He acknowledges that engineering is vital in ensuring human social-economic development.  The role that engineers continue to play in solving development issues (transporation, housing) cannot be underestimated. However, he concurs that there is an increased shortage of engineers around the world.  This reality is compounded by the fact that the profession is not attracting as many students, especially in light of the numbers needed to allow us to meet the social-economic obligations around the world.

Obviously the profession should increase its public awareness efforts and rebrand itself as the profession that promotes humanitarian development.  Unfortunately, given the fact that we still lack safe water, sanitation and electricity around the work; Perhaps we as engineering professionals are not doing enough to deliver solutions to problems we are mandated to solve.

Do you concur with Dr. Marjoram assessment? In your opinion, how can engineering be adequately applied to be more effective in delivering solutions for these problems?

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Shute started off as an engineer, taking a third-class degree from Balliol College, Oxford and worked for Vickers, the aircraft company, in the early Twenties. He worked on the R-100 airship as chief calculator. It is perhaps at Vickers that the engineering basis of flight and the rivalry between private enterprise and public project fed his imagination, in unexpected ways. Evidently, aviation themes are predominant backdrops in many of Shute’s novels.

Novels

Shute’s novels are written in a simple, highly readable style, with clearly delineated plot lines. Typically, most of his novels revolve around a hero’s struggle against circumstances and, often, against hostile political regimes. The themes in his novels vary depending on the prevailing social conditions at the time of the writing. For example, in On the Beach, which was interestingly foreshadowed by a pre-Second World War novel, What Happened to the Corbetts (1938) profiles a devastating bombing raid on Southampton which leads to food shortages and cholera, as well as psychological problems. Another recurrent theme is the bridging of social barriers such as class, race or religion.

Some of Shute’s Most Popular Novels

Shute’s Novels that have been turned into Movies

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Archimedes

Archimedes is know as one of the great scientists of antiquity mostly hailed for his mathematical work, his theories of mechanics and his clever use of machines in the defense of Syracuse against the Romans. It is believed he studied under followers of Euclid in Alexandria, Egypt before returning to his native Syracuse, then an independent Greek city-state.

It is in Syracuse that Archimedes famously experienced a moment of genius while taking a bath.  From this experience, he came up with the simple yet useful idea that if an object plunged into liquid it becomes lighter by an amount equal to the weight of liquid it displaces.

Archimedes also worked out the principle of levers, developed a method for expressing large numbers, discovered ways to determine the areas and volumes of solids, calculated an approximation of pi and invented a machine for raising water (called Archimedes’ screw). According to legend, Archimedes used a series of machines to keep the Romans at bay for years during the siege of Syracuse. When the Romans finally made it into the city, Archimedes was killed by a soldier.

Dr. Wernher von Braun | Back – Next | Isambard Kingdom Brunel

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So, as a public service for the benefit of these confused souls, The Engineering Daily will attempt to demystify the mystery of what type of gifts one should get for engineers.  For starters, no Turtle neck pullovers.

The first part of the series is, Gifts that cost less than $20.00.

1. PI Clock

Simple yet highly useful, the PI clock tells an engineer that you at least know what the basis of the profession is. As explained, engineers dislike anything petty. An alternative to this would be plain one with the usual 1,2,3. Such kinds of clocks are the ones that we used to break apart to see the inner workings after kindergarten class.

Price: $15.00

2. Flying Alarm Clock

Speaking of clocks, the flying alarm clock is perhaps the best alarm ever created. The idea is simple: there is a detachable helicopter, which when the alarms sounds, flies away from it port. The only way to silence the alarm is to put it back to its port.

Price: $19.99

3. Our Amazing Bridges Architecture Kit

Engineer’s like to build things. Especially the ones we also break apart. The Bridge Architecture is a great game for any engineer because it allows one to discover the wonders of building. With this you can build and display attractive models of 3 different bridge types – The Roman Arch, The Truss Bridge, and The Suspension Bridge.

