What Drove You Towards a Career in Engineering?

Good question

When I was young, I used to make torches using wood, nails and alfoil

Then helicopters from toilet rolls and masking tape

I always wanted to be an electronics tech or an electrician

Never ever had a doubt

At school I chose subjects which would get me there

...sort of a family business. My dad was an EE for "The Phone Company" from after he left the military (WWII). My brother is mechanical, and I am embedded systems. I was pretty good in math and most of the sciences, so engineering seemed like a good fit. That, along with the knowledge that, as an engineer, you never get super rich, but you can always have a job, made the choice pretty logical. But the question is "what drove you to engineering"... When asked "How did you find America?" by a reporter, John Lennon said "We made a left at Greenland"... so to answer "what drove you to engineering" it was the family station wagon

Jack

I just reread the list of items, and it is more of a survey, so to answer "all" the questions,..

• My brother and I used to wrap wire around nails and hook them up to a battery to make electromagnets
• Not my first, I spent 9 years in the restaurant business.
• Computers, led to video games, led to control systems
• Went back to school and got a BS in computer science
• Never about choosing engineering, several about the choice of companies

To a person, engineers are the most interesting people I encounter. Confrontation is in the form of intellectual discussion, and not personal attack, mostly because someone thinks they have a better solution.

When I was 15 in 1982 my father offered me to be electronic expert so I went to a high school like that. There I met the first computer in my life and I knew this is the aim of my life. First I bought a book called 'Microcomputer elements for engineering', learnt that and wanted to design an own computer. I realised that I would need a lots of money so started to learn programming. My own first computer was a ZX Spectrum and I wrote programs in basic and later assembly.

My first big adventure was when I got my first job in 1986, writing an operation system for an embedded computer powered by Z80. I wrote everything on my Speccy and burnt the EPROM with that too. Later I had to change to PC and writing softwares only.

Now I am 49 and still an active software developer.

I'm going to answer the question "What drew you to a career in engineering?"

Simple answer: "Born Engineer".  I'll illustrate with two stories my mother told me, since I was too young to remember either one myself.

1.  When I was around 3 or 4, my parents took me to the University of California Berkeley Botanical Gardens.  They expected me to enjoy the beautiful trees and flowers and chirping birds.  Nope.  Instead I discovered the irrigation system, and ran around figuring out where all the pipes went.  Great practice for dealing with multi-layer PC boards

2.  Around the same age, my mother put me in a nursery school for a while.  I had always lived in a mostly-student neighborhood near campus with no other children except my older sister.  Mother was (correctly) concerned that I wasn't developing social skills and hoped that nursery school would teach me to play with other children.  Well, that didn't work.  I found the school's collection of jigsaw puzzles and proceeded to assemble them one after another.  The other children might fiddle with a puzzle, but quickly got bored and went outside to race around and butt their heads together.  The teachers were amazed at how long I would concentrate on a puzzle, and were more amazed that I would put the puzzle away when I had finished it.  Non-social introversion plus ability to concentrate are great for a future with computers.

My parents are both humanities types: Art History and English Lit.  The engineering gene came from my grandfather, whom I never knew.  He was a chief engineer on oil ships, back in the day when at sea you were on your own and the chief engineer had to be able to fix anything or the ship would be stranded.

when as a young boy i saw ilve on tv neil amstrong walking on the moon i immediately wanted to be an engineer...
After 30 years as an engineer and project manager i never had to work for any space related project but it happen 2 or 3 times a year that i teach system engineering. lean engineering and project management to engineer from the space industry...

Already at primary school I learnt what a transformer is and how to calculate the windings. But I had other options and hobbies too. Playing/making/writing music, interested in biology, physics. There were choices. The only thing I was not built for was bookkeeping/accounting, that is why I have a bookkeeper (own my own companies).

When did electronics really start? I think at the age of 11. Choosing it as study was around 18 years.

To grow you also need to learn other things, project management (also when you do your own projects), communication and languages. But also insight in physics, mechanics and how companies work is useful. All that can be learnt, especially project management.

And right now developing electronics & firmware for the worlds first licensed flying car...

I was always inquisitive and interested in science.

Then I discovered that it was the engineers who got to build and use the best toys, so off to Tech School I went.

After graduating, I got a great job in a lab where I had lasers, image digitizers, computers, electronics galore to play with all day.

I went back to school and earned a BS in Computer Engineering because I quickly saw that you needed both electronics and computing skills for the next generation of tools.

I eventually picked up a masters in Computer Science and had a great career working on cutting edge prototypes for advanced avionics equipment.

So I never regretted going into engineering.  I still had lots of exposure to science and got to work on terrific projects.

