Attention engineers...What type are you and why?

[petek]

Originally Posted by Dave Flowerday

Engineers are people who engineer solutions to problems.

I have to go along with Dave's definition. Is it really all that important how one acquires the knowledge needed to engineer solutions, as long as the problem gets solved?

As for me, I'm:
a) Electronics technologist by degree (AAS in Electronics, Delaware Tech, eons ago);
b) Sr. Project Manager by title (which means squat, but sounds nice);
c) A mix of electrical, mechanical and chemical engineer by job function (which still doesn't mean I'm a real engineer);
d) Responsible for coming up with technical solutions to real problems encountered in drug discovery every day. I lead a small group of engineers and technicians, and am the only one in the company who can do electro-mechanical design engineering and project management.

Okay, I don't have a BS degree, and I don't claim to be able to do a lot of the more technical aspects of engineering, but I have a pretty good track record of developing effective solutions to real problems. In my current job I replaced a person with an MS in mechanical engineering - a fellow who, in my opinion, never produced a single effective solution to anyone's problem in the eight years I knew him. So who is the "engineer" here?

As to why I am doing what I do: I get to work with a bunch of very talented scientists, learn new things every day, work with leading-edge laboratory automation and analytical instrumentation, occasionally get to invent something, and get paid for it! Besides solving problems, I get a lot of satisfaction from helping the people in my group develop their skills and expand their capabilities.

Right now I'm working on projects to:
- automate testing of drug candidates in an assay which models the human gut;
- manage a project to build an instrument which can dispense 500 nanoliter droplets (too small to see) at 80 drops per second with better than 7% accuracy in a dispensed sample population of over 60,000 drops;
- replicate a robotic work cell (which my group developed) that separates really nasty (very acidic) organic solutions containing high value chemicals in solution.

How much more fun could a person have?!

[Max Lobovsky]

Petek, that is exactly the kind of job I'd like. Dealing with a wide range of technical fields and coming up with original solutions. Actually, it sounds a lot like what a lot of people do as part of FIRST. Because it is like a small version of the real engineering world, people can work on much more complete systems and don't have to stay in their specific field. I think you are really lucky to have a job that gives you so much freedom.

[petek]

Originally Posted by Max Lobovsky

I think you are really lucky to have a job that gives you so much freedom.

How right you are, Max! And luck certainly played its part a few times for me to get where I am now without a BS! That, and hard work, determination not to settle for the easy path and believing what I was once told: "you aren't given responsibility - you have to earn it". Okay, some are given it, but it sure means a lot more when you know you've earned it!

For those who think the kind of work I described sounds interesting, my advise is go for the BS degree, take extra credits in chemistry, biochemistry and (especially) physics, and while you're there see if you can get work maintaining their lab equipment and assisting in labs. Then, look for internships and jobs at scientific equipment manufacturers, biotech, small pharmaceutical or biomedical companies. Once upon a time there were a lot of lab engineering jobs in big pharmaceutical and chemical co's, but these days they've closed or outsourced most of it.

Another area, which doesn't usually pay as well but is rewarding in other ways, is agrotech. Sometimes called "working on the farm", for an engineer this means working with molecular biologists, botanists and biochemists to develop less invasive pesticides, stronger crops and assure that there will be enough food to go around 50 years from now. You may get more fresh air on the job, too!

Be forewarned that few lab engineering jobs are "9 to 5" (9-10 hrs a day is pretty typical), and that many scientist-run organizations don't understand (or value) engineering as much as "real" science (meaning chemistry and biology).

[patrickrd]

I think that to be an engineer, you need to have gone through an accredited four-year college program. I consider myself an engineer, my job title says so. I am a very, very young engineer. I do not yet have a lot of experience. But I've been through an engineering program. Engineering programs in college are rigorous. You learn a lot of things in a short amount of time. You absolutely can not get everything out of a book. One of the most important things I got out of my engineering program is the importance of actually being an engineer. You ask "What does that mean?" A bad calculation can equate to losses of lives. Inaccurately communicating something as a fact can do the same. Even though I am young, I have gone through an engineering program, I recognize the importance of what I am doing, and know when to ask for help and when I can handle something on my own.

The bottom line is that I feel engineering is a very powerful profession. Because of the nature of the work and the ramifications of what engineers do, it's got to be taken seriously and carried out carefully. I took a Science & Technology course where technology is referred to as a golem, or a bumbling giant. Huge. Powerful. Growing. The giant is capable of accomplishing great things, or great distruction. I feel engineers are the ones who sit at the steering wheel, controlling the giant.