Price: $19.95

4. Wooden Boomerang

When I was younger, I was sure that a boomerang defied the fundamental laws of gravitation. That was until I had my first boomerang experience. A experience that provoked in me a passionate desire to create something similar. I never succeeded, so I ended buying a commercial one which provided me with month of pleasure.

Price: $6.95

5. Men’s Mathematics Silk Tie

Make your engineer feel like the genius he is.

Price: $19.95

Others

Engineer’s Motto T-Shirt

Price: $19.99

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a) competitive or opposing action of incompatibles : antagonistic state or action (as of divergent ideas, interests, or persons) b) mental struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing needs, drives, wishes, or external or internal demands

I define conflict as a clash of perceptions.  Typically conflict arises when two people perceive a situation in two different ways.  More simply put, one person thinks they are “right” and the other is “wrong,” and vice versa.  If people could find a way to lose this “right/wrong” mentality and consider that the other person is looking at the situation differently (not wrongly), I believe the amount of conflict in the corporate world would be drastically reduced.

For example, if two project managers were mentored by two different people in two different companies, their project management styles might be completely different.  They may both be very effective, but totally opposite.  If at some point the two of them end up managing together on a large project, there are a few possible outcomes:

1. Due to their differing styles of management they could react like oil and vinegar, each one wanting to manage their way and avoid the other.  They would constantly be in conflict to the point that one of them would ask to leave the project.
2. They would still be in major conflict in this scenario, however not to cause “problems” in the company, they would fight through the project and deliver an average to below average final product, hurting the reputation of both themselves and the company.
3. In this scenario the two managers would understand that the other manager’s style is different because they were brought up differently.  They would see these differences as an opportunity to work together to draw upon each of their strengths and form a dynamic partnership, thus managing very successful projects together.

If I were to say to you right now, which of these three scenarios would you tend to fall into if you were one of these managers, of course you would say #3.  It’s easy to say that now, however I bet 9 out of 10 times you would fall into #2 (or #1 in a drastic situation) and here is why.  Most people in their career tend to take the path of least resistance, because it is easier, it is comfortable.  In scenarios 1 & 2 the managers are avoiding conflict.  Avoiding conflict is EASY, but it doesn’t make it go away internally.  This avoidance will bring about a negative energy that will hold you back from being the best you can be.  Successful leaders abandon the typical “right/wrong” mentality and look for the opportunity in every situation.  More times than not, they end up in scenario #3.

By running away from this conflict you are wasting your time and energy.  You can run from conflict, but you can’t hide!

How have you dealt with conflict in your workplace, whether it be your own or conflict among your staff?

Anthony Fasano, P.E., LEED AP, CPESC, CPSWQ, CPC

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If the model scale is 1:25, what should be the equivalent rotational speed, thrust and power of the prototype when the speed of the ship is 15 knots? What will be the approximate velocity of the prototype slipstream?

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1. The fifth number plus the third number equals fourteen;
2. The fourth number is one more than the second number;
3. The first number is one less than twice the second number;
4. The second number plus the third number equals ten; and
5. The sum of all five numbers is 30.

What were the five numbers and in what order?

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Aside: It sounds funny, but this should probably be the goal for every engineer.  I got great advice from my first manager:  create a skill matrix.  It was essentially an organized goal table consisting of career goals, skills, techniques, subject matter to learn, etc. that I wanted to accomplish.  Being an expert in all of them is optimal, but time and job constraints often prove this difficult.

When it comes to the question at hand, many times engineers do not have much choice.  Management will often make that choice for the engineer when they prioritize staff time and resources.  But, let’s assume that there is a degree of freedom and the engineer can choose which-tech skills and/or design techniques on which he can focus.  What should be in the engineer’s best interest for career advancement and job security?  There are advantages and disadvantages to a broader skill set vs. a more focused one.

