To celebrate e-week 2014, I thought I would share my Top Ten Reasons to Love Engineering, inspired by this DiscoverE post.
10. Travel
Products and services that engineers help design have a global market. This gives engineers the opportunity to work with people from around the world and travel to meet them.
9. Transferable skills
The skills you learn as an engineer can be applied in many disciplines or used as a stepping stone to another career. For example, businesses in the financial industry like to hire engineers because of their problem solving skills and ability to process big data. The methodical approach that engineers have for solving problems can also be a great start to crafting arguments as a lawyer. Engineers also have a skills that are great for moving up the corporate ladder to leadership positions.
8. Teamwork
Most products and services are not designed and built by one person in isolation. As an engineer you get to experience the power of a diverse team that is put to work on a common goal.
7. Flexibility
As an engineer you have a set of skills that can be applied to a lot of different areas. This gives you the opportunity to explore different industries and careers until you find your passion and can use it every day at work.
6. Always learning new things
I love to learn. As an engineer there is always an opportunity to learn a new technique or a new application in your area of expertise. Technologies are always changing which makes room for improvements in what we do and how we do it.
5. Make a difference
The products and services engineers design make a difference in people’s lives every day. The automatic flight control computers that I helped design at Rockwell Collins improved the safety of air travel.
4. Be creative
Solving complicated problems requires you to be creative when brainstorming solutions. Creative solutions are what drives innovation!
3. New challenges
As the world changes and technology improves there are always new problems to solve. Some examples: How will we feed everyone as the population continues to grow? Can we explore the space outside of the Earth’s orbit and still return the astronauts to Earth? How do we get high speed internet access to everyone? And many, many more…
2. Solve problems
Being an engineer usually involves solving problems—some are big and some are small. But the feeling of accomplishment when you do is awesome.
1. Change the world
Engineers have the ability to change the world with what they design. Engineers have helped design products that we use every day, like the latest medical diagnostic tools, clean energy, and computer equipment. These all have the opportunity to change the world.
Engineers Week (Eweek) is celebrated each year during the week of George Washington’s birthday, because he has been described as America’s first engineer. The purpose of Eweek is to celebrate engineering, promote dialogue about engineering, and introduce engineering to children, parents, and educators. To find out more about Eweek and event ideas, visit DiscoverE.org!
