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What Drove You Towards a Career in Engineering?

jlucas

As we're using this space to explore the various routes towards turning a passion for engineering into a business, I thought it might be interesting to hear from members who have already made, or are in the process of making that leap. image

 

  • Were you a childhood enthusiast or did your interest come later in life?
  • Was it your first career path, or did you switch from something else?
  • What attracted you to your chosen field of specialism - special interest, career opportunities, salary?
  • Did you gain a professional qualification at University or go back for mature/post-graduate study?
  • Did you experience any setbacks or personal doubts about making engineering your profession?

 

Share your stories in the comments section below, we may collate the most interesting answers for a feature later down the line.

 

Happy Friday!

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  • 0

    Hi John,

    I have never considered my self an engineer but rather a technician. I started my journey very early by taking everything I could get my hands on apart to see how it worked. Though I have spent most of my life repairing electro-mechanical equipment my mother once told me I would probably never make up for all the stuff I broke in the first 10 years of my life. So be it, all I can do is try.

     

    As I walk through life I constantly see things that are not right or need to be fixed. It is not unusual for me to stop to tighten screws on door handles or other items as I pass them. My ever present best friend Millie has learned to put up with me and has taken to helping me spot things that are not right. How many of you guys have wives that can tell you when they hear a different noise coming from the car engine or from the washing machine. Millie has a keen sense of the electro-mechanical and if she had had the opportunity would have made a good engineer. Together we have designed and brought to market 3 simple products that are currently being sold to Dentists all over the USA.

     

    Perhaps the closest I come to being an Engineer is that I am a Re-engineer. I am almost never satisfied with a tool or product as it comes from the manufacturer. Perhaps, because I often use tools for different purposes that they were intended I will always be grinding and changing things to better suit my needs. For better or worse I am usually happier with the products after they have been customized for me.

     

    My hero as I grew up was a character in an obscure SciFi story, a repairman who could take ordinary objects and repair them past their original design to the point where they reached their full potential. While the details of the story now escape me I do remember that after fixing a simple walkie talkie it was able to communicate with spacecraft in orbit. I also thought Larry Niven's and Jerry Pourmelle's, Motie tool makers were pretty cool too. This brings up the interesting point, perhaps, if I had read technical manuals in the first 15 years of my life instead of SciFi books I would have made it to the lofty heights of Engineer but alas I was probably 15 before I swore off SciFi in favor of Physics and Electronic texts.

     

    Since my retirement 5 years ago I have focused my attention on improving my foundation in electronics. Little by little I have learned from my many mentors on this site. This has happened directly by asking questions and indirectly by just looking over their shoulders at what they have done or from their responses to someone else's question. Like retiredpilot14 I have found a great challenge in the pursuit of this knowledge and in my case it is very doubtful that I will ever get to the point of being able to generate more than a pittance from my efforts but that is no longer the point.

     

    John W.

  • 0 in reply to jw0752

    Same here John, my job title was 'Engineering Technician - Avionics' (Formerly 'Electronic Technician - Air Radar'). I'm sure it was a way of paying me less!! image

  • 0 in reply to the-dubster

    Avionics was an area that I thought would be fun.  Kind of like "Flight Simulator" but with consequences.  Thought to use a passive system with GPS transponder sending out location information, then listen for all the devices to make up the map of airborne vehicles.  But I guess someone else has already done that.

     

    Jack

  • 0 in reply to jack.chaney56

    Consequences is the right word to use there Jack , a smoking hole in the ground is the consequence of getting it wrong.

    You're right about the mapping, IFF/SSR does that, just not with GPS. airborne systems have been doing it before GPS ever got near an aircraft - you just use your aircraft sensor. There is also AIS for sea based vehicles which gives location and then some.

    Tracking all of that data is the fun bit!

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  • 0 in reply to jack.chaney56

    Consequences is the right word to use there Jack , a smoking hole in the ground is the consequence of getting it wrong.

    You're right about the mapping, IFF/SSR does that, just not with GPS. airborne systems have been doing it before GPS ever got near an aircraft - you just use your aircraft sensor. There is also AIS for sea based vehicles which gives location and then some.

    Tracking all of that data is the fun bit!

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