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:
Quote:
|
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.
|
Quote:
|
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
any robot that can hold and transport its team has found its purpose and can be considered complete - Nitroxextreme [more] 
07-10-2014, 13:57
I avoid: basis, mitigate, leveraging, transitioning, impact (instead of affect/effect), facilitate, programmatic, problematic, issue (instead of problem), latency (instead of delay), dependency (instead of prerequisite), connectivity, usage & utilize (instead of use), downed, functionality, functional, power on, descore, alumni (instead of alumnus/alumna), the enterprise, methodology, nomenclature, form factor (instead of size or shape), competency, modality, provided(with), provision(ing), irregardless/irrespective, signage, colorized, pulsating, ideate
Threaded Mode