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How Were You 'Bit by the Bug' of Engineering & Technology?

What's the Gift that Led You to Give Back?

 

Gift us the story of your love for engineering & technology!

 

Every great love affair starts somewhere.  Did the sparks fly the moment of your first encounter with anything related to engineering or technology?image

 

Maybe you found it dull and boring at first? Did your mind go numb as you listened to concepts too complicated to understand and numbers too overwhelming to compute? Did your love blossom slowly over time, as you discovered layer upon layer of depth, becoming arrested by incomprehensible beauty, as you longingly gazed into the abyss of a perfect alignment of mathematical symmetry and artistic harmony?

 

Did it begin with an exchange of gifts?  Engineering and technology, as you know, offers many tantalizing gifts. Did you have a moment together?  A moment that would change the rest of your life forever!

 

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The end of the year is a time for giving and reflection. Gifts are exchanged, resolutions are made, and you look back on the past. You may even reach further and think of the pivotal moments that led you in the current direction of your life.

 

Whether its the gift of an experience, the gift of a piece of hardware or software, the gift of an idea or a person who inspired you, think of a gift that influenced you to pursue engineering & technology.

 

Here are some examples of the gifts that led others to give back:

 

The Gift of Wonder

 

Steve Wozniak, widely credited as the inventor of the Personal Computer, gave an interview where he credits a journal he found in a hall closet for his interest in engineering and technology: "...I found a journal in a hall closet with descriptions of binary numbering, logic gates and storage devices....When I discovered a 9-year old could understand this stuff I knew it would be my passion forever."image

 

An engineer may not get or even want attention for their accomplishments, its their job, to make things work even if it means pushing technology as far as it goes, making the seemingly impossible, possible. A good deal of selflessness is required in engineering, which in its way makes it sound a lot like giving.  For an engineer like Wozniak, it opened up a world of wonder for him that would change the world forever!

 

"I found a journal in a hall closet with descriptions of binary numbering, logic gates and storage devices....When I discovered a 9-year old could understand this stuff I knew it would be my passion forever."

 

The Gift of the Whole Brain

 

Many of the skills required to be a good engineer are well known and have been talked about a lot.  A lot of formal training in math and science is required to develop the rational thinking and logic required to solve real world problems. Not only are you expected to solve complex problems, you are asked to implement solutions in cost effective and practical ways.This brings us to another prized trait in engineers; the ability to think creatively. The ability to think big and use your imagination is highly valued, especially when it comes to solving complicated problems that may involve monetary or feasibility concerns. Anyone that has ever worked in tech knows you have to work within the constraints of the technology of the given time and even a perfect product will be obsolete before you know it.image

 

Although mostly known as one of the great artist, there's perhaps no better exemplier what can be accomplished in engineering using a whole-brain approach than Leonardo Di Vinci: "To develop a complete mind: study the science of art; study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else."  In addition to being an accomplished architectural engineer, Da Vinci's investigation of human anatomy helped lay the early foundation of the biomedical engineering field.image

 

"To develop a complete mind: study the science of art; study the art of science. Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else."

 

 

The Gift of Diversity

 

In a world ruled by seemingly arbitrary lines. Engineering and technology follow the laws of physics and if you can master those laws and bend technology to your will, you find it's the product of your work that matters and this gives opportunity to people from diverse backgrounds and socioeconomic statuses.  The appeal of technology and engineering for people in all corners of the world is that regardless of your gender, race, family, background, or social status, your contribution has value because of where you come from. That is why some of the great technology companies and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) educators are at the forefront of recognizing the need to promote a diverse and inclusive environment.image

 

Engineers and technologists recognize the value diversity brings to the work they are able to accomplish, if you are going to invent and innovate solutions that solve the needs of everyone you're only going to succeed by bringing in diverse perspectives. Education in engineering is now focused on being more diverse because, as explained in an article about the changing face of engineering education, that drives innovation.

 

The Gift of Curiosity

 

Once you understand the mathematical and mechanistic way everything works you open doors, that lead you to other doors, that lead to still more doors. Engineers use quantitative analysis to understand and model the world around them. They witness the interplay between science and technology, how science advances technology, and vice versa. In a profile on Live Science, Maurizio Porfiri, who holds a PH.D. in engineering mechanics credits the literature he read growing up for the curiosity needed to excel in engineering: "Being creative and being curious is more important than being the smartest or best at equations if you want to be a great engineer or researcher."image

 

Porfiri was included in Popular Science's Brilliant 10 in 2012, an elite group of scientists under 40 who stands to dramatically impact their field, despite being a self-described "okay student" as well as the recipient of the 2008 NSF Career Award.  In engineering and technology, curiosity is what drives you to learn new programming languages, experiment with new systems, and come up with novel solutions to solve problems.

 

 

"Being creative and being curious is more important than being the smartest or best at equations if you want to be a great engineer or researcher."

