Reader’s Perspective: “The Ups & Downs of My Engineering Career”

by Guest Contributor | May 25th, 2005

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Carlos E. Garcia, a civil and structural engineer with over 20 years of experience, examines the most rewarding and vexing aspects of his long career:

When There’s Nothing to Add Since Readers Have Said It So Well…

The Ups and Downs of the U.S. Economy

Over the years (and there have been many), I have reflected on the things I love about engineering many times. This reflection was more than a sentimental journey, but a real and deliberate attempt to justify staying an engineer.

What I’ve Loved About My Career…
Engineering has allowed me to build virtues of discipline, honesty, persistence, and a solid work ethic, all of which help family values grow. I don’t think I could have picked a more perfect balance of scientific theories and practical applications.

And even more significant is the fact that so many of my peers are of like mind–family-oriented. I am not just blowing smoke when I say that I really enjoy the company of my colleagues. While I find the logical, orderly, scientific methods used by engineers compelling, the surprising decency and real-ness of the people in this profession are what makes working in an engineering atmosphere enjoyable.

I’ve often heard non-engineers–office managers and other support personnel–talk (okay, complain) about how engineers “think differently” and in fact severely get on their nerves. But those same people would confide that they would pick an “engineer” as a good spouse and parent! Now THAT is what I’m talking about when I say that my peers are mostly decent and family-oriented.

Misperceptions I Would Love to Clear Up…
There are several misconceptions that are so pervasive that I tend to laugh about them; otherwise I would cry. One, is that engineers are nerds, and further that being a nerd is somehow undesirable and to be avoided at all costs! Well, if being smart and enjoying the learning process is “bad” because you are not making millions of dollars at it (a nerd) … then I would stay away from doing something “good” (it may just cost me my mind!).

Two, is that engineers somehow think they are superior to others in intelligence, but more than that, they are perceived to put others down. I have found quite the contrary. Most engineers try so hard to learn and do the right thing, that their social skills may get slighted. I know so many good and ethical engineers who find it difficult to survive in a cutthroat business world, and they soon build unfortunate social defenses (quite unnecessary). Next time you meet an engineer, stop, drop and listen, you may find a very interesting and conscientious person.

Three, is that engineers are slow. They are not slow, but thorough and thoughtful. You won’t understand it unless you listen to the inner thinking of an engineering mind. Try it sometime, you may learn a thing or two.

Trends I’ve Witnessed Firsthand…
Positive trends include the unbelievable designs that are possible using computer models and analysis. The downside is that these uses are few and far between, relegated to the engineering elite. Another positive trend has been in the area of communications worldwide. I think that Web sites and cell phones have not quite tapped the capability of sharing real-time engineering analysis on a world stage yet. But the potential is awesome for engineering.

A sad trend has been the dumbing down of engineers with the advent of computers. Software is taking the place of Brainware, and the basis for “good engineering judgment” is sometimes lost in a sea of software commercials and quick fixes.

The Downside…
There have been many times that staying in engineering has been rough for me. Not that I have ever been in serious trouble with litigation. On the contrary, I have not had to deal with it at all. But I could have done without the bottom-line obsession of many clients and non-engineers and their constant insistence that “If it fails, it is all on you!” When a client misinterprets and over exaggerates safety issues, it can become demoralizing to a design engineer.

While I uphold professional responsibilities of safety, I get irked by the extreme and constant pressures, sarcastic commentary, and joking threats of jail regarding my complete responsibility for “life and safety” in a design project. Sometimes, the thought is too much to bear, that one of my mistakes could possibly cause a death or serious injury. Though safety is always on my mind, it is really not helpful for non-engineers to take every opportunity to bring up the liability issues. In fact, many times it is detrimental and distracting when the issues are blown way out of proportion because of the ignorance of clients or other non-engineers.

All in All
I would easily say that the positives outweigh the negative aspects of an engineering career. The kind of people you meet and work with are usually very inspiring, and the intellectual challenge of bridging science and practicality is oh so intriguing.

Engineers have the ability to bring the highest levels of technology and theory into a practical use. I enjoy analyzing an engineering process and providing a vision for the future, based on real steps a company can make. Keeping up with what technology offers and how to apply it has been a delight.

Still, I’m drawn inexplicably to drafting and calculations. I guess you can take the inspiration out of an engineer, but not the drafting.

Carlos Garcia is a civil and structural engineer for the federal government. He has 23 years of experience, working in a public works branch, an engineering research laboratory, and now in a design group. He obtained his degree in Architectural Engineering from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA, and received a license in Civil Engineering.

