What does it take to be a good engineer?

[raystubbs]

In your opinion are some key traits that make a good engineer? What defines and engineer?

[DonRotolo]

Creativity is important. Some call it thinking out of the box, but developing good solutions to problems requires you to first imagine the solution, then do the math to make it work.

Focus and discipline: You can't do the work without it. Implies a good work ethic.

Intelligence: You can't do any of this if you are grossly uneducated* or not "that kind" of thinker. I work with highly creative people who are outstanding workers who couldn't figure out how to make a paper bag from a sheet of paper. But a sense f color and appeal, off the charts.

Desire to learn: You have to be insanely curious about things. Always asking Why and then finding out. Also called Fascination.

(*not necessarily formal education)

Funny thing is, you really don't have to be Excellent at math, just persistent enough to pass. I don't like math, myself.

Live the scientific method: Almost everything I do - work, home, anything - is a series of experiments in a way. I do the experiment, examine the results, and see if I can improve. The hardest one is people: They change over time in unpredictable ways.

Humor. Don't take everything so seriously, workahol is an addictive drug.

Be well-rounded: Strive to know a little about everything (but don't put yourself out there as a know-it-all). That'll help with the 'creativity' and problem-solving stuff.

There's so much more, but those are my thoughts for now.


EDIT: Yes, communication is critical, possibly more than any of the above. You not only have to clearly describe highly complex things to the layman, you have to do it right: Any grammar or spelling mistakes and you immediately lose all credibility.

Yes, any grammer or speling misteaks and you loose credability. I cant beleve I forget that.

[wireties]

Math skills, intellectual curiosity, work ethic and stubborness

[Ether]

Communication skills, both verbal and written.

And yes, that includes grammar.

[wireties]

Originally Posted by Ether

Communication skills, both verbal and written.

And yes, that includes grammar.

QFT

[Michael Hill]

Being able to admit when you're wrong.

Confidence in your work is important, but don't let cockiness get in the way of admitting when you're wrong.

Effectively communicating your ideas is also important. Both verbal and written communication are important.

[raystubbs]

Those who have said that confidence is good, but cockiness is bad have, in a few sentences, earned my utmost respect. Humility, I think, is important in life itself, not just engineering. But I think it is especially important for engineers because of their interaction with others of their field, and the high respect that others have for them.

[Big Ideas]

Originally Posted by Ether

Communication skills, both verbal and written.

And yes, that includes grammar.

This is my new answer for the VERY important engineering skill that is not talked about enough. The reason is simple. Your job as an engineer is not DONE until you give the product of your work to someone else. That is, you have to communicate with others in a way that they understand what it is you did. Paper for research, Drawings and manufacturing methods for designs, Presentations and discussions for design reviews. Technical descriptions, process plans, detail drawings, Powerpoint presentations to introduce and describe ideas. These are all part of my daily life as a mechanical design engineer.

[EricH]

Speaking as a technician who has to deal with the results of engineering, I couldn't agree more on communication. And remember, it's a two-way street. The technicians who have to deal with you will probably not accept a "it's good as it is" if they have to spend extra time dealing with whatever you didn't account for. (And if they deal with what you designed a lot, they probably know where its weak points are at better than you do.) But if you listen to why it's not what's needed, and how to improve it, and especially if you do something about it, the techs are going to listen a lot better, and work with you a lot more, than if you simply dismiss them or don't listen.

[Mr. Mike]

A good engineer will never stop learning. From his peers, technicians, and competitors. The field is just to vast for any one person to know it all.

[IKE]

I would personally say that engineering is in many ways the application of physics or other sciences. Because of this, I think one of the most important traits of a good engineer is being able to figure out how "things" work, and using that knowledge to apply it to solutions.
While we often think of engineering and "invention" in the same line, invention is often the re-application of other inventions or ideas.

I specifically use the word "things" above as the "things" can vary a lot. "Things" could be a complex mechanical machine, electrical circuts, a piece of code, buildings, cities, or even people.

[techhelpbb]

Persistence, patience and healthy dose of reality.

You did not fail.
You tried something that did not work despite best effort and you can prove it with a realistic analysis of the evidence.

Patience because people, politicians and life are generally frustrating.
If everyone else jumped off a bridge would you?
Sure you would if they all rush you hard enough!
Once you clear the edge - the 'wanted to' part is less relevant.

Knowing how to get stuff done with what you have is the name of the game for engineers. Science hands you the pieces. You have to figure out how to apply that knowledge to make it useful. With skill and some luck your solution stands the test of time.

Communications is a valuable skill but realistically if you are not persistent in finding the most effective communications for a particular audience you are just wasting opportunity. Politicians look at it differently. You have to find the simplest way to grab your target audience and bring them along. Simplicity makes it easy to convince people that something is transparent (even if that catch phrase is a total bold face lie based on no evidence what so ever).

[anthonyttu]

Curiosity, wanting to understand how and why, and taking the time and effort to go figure it out yourself.

[IronicDeadBird]

Insane amounts of tenacity seem to be something I notice in a lot of engineers.
Another interesting one is a "loud mouth" or the ability to step up to authority figures and question and always look for better ways of doing things.

[gblake]

Some of the replies so far are descriptions of what it takes to be a good "____" (you fill in the blank). In that sense they are excellent advice, and it's useful to know that that advice does apply to Engineering, but that also means something is still missing.

In the OP, the author asked "In your opinion are some key traits that make a good engineer? What defines and engineer?" That second question is a crucial one. I think you have to answer it before answering the first.

I have a pet peeve that rejects the flood of popular definitions that say and engineer is someone who solves problems, blah, blah, blah. Instead I stick with the notion that scientists discover the relationships that describe how the universe behaves, and engineers apply those relationships to make things.

Similar explicitly expressed thoughts from other posters are:

Knowing how to get stuff done with what you have is the name of the game for engineers. Science hands you the pieces. You have to figure out how to apply that knowledge to make it useful.

engineering is in many ways the application of physics or other sciences

In practice, there is obviously tremendous overlap, between the two activities I described, and in practice people trained to be scientists or engineers perform a wide variety of other tasks (everything from cooking to creative writing to accounting and project management).

My point is that if you want to be a good engineer, you must be good at getting things done by understanding and applying the relationships scientists have discovered. That is what uniquely (IMO) makes a person an engineer.

OBTW, it helps to get things done, that the rest of your community cares about (knowing what to do is as important as knowing how to do it). A two-way street exists.

In parallel, if you want to be successful at almost anything (and engineering is absolutely included in the list), with rare exception, you need all of the communication, humor, humility, etc. skills other folks have listed here.

Blake