An Expanding Engineering World and Multi-disciplinary Culture

Suffice it to say that engineers are good at dealing with complex information, processing that information and deducing solutions to the problems from them. To begin with, engineers by nature are people who love analytical thinking, problem solving and designing. I would say those abilities are innate to most of them to a certain extent. For example, in general, those who hate mathematics or programming may find engineering as a major challenge.

Education helps students with inherent reasoning and critical thinking skill sets enhance their potential to the next level. Since engineering has its roots in science, the concept of cause and effect is a very prominent aspect of engineering. That is why it is a second nature for engineers to find root causes of the problem first before tackling it. When they have found possible root causes, engineers screen through them, make discussions and pull out and prioritize the most possible ones so that they can have a list of corresponding solutions. Finally they come up with the most efficient solution that is well harmonious with the business objectives.

As engineering students, we have been under constant exposure to the contexts of analysis, design and troubleshooting. Especially when we do projects, not only the process of algorithmic thinking but also the elements of human relation, interpersonal communication, time management and presentation skills come into picture. Each of these qualities contributes to the making of an engineer. Hence, engineers are able to adapt the industries other than manufacturing – service industry for instance.

The idea of cross-discipline makes it possible for engineers to work in a range of fields. We have already heard about engineers in banking, sales, marketing and many other areas. It is indeed good news but that raises a question. How do we define ‘Engineer’? It was obvious back then that people who build sky-rise buildings, tunnels and shopping malls were regarded as engineers. Since a few decades ago, people started relating engineers with their everyday electronics gadgets. I understand that the term becomes looser and vaguer as it evolves. But will it not be controversial to call a sales personnel who is not from engineering background but with technical knowledge-so that he can raise his sales pitch to attract customers-a sales ENGINEER? Simply put, does this type of job scope fall under engineering category? It may or may not matter. It is just my opinion.