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Comments:

Ron Beauman

May 25, 2005

Interesting.
As an Engineer, I have noticed a significant trend since the 80′s and that is the trend, or should I state, the over relience on computers — how many truely understand that a computer is just a tool using a mathematical model and the computer is not the answer in and of itself.
The point about litigation is very real. My question is how many people can define what an Engineer is? Whats form, fit, and fuction mean?; whats configuration control? How many understand that Q.A/Q.C. and safety are part & parcel of the design?
I firmly beleive that Engineering is one of the most fulfilling professions and for all us Engineers (not Engineers in quotes) how many of you would change if you could or would?
P.S.: There should be spell check on this,
because How many Engineers can spell?

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Nick Sevastian Peng.

May 25, 2005

I agree. I experienced most of the things mentioned above. I would like to add that unfortunately management in North America in general doesn’t understand or for that mater appreciate the engineers. The proof of that is that everyone can see our jobs moving to China and India. To explain I would try to draw onto my own experience (please contradict me if u have different examples) and say that every time the company has a problem to solve, management ask engineers to come up with solutions. And we do, most of the times more than enough. Now you tell me how many times it happened that the most impractical, no pain no gain solutions (ideas) were chosen as to be the answer. My experience says it was close to 85% of the times. Mind you I was in the business for only 26 years I have three patents and my experience is somehow limited!!!! Or not. However some might disagree but I would suggest that one of the reasons for our jobs moving overseas is that management comes from business background rather than engineering background. They don’t value, trust or understand engineering most of the time. You want to see the reverse of this look at the German and Japanese engineering and business models. Engineering stays home, the management is mostly from engineering, and their economies are based on technology and know how. I’m not saying that our economy is not, I’m just saying that we are on a slippery road to nowhere in terms of renewing our technical and technological heritage. Our management talks about 6 sigma and we got a monster of burocracy to support few benefits. Mind you most companies apply it in ways that defeat the purpose to begin with. Talk about lean, we actually spend our way into lean big time. Best practices are just a gimmick to allow them to ship your experience to Chiana and by limiting creativity, guess what, they will not need you later down the road. Maybe I am exaggerating and I do. On the other hand how many authors used exaggeration in their comedy to illustrate the society’s trends and stereotypes?
I also saw (few) companies that use 6 sigma, lean and best practices and better themselves by applying them intelligently, on the other hand this is what the engineers do anyway or do we?

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billy

May 25, 2005

Majority rules! Bright and smart Engineers belong to a tiny minority. No wonder they (upper management and the society as a whole) don’t value engineering. Majority rules!

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Nick Sevastian

May 25, 2005

As a side note, in regards as to how managers get their professional calling? Most of us know that Right hemisphere of the brain deals with technical proficiency, logical field while the left hand side excels in arts or intuition. (or the other way around?! doesn’t really mater) When we decide for our future education we (or our parents) generally if we’re good at math send us to engineering and science if we’re good at arts is literature, graphic arts or music. If neither hemisphere works good enough you go to business.
Just joking, but is true isn’t it?

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Gary J. Smither

May 26, 2005

I have to say that I agree with the author on all counts about the engineers and their character traits, which I’ve met and worked with during my 25-year career. It has been a pleasure. Unfortunately we are being relocated, leaned, and rightsized now. I’ll have to reevaluate whether I can stay in this field or need to move on. It seems there is a trend in society in general to want to be “punching on keys” rather then doing anything that has to do with the real world. I think this trend is unfortunate and dangerous for our country. This was a terrific article for me now during my reflective process. I’ve marked it up and passed it onto my coworkers.
P.S. I did perform a spell check. ;-)

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Bill Loutzenheiser

May 26, 2005

BAck up a century and all of the manufacturing was started by a craftsman with the help of a engineer, the book keepers kept track of the funds and hid in the back room. Somwhere in the 40′s we made the mastake and let them out frount, and they took over the office, In the 80′s a s the last of the old craftsman died away we were left with the new number crushers, they can generate a truck load of paper to show you where they feel the money was going on a project we as engineers designed, but can not understand that you still need craftsmen making and assembling the products.
there fix is to hire lost of cheap help that may have a GED and speak engilsh? ( this is a problem I face) But all in all, Engineers prevail, we invent the impossible, we challange nature and push mans dreams to new hights all the time. wether it is in a new style suppention bridge or a AA battery opperated tooth brush, a engineer had his mind and hands envolved in the idea to make it happen.
And socially we still are know as MR. Fix it! When all else fails, the comon sence in most people is to find a engineer and get it redesigned to work??

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Gregg W. Rebenstorf

May 26, 2005

Yes, I too would agree with Carlos that engineers are driven by honesty and a high standard work ethic. I think this is the primary reason managers and engineers are at odds with one another. Safety, is always number one on the list and the engineer will be the first one that they point the finger at if something goes wrong. The cost of doing it right the first time is almost always lower than the managers view of let’s wrap it up and get it out the door and stop polishing the apple you are just wasting money. First of all managers don’t understand what a finished product is as they are always looking for short cuts that they can fix later. Later is now and there is no substitute for a good product. (i.e., If GM and Ford don’t improve reliability, efficiency, and trim the units they build per BusinessWeek 5/9/05 pg.84 they will blow through their $20 billion surplus in 5 years and end up bankrupted!) This of course will fall back on the technical people as doing a technically inferior job of designing cars.

