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Business of Engineering
Blog What does being an engineer mean to you?
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  • Author Author: JenCooke
  • Date Created: 23 Jun 2014 9:35 AM Date Created
  • Views 5725 views
  • Likes 1 like
  • Comments 21 comments
  • engineer
  • birthday
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What does being an engineer mean to you?

JenCooke
JenCooke
23 Jun 2014

We’ve got a birthday coming up. The element14 Community will turn five years old soon and this milestone has got us thinking about the big questions. Who we are, why we’re here and what we mean to people, that sort of thing.

 

The element14 Community was created for engineers. So we wanted to spend our birthday week celebrating and recognising you, the people who design, build and maintain the technology in our world today.

 

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We want to really understand what being an engineer means and what drives you all in your engineering endeavours. We’ve put together a few questions and we’d love to know what you think:

 

What characteristics do you feel determine you as an engineer?

 

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

 

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

 

What advice would you give to any budding engineers?

 

Do you communicate and network with other engineers? How?

 

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

 

Please answer in the comments below!

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Top Comments

  • DAB
    DAB over 11 years ago +3
    I always liked to figure out how things worked and applying technology to solve problems, so being an engineer was a natural choice for me. I initially became an electronics technician, but found that…
  • Instructorman
    Instructorman over 11 years ago +2
    What characteristics do you feel determine you as an engineer? There are several. First, there is a comfort with things artificial - machines, devices, systems, infrastructure - that not all people seem…
  • dougw
    dougw over 11 years ago +2
    What characteristics do you feel determine you as an engineer? The primary characteristic that I feel defines me as an engineer is a passion for solving problems. I get real satisfaction from building…
  • michaelwylie
    michaelwylie over 11 years ago in reply to JenCooke

    Sure Jen. Feel free!

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  • JenCooke
    JenCooke over 11 years ago in reply to DAB

    Communications is my living and it is surprising how many professions it is important to.

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  • JenCooke
    JenCooke over 11 years ago in reply to michaelwylie

    Some great stories Michael, I particularly like the washing machine story!  It seems problem solving is a common theme here, thank for calling that out.  Would you be happy for me to use your comments in the media?

    Jen

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  • baldengineer
    baldengineer over 11 years ago in reply to JenCooke

    No problem, good with me.

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  • DAB
    DAB over 11 years ago in reply to JenCooke

    Feel free.  I wish I had taken more time to understand the communications activity when I was in high school.  I just dissed it off as not being relevant to a technical career.  Boy was I wrong.  It took me a lot of years to catch up and then exceed the needs of my job.

     

    DAB

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