Pure design work or practical skills too?

Engineering Potpourri Pat's Pub
#21

Hunh. I knew some profs with that attitude, and eventually gravitated towards the profs doing research. As an RA, I helped do grunt work (setting anchor bolts in concrete slabs) as well as doing technical analyses (structural response of a hyper-velocity gun)…and got to fire our testbed once (which failed to accelerate past Mach 1, but oh well, that’s research).

Fast forward, I went from a project management track at big aerospace companies to smaller and smaller firms (where I could have more responsibilities and commensurate higher pay). At my latest job, for the past 17 or so years, I do everything - lathe and mill work, welding, PC board fab, programming, assembly, testing, technical and production support and tool design, field support…even sweep the floors occasionally. Oh and play MarioKart 64 with some of the techs on their breaks, good way to blow off steam. I had to learn the electronics design, machining and welding somewhat on my own, in the last few years, because it really was never “necessary”. But I grew up watching my Dad weld, and whenever I ran into welding problems would usually walk out to the shop and chat with the welders…and similarly when I’d run into other problems. Can’t even count the number of engineers that never set foot in the shop/lab or know any of the tech’s names.

I think I probably saved the company a few thousand dollars and a couple of years of overall schedule by being able to rapidly prototype (with a mini lathe, braze/weld torch, or a hammer and file) fixes for everything under the sun, or figure out a problem by having a brief chat with the guy doing the grunt work.

But I also have to do brainy stuff - find ways to rapidly grab some real world data to push an analysis, or figure out a new analysis methodology, or just do the grunt progamming/solving/CAD design iteration to find the cheaper/quicker/better way of doing it.

I could probably have made a living doing either side of the job. I have a lot more fun, and think I’m a lot more effective, being able and willing to do both as the needs arise.

2 Likes
#22

Have them do some on the job training with major concrete restoration engineering for a few days.

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#23

@Macgruber22…LOL ! exactly. That should get them squared away!

#24

Other than restoration of historic brickwork/masonry, restoration of concrete is one of my favourites and most interesting subjects.

Dik

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#25

Based on my 27 years in the highway world, I can confidently say the best highway designers are those with experience in building, operating or maintaining roads.

Anyone that can do something I can’t deserves respect. That includes the person that will actually build the things I design. Especially that person.

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#26

Or make them quit. The rationalizing alone would blow their mind.

#27

Tell the Director that the students are more likely to give donations if their education prepared them to be successful in a multitude of ways and knowing your butt from a butt weld might just help in that regards.

#28

My favorite phrase to use during plant commissioning is “often times, reality astonishes theory”.

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#29

Years ago a friend of mine became a certified auto mechanic.

After repairing vehicles for five years, he said, " There must be more to life than this," and he went back to school [ the University of Toronto , in fact ] and got his Mechanical Engineering degree, graduating with an overall mark of 63%.

In short order he found himself employed by the Ontario Ministry of Transport. His job? Designing the specialized equipment needed for the MTO’s work, such as snowplows, etc.

I heard from an independent source, not via the friend, that one day a road superintendent from out in the hinterlands had business at the MTO’s Ivory Palace [ it’s actually brown brick, but you get the idea ] in Toronto. He was just leaving his meeting when he suddenly remembered something he wanted to say, and it went something like this:

“Who do you have designing our new equipment?”

“So and so; why? Is there a problem?”

"Problem? Far from it! Breakdowns in the old stuff could take days to repair; nowadays there’s hardly a single blanket-blank repair we can’t finish in four hours once we have the parts.

“Don’t you dare effin’ lose him!”

I’ve seen it over and over: experience counts.

Convincing a professor in academia of this will nonetheless be an uphill battle…

Quote: “In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not!” I love it !!! In another place, I’d give this a Little Purple Star!

So much for lurking for a while…

#30

@crshears I agree! Academia is out of touch. They don’t know it, they don’t care, they won’t change! I know this from the “inside”. Pisses me off!

Keep lurking…we appreciate it!

Ron

#31

The best engineers I’ve worked with are the nerds who know the relevant technologies inside out from practical experience, backed with university training. Myself, I spent my childhood taking things apart and building new things, and that helped me tremendously in my career in mechanical design. I’ve met plenty of other engineers who had no practical experience and were not able to hit the ground running in a new job.
We were expected to acquire some machine shop technical experience during the first professional year at uni. Has that changed?