I am a chemical engineer from Arizona State that has worked in the chemical, refining and power business for 33 years and have gone through 6 layoffs. I love my job and take great pride in what I do and the finished product I produce. I currently consultant with banks, owners and contractors; however, I am currently sitting idle trimming trees around the house and working on home projects until the energy bill makes its way through the Senate later this summer. My biggest beaf as an engineer is the fact that the industry treats us as a commodity that they use and dischard like trash. Managers have this prespective that we are warm bodies that serve their needs and when the job is over they toss us out. I also agree with one of the other comments that the trend is to outsource engineering to China. Well if that’s what management wants to do, they better get six Chinese Engineers to keep up with me. Again, the manager’s prespective to outsource to China is to lower engineering costs and they may lower the quality inadvertently at the same time. I don’t know that China has the same work ethic we do here in the US.

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Javaid Khan

May 28, 2005

For a second I thought the author was narrating my story, I think we engineers are at times too logical for our own good.
While reading the comments I felt I had lost my way as the subject had completely changed, what with someone feeling he is as good as six Chinese and someone beefing about outsourcing to India. I think its time people woke up, the West has had it too good or too long, the competetion was bound to catch up sooner or later.
Lets stick to engineering.

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Nick Sevastian Peng.

May 31, 2005

Well I think that would be good to understand that while yes we are concerned for our jobs, the thought that prevails from more than one speaker is the concern about the future of engineering in this country. Nobody has anything about developing engineering in China or in India as long as is let to the Chinese or Indian Governments, industry or institutions. The issue is, that their engineers are trained and let in our profession and technology by capital that we raised here partially with our skills and effort. To look at this trend only from the “competition” point of view is macho and childish to me. To tell u the truth, I don’t think there is a competition really. I agree to the gentleman that said he is able to do the job of 6 chinese counterparts. The only competitive point is that they’re cheap. The point I’m trying to make is that they will eventually get better with our money and know-how, due to our management selling us off with technology and everything. If anyone fails to see that happening they are either blind or too much involved in our work, family life, paying off the house, stuck in traffic kind of thing. We build our virtues, professionalism, loyalty to the company while the Enron’s of this world are trading us for cheap commodities. Is sad but is the truth.

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Irwin Gray

June 5, 2005

As a professor at a technical college, teaching at the graduate level, I meet a substantial number of engineers and hear many stories of engineering career woes. I am not hopeful about our profession’s prospects in the U.S.

First: On the engineering and other capabilities of foreign engineers. Don’t underestimate them.
Your employer will not need to hire six of them for one of you. What you have to worry about is one of them will replace six of you.

Start with youngsters in engineering school. An engineering school admissions dean told me that if she admitted candidates purely on the basis of talent, brains, and prior grades, her school would be 100 percent oriental within four years.
They work very, very hard, take much tougher courses than U.S. students do, and concentrate on their studies far more than than the pampered U.S. born students do.

Some years ago, I was a partner in a railroad equipment repair firm. We had an opportunity to develop a piece of equipment (a servo control mechanism)for use on trains and needed two engineers to do the job for us on a free lance basis. We advertised extensively. Every person who came to us, especially from the big defense outfits in our area had a major title such as chief engineer, etc. Not one of them could pass a simple test our own chief engineer gave them. They were engineering paper pushers. Finally, I went around to classes in my own college and then in three well known, top ranked universities. I asked the professors of those masters and doctoral engineering classes if I could make an announcement: “Who here would like to earn $25,000 for three months of work? Develop this item for us.” Do you know what was the most immediate question I got after my announcement?

“What do I get paid if I fail?”

I was finally put on the trail of an engineer from Europe who built the device for us in one month and took home a pocket full of dollars.

Management treats its engineers as disposable commodities and the result is that the best and the brightest seek careers on Wall Street, the Law, and other more respected fields. The engineering field was the way up for the sons and daughters of immigrants to the U.S. Once these sons and daughters grow up, they want professions or careers where they can make money and not be subjected to outsourcing, layoffs, and premature career terminations.

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Guy Cooper

July 4, 2005

Let me make several over simplified “Bumper Sticker” statements:
TOWIT:
I. Engineers deal with the Laws of Naure.
II. Managers deal with the laws of man.
AND:
Engineers Strive to Lessen Vexations regarding the following:
A. Vexations over Configurations of Matter and/or Energy.
B. Vexations over Information gathering and transfer.
C. Vexations over failing to solve A. or B. — we don’t want to talk about this one!

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