Jack of all Trades

The advantages to being good across many job functions are tied to versatility.  Frankly, the company can use you more ways, and this can be very advantageous during times of change at the workplace.  There are more subtle advantages, too.  With a more broad skill set, the engineer tends to communicate across multiple design groups.  The engineer also proves to be more resourceful, finding answers on his own without the help of others.  These skills translate VERY well to management.  In fact, one could claim that technical managers are the kings of being good at many things (and hopefully experts in a few).  Another advantage to working across groups are the personal connections.  Knowing more people in the industry, and working on design successes together, always bodes well for future job prospects.

Domain Expert

The advantages to being an expert at one job function are tied to indispensability.  Engineers in this mode often can not be replaced within the company.  This can also be a valuable position to be in during company changes.  If no one else has the technical expertise to handle a specific design, the expert skills are invaluable to job security.  Often, these engineers have an increased sense of ownership or pride over designs, as their contributions are clearly vital to the success of the company.  The increased focus and concentration that the engineer can apply to one section of the design is preferred by some as well.  By not switching topics, starting new design flows with other groups, or reviewing others’ work, the engineer can really hone his skills to an expert level.  Just as being versatile helps with connections, specific expertise can be an immediate job creator when other companies look for this targeted skill set.

Obviously, engineers would like to be experts across the board.  Throughout our careers, I do think we should strive for this.  But, with stringent time constraints placed by our corporate bosses to push-to-market and make profit, it often proves difficult to either a) branch out and learn something new, or b) focus as intently on possible on one function and become the expert.

In your experience, which is better:  Expert in one thing, or good at many things?  Why?

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After their three purchases were completed, their friend Tom noted that -

1. The total of the three numbers was not a prime number.
2. The total was not divisible by 17.
3. Bernie did not have the largest number of the three
4. Bernie did not have the smallest number of the three.
5. One of their tickets was no 4
6. The total of the three ticket numbers was not a square number
7. Bernie’s ticket had an even number
8. The number chosen by Carol would divide exactly into the product of the numbers chosen by Anne and Bernie

Unfortunately, only THREE of Tom’s eight statements are true.

What were the numbers of each of the girls’ tickets?

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Darron Pustam

Twenty years of my life have been spent in the company of surveyors, engineers, geographic information systems professionals, and cad-designers. I have always had a great admiration and respect for these disciplines. The calculations, maps, instruments, the whole nine yards.  Knowledge of the inner workings of these systems coupled with business-information technology expertise; shed insight into of how companies in these industries could be better served by efficiently structuring, integrating, and routing the data embedded within technical and business software systems and incorporating them into their underlying business processes.

Surveying and mapping disciplines as well as that of engineering require technical software application tools which all serve to greatly enhance the professions. These programs simultaneously exist in one form or another. With so many software solutions, it is easy to lose sight of your data through the numerous interfaces and formats that currently exist. Even more worrisome is the lack of data integration and duplication perpetrated by disjointed systems.

When CAD software emerged, the first version would probably have been installed by a resident engineer or drafts person \ mapper. In other words, the person technically trained in the discipline – not necessarily IT. Back in the day the IT function for small businesses was assigned to the employee with the least aversion to a keyboard. Imagine installation carried out solely by technical users only trained in a particular software application but who also doubled as your IT resource.

Software installations would have probably proceeded without concern for how they would affect or integrate with the multitude of other processes making up the entire business system. Lethal combination of technical power user and latest software caused a blurring in functionalities, severely restricting computing operandi and allowing power users to essentially pave an electronic cow path. This also resulted in widening the gaps between legacy and newly minted systems.

In other words, lack of integration of data from the different software applications and disciplines caused double work and misdirection of data. Engineers, designers, technicians, administrative staff, and managers were all simultaneously creating information and being paid twice, maybe more for work that could have been already created or incorrectly routed.

Engineering software applications are designed to support compatibility and database connectivity. The actual usages of these advanced functionalities however, were not the domain of the technical power user base. Over time power users have evolved as a result of their discipline and software moving to the next technological level. Since the average IT resource may not be familiar with engineering per say; installation and usage was left up to the technical power user to direct.  In this case these applications where possibly installed without consideration for the rest of the applications or processes already running within the company.  At that time, the IT resource that installed the software, may have never knew the full capabilities for instance, of CAD or GIS systems; since these were the realm of the power user.  Thus, IT could not truly harness its potential by aligning them with business systems. In each department everyone was getting the job done and some becoming proprietary software experts along the way. These software implementations though advancing in functionality ineffectively expensed the organization’s data structure. We might say that software went in one direction and business processes went in the other.

