not as stupid as if you destroy something or cause an outage.

Do you communicate and network with other engineers? How?

I work with number of engineers from software to mechanical to electrical.

element14 is a great way to broaden your horizon and get you outside your comfort zone.

I also assist with electronics and microcontroller programming at some Chch schools, which is encouraging our potential future engineers and is very satisfying.

Do you have any stories to show what being an engineer is all about?

I had someone come to me one day asking if I could change the lamp colour to red, since they couldn't see when a radio channel was in use.

They already had a white lamp, and this was working as it should.

Sure I could change it, but why? since the white was working, how would this help?  The response was this radio channel was a bit quiet and they needed to turn it up to hear.

I offered to have the channel looked at to ensure the levels were correct, and then we could have the conversation again if it was no better.

The levels were low and were rectified, and we never had to have the conversation or change the lamp.

So understanding the symptom and fixing the problem is important (rather than hiding or solving the symptom).

Mark

What characteristics do you feel determine you as an engineer?

The ability to solve problems, design solutions and come up with innovate ways to improve daily life.

Electronics involves smoke and mirrors. In my early days we worked on valve equipment which meant you could see where the smoke should be, and it never really escaped (it got tired).

I am able to work out which bits had had the magic smoke released, but the hard part is working out why it got released.

How did you come to the realisation you wanted to be an engineer?

From an early age I was pulling things apart and putting them back together, or making things. During High School I stumbled into electronics, and with support from my parents brought a kitset radio.

It was a total disaster and required help from a local 'guru', we rebuilt it (well he did most of it .. and now 40yrs later I help him). He helped me get my Radio Amateurs licence at 14, and the seed was set.

When I left High school at 15 I was told I couldn't get a job in the Post Office as an Electronics Technician, so I proved them wrong.

Are there any ‘rites of passage’ an engineer should go through?

You need to fail to understand the world doesn't stop revolving, and that it can be rectified.

You need to succeed to know it sometimes takes hard work, long hours and some inspiration, and other times just blind luck!.

As Douglas said " ..how to solve any problem .." is a method of ensuring you fully understand the problem, symptoms, and any conditions which contribute.

You need a methodical approach to solving it by changing only one thing at a time, rather than a 'scatter gun" approach (otherwise you don't really know what solved it)

What advice would you give to any budding engineers?

Be confident enough in your own abilities to accept you will fail.

Never assume you know everything (you never will). Try not to portray that impression  ... it never sits well with your work peers.

Don't be afraid to discuss the problem with someone else, even if you think they may have zero idea of how this technology works (you might be surprised).

When you talk with various stakeholders, you'll find different characteristics ie the sales people ignore problems, while engineers/technicians see any potential issues and the accountants just see the cost.

Try to understand the problem you are attempting to fix, and try to replicate it before trying to fix it ..... otherwise how do you know its fixed.?

Probably the most important advice is "If you don't understand ASK" ...  .. Yes you might think you look stupid, but not as stupid as if you destroy something or cause an outage.

Do you communicate and network with other engineers? How?

I work with number of engineers from software to mechanical to electrical.

element14 is a great way to broaden your horizon and get you outside your comfort zone.

I also assist with electronics and microcontroller programming at some Chch schools, which is encouraging our potential future engineers and is very satisfying.

Do you have any stories to show what being an engineer is all about?

I had someone come to me one day asking if I could change the lamp colour to red, since they couldn't see when a radio channel was in use.

They already had a white lamp, and this was working as it should.

Sure I could change it, but why? since the white was working, how would this help?  The response was this radio channel was a bit quiet and they needed to turn it up to hear.

I offered to have the channel looked at to ensure the levels were correct, and then we could have the conversation again if it was no better.

The levels were low and were rectified, and we never had to have the conversation or change the lamp.

So understanding the symptom and fixing the problem is important (rather than hiding or solving the symptom).

Mark

Hi Mark, thank you for your comments.  There is definitely a common theme about problem solving and it is interesting to hear your advice to replicate the problem before trying to find the solution.  I also like your advice to ask others their thoughts even if they are not an engineer as they may be able to provide another perspective on the matter.  Would you be happy for me to use some of your comments in the media?

Jen

Jen

Thanks and yes you can.

Mark