What is Engineering
The verb “to engineer” means to organize so as to achieve a desired result. We might for instance want to engineer a residents meeting in order to get agreement on the need for traffic calming measures in our neighborhood, or we could engineer the refurbishment of our kitchen by arranging for a contractor to install cabinets and appliances of our choosing. These though are general examples of what is meant by “engineering.” More typically, the usage relates to the profession of engineering, and that is what will be discussed here.
Engineers are people whose job is to organize things rather than other people. Engineers typically work out how to fulfill specifications or requirements, which requires a detailed understanding of the technologies involved, plus an ability to solve problems. Thus a civil engineer, who understands such things as how soil moves and structures deflect under load, will design a bridge to span a river, while an electronics engineer with expertise in electronics and software will develop a music player that fits in a pocket.
Most engineering is concerned with the development of a physical product, although that spans just about anything that can be made, from the coffee maker in your kitchen to the Three Gorges dam across the Yangtze River in China. What this work has in common though is that it tends to be project-based and is directed towards creating something new. Engineers aren’t in the business of copying what exists; they like to innovate.
There is of course an exception to every rule, and in this case the exception is those engineers who study processes in order to develop and implement improvements. For example, a food processing engineer will seek out ways to reduce the cost of turning potatoes into French fries. Similarly, an industrial engineer studies manufacturing processes to find ways to improve quality and cut cost.
Engineering as a profession appeals to those who want to use science and emerging technologies to solve problems in new and innovative ways. Good engineers are highly numerate, logical problem solvers, and the best have a deep-rooted belief in the superiority of the solutions they develop. Such confidence sometimes seems like arrogance to those outside the profession, which may be one reason why engineers are often seen as “nerds” or “geeks.” At the same time though, it is this deeply-rooted belief in their ability to learn and solve problems that leads some engineers to become inventors and entrepreneurs.
Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell are two such people, whose efforts changed the world, but they are far from being the only engineers to have a huge impact on the way we live. Eli Whitney developed many of the principles of mass production, subsequently adopted by Henry Ford, while more recently, semiconductor giant Intel was co-founded by chemical engineer Andy Grove.
Engineering has made possible almost every facet of modern life, from safe and reliable transportation to life-saving medical devices and solar cells for “green” energy production. Look around you: if what you see was made, it was engineered.