Eliminating wasted efforts, increasing efficiency, and reducing cost are currently the staples of this economic era. Using software applications, without an inkling of how it could be integrated into the macrocosm of the company’s business strategy, severely debilitates the performance of your systems and your ability to effectively deliver timely products and services. The leveraging of these systems as a whole for the benefit of the entire business is thus left to chance.

Believe it or not, software companies are partly to blame. They have tried their best to take the guess work out of installations, to facilitate user friendly and speedy startup applications.  Many companies that purchased AutoCAD and ArcGIS software have them installed by in house expertise such as their resident CAD \ GIS gurus. Many times have we heard managers saying that they have the latest software functionalities and the latest versions installed. Yet, projects are taking roughly same time to complete.  As your CAD guys continue to install version after version of AutoCAD, do you think the length of the project time will decrease as a result of software version enhancements?  We cannot keep doing things the same way and expect a different result.  CAD is continually integrating with geographic information systems and vice versa. The inherent spatial database structure and methodology of CAD files preparation needs a well thought-out approach such as that taken by the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). We need to think about how data can be used and where it can be recycled for use. Data integration is a mandatory part of the equation for any organization that intends to harmonize its business intelligence with operating as well as growth strategies.

Organizations need a multidisciplinary team comprised of power users, managers, and business analysts guided by a ‘Data Czar’ – someone with knowledge on effectively incorporating software systems with business processes. The team must be set up to look at the big picture and create a strategic data realization pathway. This team should have the authority to direct all information-based implementations.

The team should first, identify all business processes that contribute to the successful delivery of a company’s product or service. Next, take a surgical look at each, taking note of the information required and reviewing whether these processes are still valid.  The team must assign, automate, and streamline their systems to accept data from centralized sources and strategically integrate them to the relevant processes. Data capture must be moved as close as possible to the responsible party. Your goal is to create your core data one time and one time only. The data must reside in an accessible location. By accessible, the data must be easily disseminated to all the appropriate people and systems that require that specific information. We can all understand that duplication doubles employee time and also produces errors. What clearly resonates in the minds of the shareholder is that they are paying different employees to simultaneously perform the same job!

We are not limited to cost cutting initiatives by applying this methodology. No business can survive by only reducing cost. Having access to all the data sources in your company, gives you the ability to apply and re-apply intelligence into your business. Your data must become like ‘Lego’ building blocks, to fashion in any way you choose. When used successfully in accordance with the initiatives presented above, you have more options, more choices, and more avenues from which to analyze and identify new streams of revenue.

A clear business-information strategy is needed to mend these inefficiencies in our industry.  We need to take a visionary and multidisciplinary look at the inherent data structures within our companies. CAD, GIS and other applications are requiring the use of robust database management systems to manage its data. Focus must be placed on bridging these data dissemination gaps. We must engineer our business processes to be fully integrated, facilitating, reliable and efficient while simultaneously exploiting the capabilities provided by each software application in a way that will profitably maximize its use.

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Who are better at putting jigsaw puzzles together, boys or girls, and by how much?

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1. MIT
2. Stanford
3. University of California – Berkeley
4. Georgia Institute of Technology
5. University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign
6. Carnegie Mellon University
7. California Institute of Technology
8. University of Southern California
9. University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
10. University of Texas – Austin

So this brings up another interesting discussion as it pertains to engineering education,

1. Do you think that having a degree from one of the top schools really makes a difference to your career prospects?



2. While on-campus recruiters may value the top schools and routinely offer the best jobs to the best graduates, once you’ve left your first job, does the school you attended still matter?

Back to college guide | Back – Next | Masters in Engineering or MBA?

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