 

The Gift of a Better Tomorrow

 

There are many pressing needs in the world in fields like technology including energy, sustainability, transportation, education, healthcare, food, and the environment. While a goal of many disciplines in science is to understand reality, the ultimate goal of engineering and technology is to create a better tomorrow that leaves the world a better a place.image

 

The work of engineers is everywhere.  In hospitals and clinics there is manufacturing pharmaceuticals, designing intravenous infusion pumps, programming electronic medical records. Biomedical engineers are as much a part of patient care as nurses and physicians. Meanwhile, mechanical engineers contribute to transportation; environmental engineers contribute to sustainability and energy; and electrical engineers contribute to communications.

 

The Gift of Generosity

 

Perhaps the greatest gift of engineering and technology is that it can not only make life more comfortable for everyone, but it can also save lives. An understanding of engineering and technology can be used to serve the public and address global challenges by putting you in a position to help others using your skills.  Environmental Engineer Lilia Abron, founder of Peer Consultants and Peer Africa, credits the book Silent Sprint by Rachel Carson, as the inspiration behind her sanitary engineering vocation.image

 

Lilia Abron runs a program that unifies energy efficiency and sustainable housing construction, along with economic development, to create sustainable human settlements.  She tells her alumni bulletin: "It bothered me to see people living without any power to change their lives, and government funds being wasted by construction companies just trying to make money. I told my business partner, 'I know how to solve this.'" The book Silent Spring, first published in 1962, is also the inspiration for the environmental movement that led to the EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency).image

 

"It bothered me to see people living without any power to change their lives, and government funds being wasted by construction companies just trying to make money. I told my business partner, 'I know how to solve this.'"

 

The Gift that Kept On Giving

 

There's perhaps no better way to succeed in life than to love what you do because then you'll never you'll never "work" a day in your life. Educators are finding that key to developing children's interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) may lie in making STEM applicable to everyday life, making it more interesting and hands on, and emphasizing the process over results. If you developed a love for Science, Technology, and Math you could probably point to examples in your life that fall into one of those categories.  It could be a HEATH kit you received when you were a child, your first computer, working with your Dad in the garage, a science fair, or any number of experiences that you can point to as having influenced your love for engineering or technology.

 

You've heard from others.  Now, tell us what sparked YOUR interest in Engineering or Technology!  Was it a gift you received?  What was the gift?  Do you remember how old you were when the moment happened!  Do you remember where you were when it happened?  Tell us what it means to you now. Everyone has to start from somewhere, with that "eureka" moment. Were you working one day and suddenly realized, engineering and technology is where you want to spend the rest of your life.  Engineering and technology are definitely a worthwhile life-long companions. Others have always known they wanted to be with engineering and technology. What's your story?

 

Love at First Bite?  Tell Us How Your Love Affair with Engineering or Technology Began!

 

Love is a gift (I'm reliably informed by every rom com movie ever made). So we want to lavish technology gifts upon you, due to your love of technology (recipients of the freebies will be selected on the quality of their storytelling chops)!

Not only that, but we'll give you something to pass along to a techno-noobie to spread your love of electronics and inspire the next generation of engineers, like ripples in a solder bath.

 

Here's how to join in:

  • Register for free here at element14.com, or log in if you're already registered.
  • Tell the story of what got you hooked on electronics and tech in the comments below, leaving no lyric unwaxed!
  • Make sure your postal address and phone number are filled out in your element14 profile (if it's not, we can't send you anything even if we wanted to!). Click your name at the very top of the screen to open the  drop-down menu, followed by "Edit Profile + Privacy", and fill in the details so you're eligible for freebies.
    • PRIVACY NOTE: Click your name at the very top of the scree to open the  drop-down menu, followed by "Edit Profile + Privacy", go to the "Privacy" tab, and change the relevant options to "Yourself" so that your postal address and phone number aren't publicly visible.
  • This promotion only runs until 20th January, 2017, or until we run out of hot tech swag, so tell us your stories now!

  • I kind of backed into the electronics hobby, I read about comet shoemaker-levy and how it was going to crash into Jupiter. I also read that Jupiter was a simple radio astronomy target in the decametric band, so I decided to build a radio telescope. Enough things went right that out of that grew a love of electronics. I will admit that this was like being thrown in the deep end of the pool and told to swim, while not for everyone it was fun. As a result I got my HAM license, waived a required electronics course at University and am currently teaching a python/physical computing course at my local Library - where we are working towards creating a makerspace. Looking back one things stands out how much easier the whole project would have been today (with the internet etc.).

  • I was bitten by the electronics bug the first time when I was very young, and wondered what made all those devices we had at home tick...some encounters of the angry parent kind later I had to lay down the screwdriver, but when I gained the freedom of adulthood i grabbed the screwdriver again and started hacking and modding everything I came across. and now there is http://www.mayermakes.com and noone can hold me back now.

