What is an engineer and what do they do? Some people think that they are auto mechanics, designers, inventors, or even human calculators. Working at O'Reilly Auto Parts I have heard a lot of people blame engineers for poor designs on autos or machinery. But what is it that engineers do. The best answer that I can come up with is that they are simply problem solvers. Most of the time this problem solving requires lots of math but not always. Sometimes the problem might be evaluated by a political or economical viewpoint.
One could argue that engineers started the industrial revolution. The idea of interchangeable parts, assembly lines, power plant, and infrastructure development are some of the staples of engineers. All of the basic mechanical engineering classes haven't changed in the past 60-80 years, which makes me wonder why we get new textbook editions every few semesters. Now engineers are leading the 'green revolution'. These green innovations show up in all of the engineering fields.
But what could a mechanical engineers day to day schedule look like? A design engineer might be working on creating a support strut for an airplane, a suspension system for a vehicle, or a hydraulic system for heavy machinery. A testing engineer may drive a skid steer back and forth all day collecting data then evaluating the data and formatting a solution to any problems. An engineer in a power plant may find out what size turbine is needed to create x amount of power, or what size pipes are needed to carry steam at x temp.
An engineer can have a big impact on regional, country, and world economics. Low cost and Eco factors are largely related to well being of a product or company. Cost must always be considered, products have to be efficiently designed as to not produce a cheap easily destroyed produce. On the other hand, a product cannot be overly designed. This will drive the cost up unnaturally. A few poorly designed product could result in the ending of a company. The other new innovation today is the idea of being Eco-friendly. Products can be designed with life span, recycleablility, energy to produce,and toxicity can be considered when developing a product.
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An engineer can have a big impact on regional, country, and world economics. Low cost and Eco factors are largely related to well being of a product or company. Cost must always be considered, products have to be efficiently designed as to not produce a cheap easily destroyed produce. On the other hand, a product cannot be overly designed. This will drive the cost up unnaturally. A few poorly designed product could result in the ending of a company. The other new innovation today is the idea of being Eco-friendly. Products can be designed with life span, recycleablility, energy to produce,and toxicity can be considered when developing a product.
The variety of jobs is huge. The basic idea of a mechanical engineer is to problem solve. I like to think of an engineer as a glorified handy man. The biggest difference is that the engineer uses math as his/her tool instead of a wrench. One thing is for certain, engineers are always pushing the envelope of technical shizzle wizzle to create a better future.
Here is a link to some FAQ.
Sources:
Here is a link to some FAQ.
Sources:
Callister, William D. Materials Science and Engineering an Introduction. 8th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2010. Print.
I really like how you incorporated the 'day to day' things that an engineer can do, I never fully understood the different things that an engineer does. It's funny how people will blame engineers right away for all the problems, when in fact, they have no idea how to even create a product like that.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of "technical shizzle wizzle" but it gets the point across for me. Have to kind of make up a word because there truly is no one word that can describe everything that an engineer could be doing or have his hands in. A lot of times when I tell people that I am majoring in engineering they ask how long before I get to drive the train. An engineer is so much more.
ReplyDeleteChoo Choo. When I tell my friend that I am going to school for engineering they seem to think that I am training to be a mechanic for som reason. I thought I would use technical shizzle wizzle as a theme for this entire blog. Notice the Blog's link => http://technicalshizzlewizzle.blogspot.com/
DeleteGreat blog that included plenty of information to easily understand what a mechanical engineer does everyday. As I too am majoring in engineering, I too agree with Breanna that it is funny how people tend to blame the "engineers" for causing the problems when the people making the accusations have no idea about the most engineering principles and what could have or is causing a problem with the certain product that is not working.
ReplyDelete