These are the Question answers me the Engineer took and gave in an Interview with a College Student as a part his project : Hope it merits a reading.
Why did You go into Engineering ?
As for me , it was because I found that Professionals , particularly Engrs, Doctors got greater respect in society. Also it guarantees better and faster financial security.
How do you balance the social, environmental, safety and general sustainability implications of your work with the technical and financial requirements of your work?
Simple. Success is more about sustainability than about short term returns for me as well as my organization. Social, environmental, safety and general sustainability implications of my work are the bench mark for my work and Technical and financial requirements will be subservient to them.
As for eample , If I even inadvertently violate the social, environmental, safety and general sustainability requirementsof my land, it can turn out small profits for me and organization in short run but any latter implication due to violation can prove disastrous for both.
How has engineering changed over the years ?
The sequence to my understanding has been :
Creation of Tools for sustenance
Use of Tools to create machines to make life easier and efficient
Use of Machines to process numbers
Use of Machines to disseminate and process knowledge
Use of Knowledge based Technologies to to reduce lowend human efforts
Creation of knowledge society that lives, breathes, nurtures and thrives on knowledge
What next , I don’t know
How do you see the role of Engineer changing?
As Engineer is the soft worker and implementer of the day’s Engineering and Technology, his role thus has changed from one creating tools and maintaining them to one Ceating, Managing and maintaining them using knowledge based technologies.
Do today’s Engineers need to be better collaborators?
Yes ofcourse. From a society where control has been considered as instrumental, to a world where intelligent collaboration based on understanding and knowledge are essential for success, the role of a leader has changed from that that of a boss to that of a facilitator both horizontally and vertically.
How are Engineering Gender roles changing?
As much as they are changing in the rest of the society. Technology has been the modern tool harbingering change in gender roles replacing and facilitating social reformers and laws in that order. But Engineering can only help when the social processes and laws allow it to do the same. As for example if social and religious laws of a particular region prevent men or women from doing something, Engg can do little to do anything.
Have Engineering values or priorities changed since over the years?
Perhaps they did. But I feel it is unfair to blame the past or the posterity. It is better to introspect on the present and plan for the future.
If you were to start over again, would you change your career?
Perhaps. It is more challenging to be in a creative field. Engineering has a whiff of creativity to itself but is governed by the Physical laws and markets.
