Do the world a favor, raise an engineer!
This week, February 18-24 is National Engineers Week.
Parents envision their children being successful. Asked what a successful profession is, often parents identify doctor, lawyer, businessperson, entrepreneur. Rarely do they say engineer unless they themselves are engineer(s).
True in my family. I became an engineer, my brother who was far enough behind me in HS to see me graduate college and start work also became an engineer. Watching my career as they grew up, my two sons became engineers.
It all starts with opening their eyes to the technical world around them. How things work, how things are made, how different materials react to impacts, temperature, pressures, etc. Emphasize SCIENCE in school. Emphasize INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY (yes shop class) in school. Help them realize that math and science is not about the answers but solving the problem! Engineers solve problems using math, science, and technology. As a problem-solver, every potential answer an engineer devises must be weighed against the realities of the physical world and other concerns such as public safety, a client’s requirements, regulations, available materials, and a finite budget. It takes creativity to get successfully from problem to solution, all while navigating a tangle of constraints. (Thank you Michigan Technological University for that insight)
Our local high school use to require one credit of industrial technology to graduate, until one of those “PARENTS” complained that their child had put off SHOP until they had to take it and now could not take an AP business class. She complained and the result was industrial tech being removed from the graduation requirements. Oh, the misguided souls that affect our lives. I assume their child was NOT going into a technical career path. I am also SURE one day soon they will own a car, a lawnmower, a lamp, or a vacuum that does not work right and needs attention. They will stare at it, maybe kick it or bang on it. Then either throw it away and buy a new one OR take it to someone else and pay them to do the simplest repair.
The saddest part of all is that engineers have career paths that can include medical work, legal work, business and EVEN business ownership (like PlastiCert founded by an engineer, owned by another engineer). Biomedical engineers save lives, patent attorneys protect the design work of companies and entrepreneurs, and engineers CAN become business starters and business owners. All relying on their TECHNICAL background to help them succeed and be SUCCESSFUL!!!
Even sadder, being an engineer does not require a 4-year degree. Two of the BEST engineering managers (meaning they were engineers prior to being promoted) I ever had, (and there were a lot of them), did not have a 4-year degree. Larry & Roger were technical people with two-year degrees that learned and earned their way into having an engineer title.
Here at PlastiCert we CELEBRATE our engineers. Even though we had just had a pizza lunch brought in for everybody the prior week, we had a catered lunch brought in to celebrate Engineers Week. Eighty percent of PlastiCert’s salaried employees and engineers.
All coworkers benefited because that is what engineers do. Provide a platform for technical things to happen that make everyone’s lives better.
Without engineers, virtually EVERYTHING you have and use everyday would not exist. How successful would your child then?