Post 1 - "The Expanding World of Engineers"

Prof Ramakrishna states that "an engineer's training helps to systematically analyze complex information and apply a holistic (systematic) approach in designing solutions" in his article, “The Expanding World of Engineers". How an engineer accomplishes this?

First of all, an engineer is trained to analyze and solve complex information during his/her tertiary education. During his/her tertiary education, he/she is taught a step-by-step approach to analyze and solve complex problems. For example, he/she is given a circuit diagram and asked to solve for a particular value. He/She will need to analyze the diagram step-by-step before he/she reach to an answer. In addition, he/she is also given a problem and asked to write a program. He/She will need to apply a systematically approach to write the program, such as defining the problem statement first, followed by defining the input, output and computation to be done, followed by writing the program and testing the program, and finally debugging the program if there are errors. Furthermore, through project work, he/she needs to go through the process of designing, developing and troubleshooting. If his/her project is not functioning, he/she will have to analyze his/her project to find out where went wrong in order to troubleshoot it. Hence, through practices and project works, an engineer is able to systematically analyze complicated information and apply a holistic approach in providing the solutions.

Secondly, an engineer has to expand his/her horizon in order to systematically analyze complex information and apply a holistic approach in designing solutions. An engineer needs to constantly expand his/her knowledge so that he/she will not lag behind other engineers. An engineer will have gone through industrial attachment during his/her tertiary education. During his/her attachment, he/she will be exposed to different kinds of problem. He/She will also be able to learn from experienced staff in the company. Furthermore, by going for overseas training, an engineer can also learn from people overseas, such as how things work in other countries and gain lots of experiences.

Lastly, one needs to have a clear mind in order to systematically analyze and solve problems. For instance, if an engineer is feeling lethargic, he/she may not be able to analyze the problem effectively and come up with a good solution. Therefore, having a clear mind is important in doing things.

To conclude, I feel that an engineer's education and analytical skills had enabled them to be employed in many industries.