After I was disabled and forced to retire, I have spent my time still doing science and anyone who has read my book can attest that I propose some interesting alternatives to quantum Physics.

DAB

In a similar vein to johnbeetem I guess we all knew I'd do something like this when I was but a nipper. Again, too young to remember (and therefore be accountable for my actions), but my mother told me they would often find 'bits' lying around! Screws, bolts etc (I have NO idea where I got the tools (or indeed strength) from to undo a screw from a door hinge - but apparently I did.

They'd figure out where the 'bits' came from when stuff fell off!

Taking stuff apart to see how it works has always interested me - as have the drawings of Heath Robinson - as I grew so did my interest (and command of far larger tools - you can take BIG stuff apart with those)!

At Primary School I LOVED the various building stuff they had like 'Connecta Straws', Lego, Stickle-Bricks, Meccano etc - I would try to build 'stuff', not just the random collection of guff most kids did - I wanted my builds to be or do something.

I was fortunate enough to be at secondary school in the early 80's - home computers were here and the syllabus included 'Computer Studies' - many hours spent bashing away on the BBC Model B at 'Sixth Form College', day release to the local Polytechnic (and a now totally pointless understanding of how ferrite core (magnetic core) memory works). My good Physics grade lead to a natural (to me at least) progression to taking Electronics along with Computer Studies in the Sixth Form.

I've already covered what got me into Electronics directly, so I won't bore you (more) here . . .

The next step towards a career was an unusual one, I was too lazy to get around to filling out the application form to work at GEC-Marconi in Coventry (thankfully) - by the time I sent it it was too late, most of our year were now 'happily' employed ramming endless components into countless PCBs . . . . . .  So, no job, no real direction and then it was my birthday - at school - and as any kid from the UK in the 80s knows, birthday = 'the bumps'!

'Where is this going?' I hear you cry, bear with me!

Now, the guys dishing out 'the bumps' were an unsavoury lot, and the severity of the bumps was indirectly proportional to your level of popularity; I was not overly popular, being a bit of a scrawny (and endlessly annoying) little brat, so I was expecting more of a 'kicking', (worse than the bumps and not at all friendly).

Coupled with recent information that they had meted out their particular form of birthday torture on one of their own - and put him in the hospital with a broken collarbone - I opted to do what any sane child would - I hid!! My chosen hiding place was inspired, where would a bunch of local, moronic, halfwitted, bullying thugs never look for me? The school Careers Information Office, where I stumbled upon some information regarding my love of electronics and computers and how a life in the military offered training, travel . . . . etc.

25 years later I left the RAF having worked on everything from the venerable Avro Shackleton, English Electric Canberra and Armstrong Whitworth Argosy (in training), through the Panavia Tornado GR4 and F2/F3 and finally the Eurofighter Typhoon whilst serving. Training was indeed provided - and I got paid during it too!! Win! I did travel a little, 3 times to the South Atlantic - Falkland Islands! Yay!

Gotta* say I loved it by and large     *('Contractual Obligation' apparently - comes with a 1/4 century of military life or so I'm told)!

I now teach others how to fix the Typhoon in my day job (now I DO love that job almost ALL the time), at home I still love to take stuff apart to see how it works.

I even get around to putting it back together occasionally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Re:  What drove you to a career in Engineering.

Following my mandatory retirement from the airline Industry at age 60, I spent the first seven to eight years wondering what to do with my life.  Following a few days tinkering with an old computer that I had on hand the remains had become spread out before me.  Instead of brushing the remains away, a light in my mind came on that would guide me into the magical world of electronics.  I had lived in a world of electronics throughout my aviation career.  Along with aeronautical theory, hydraulics, air, fuel, navigation, etc.  The difference from then to now is based on a users need to know versus the in depth knowledge that's exists following electrical flow through resistors, transistors, pc boards and on and on and on.  I'm a proponent of the KISS principle and still, the fascinating world of electronics provides me endless hours of discovery.

My social life has changed along with my newfound interests.  I've joined the Element14 Community.  My reading list is being satisfied through Safaribooksonline.  The Respberry Pi and Arduino websites are paid daily visits.  My introduction to Python competes with the time I enjoy with my wife (She still tells me to put the book down).  For the first time since retirement I am happy with what I'm doing.

A career in Engineering?  I suppose it all rests in the "eye of the beholder".  It's doubtful that I will ever see a dime come my way in this new profession.  However, I will be rich in the knowledge.  I ask for nothing else.

I have a legacy to fulfill. My grandfather was a civil engineer, my father has a PhD. in civil engineering and is currently a Software Engineer, and I decided to become and electronics engineer. I am hoping that if I have children, at least one of them becomes an engineer.