Engineer

I think I was always cut out to be an engineer. You should have seen the drawings I made as a child: here is the only example I can find in the archives.

What was I designing?

I wanted to study electronics engineering on leaving PSS but my headmaster considered this was beneath me, so I took Physics instead. But I ended up in electronics. I love to find an engineering solution to a problem, and yet I have no patience for puzzles for their own sake. Jigsaws, crosswords and the sort of questions you get in an intelligence test leave me cold.  But present me with a necessity or an idea and I will run with it. On the other hand I am not so good at coming up with the initial idea, possibly because I am more of a provider than a consumer.

I suppose that many of my readers are not engineers. Possibly the first thing you think of when you savour the word "engineer" is a spanner and greasy overalls. Real engineers do use spanners and are happy to get dirty but probably the person you are thinking of is a mechanic.

Think of the Shard, the Severn bridge, Dreamliner, the iPhone - it was engineers that brought these modern marvels to mankind. Not to mention a plethora of other inventions and creations that have become part of our lives. Engineers poured blood, sweat and tears in designing them, often literally.  Consumers take the design process for granted.  The engineer often does not get the financial reward or accolade.  For similar reasons stunt-men don't get Oscars. Until something goes wrong - it is then that the engineers are routed out and have to take the blame - after all they designed it so it must be their fault.

There are many views about the under-recognition of engineers: for me it is the very disposition that results in me being an engineer that prevents me from fighting for position. A true engineer does not engineer for accolade but to meet a need and for personal satisfaction.