  • My Grandfather worked as an engineer for IBM, starting with designing circuits for their tape drives, and eventually playing key roles in projects like the IBM 1620 "CADET". Early on in my life, I had access to an IBM PC Jr, and a grandfather with lots of stories about working in the technology industry. Honestly, my first interests in using a computer were games, and that was primary for a long time, but even that led to learning. Like mixing+matching sections of the autoexec.bat and config.sys files recommended by boot disk utilities for different games, trying to get them to work under DOS. That's also how I learned my first command-line stuff. I began to wonder about the details of how things worked. Poking around the computer, I discovered Qbasic. By talking to people at church, I became the proud owner of a 15 year old book titled "BASIC Computer Games: Microcomputer Edition". I spent weeks typing programs in, hunt-and-peck style, not really understanding the code, but amazed that it represented human-readable instructions that the computer was following. I made some progress, but being in about 4th grade, I hadn't been introduced to the concept of mathematical variables, so the complexity of what I could write on my own, without examples to follow, was pretty limited. Eventually I became frustrated, and kept the experience at the back of my mind.

     

    This whole time, my Grandfather gave me little pushes. Radio kits, little remote control robot toys, a 300-in-1 Radio Shack set that was *huge* fun for years (and that I've still got at my parents' house). He taught me to solder, some basics with electronics, and so on. He's been a huge influence on me for my whole life. Years later, I picked back up with programming when some school classes were available to me. We covered QBasic (yes, even around 2000), Visual Basic 6, and C++. I loved what I could make the computer do, and the depths that are there to explore in becoming a better programmer fascinated me. I knew for certain what my path was going to be when I went to college.

     

    Games->curiosity->experimentation->knowledge->loop back to curiosity. There's no way to escape the loop; it's got me (happily) trapped forever!

  • When I was 10 my RC car became damaged after one too many jumps off a low ledge. No one was around to fix it, so I got an old screwdriver from a toolbag and proceeded to take it apart. I quickly discovered a ball of wires that weren't quite attached to where they use to be. Some blue tack and sticky tape later the wires were back in place and held together (for a brief time at least). That's the first time I seen the inside of an device. In the years that proceeded, I slowly took apart remote controls, TVs, and any old hardware around the house to see just how it ticked!

     

    Many years later, I picked up my first Arduino and was amazed at what I could suddenly do with a few budget components. That curiosity never went away! My house is now full of small components scatted everywhere reading temperatures, turning on and off lights, and logging data from the fridge to who's currently in the house. At 26 years old, I can't wait to see what comes next!

  • Well since my childhood from where I can recall I have been fascinated by electronics and electrical equipments alike. I would tinker with them just for fun and everytime I learn something new which pushed me further to learn newer things. This fascination of mine with electronics grew over the years and finally ended up doing my B. Tech. from electrical engineering while doing a lot of projects along the way and learning still more things. Still I feel I have a lot to learn and I look forward to it with much excitement. And folks that's the the story of my life suitably titled "Bit by the bug".

  • I was lucky to have grandparents that were interested in technology as part of their life!

    One grandfather was a farmer and machinist and had a huge shop with all kinds of tools. He was also a rock hound and invented machines to cut and polish rocks.

    The other grandfather had a shop where he would fix things and also invent things.

     

    I agree with several of the other comments that science fiction has continued to play a big role in my interest for engineering.

     

    Later in technical school I learned how to build a robot and program an Intel 8086 with assembly and then programmed the first IBM PC - I was hooked and continued my education.

     

    I then worked and Sandia National Labs for 10 years building 18 major robotic systems and mentored several students. The students were always interested in robotic technology and would say wow and you get paid for this.

     

    Since then I have worked with high technology startups and continue to work in manufacturing where I find engineering both challenging and rewarding. Our company also promotes mentoring of students in both business and technology!

  • I started my journey to electronics, as an associate in embedded music keyboard. what it does, just sing a song and the piano will play it.
    from then I started exploring various boards and started doing work on it. my dream is to create a Jarvis replica, which is so much affordable such that every house has its own Jarvis installed...

     

    Hoping to see what i get from element14 image

  • in reply to steveerhardt

    Ah! The direct descendent of the ZX80 - The white egg carton home computer which used to stop displaying video when loading cassette tapes.

  • My foray into dealing with electronics was caused by my fascination with video games.  The I remember playing my older siblings NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis consoles.  I was introduced to PC gaming with Doom and HeXen.  I still remember when I got my first PC in middle school, it was a Dell with a pentium 4 which unfortunately is all I can remember about it spec wise.  I also remember when there was a storm, and it fried that poor PC, which at that point was having trouble gaming, and instead of getting a prebuilt PC again I convinced my mom to take the home insurance money and let me buy parts to build a new PC.  Ever since then I've built 4 other PCs, with the latest one being my first attempt at liquid cooling. 

     

    Unfortunately the majority of my knowledge is just in knowing how to put the PC parts together correctly, and to do my own troubleshooting/networking at the home.  I've had interest in learning how to program, but I just never get around to learning anything due to my video game habit taking up most of my free time.  However due to my knowledge, and good testing scores at my current job, I've managed to get a job as an Injection Molding Technician where I'm learning more about electronics and robotics.

  • in reply to saurabhreigns

    Hi ,

    Thanks for the reply. I find other cultures and their uses of English words, interesting. It's a "Slang" word. So, use it in what ever way you like:) I'm sure, it gets the point across, in your area...

    Don