Engineering Careers

Sounds like a cool guy.
Del

Knowledge and Thoroughness go a long way.

Proof that what we do makes a difference. Great post!

milo

First, I'm not an engineer. But, I do interact with a lot of budding engineers on a daily basis.

So do the engineers of today and especially engineering students (tomorrow's engineers), as different as they may be, share Jack's mindset – to be thorough and ask the right questions?

Working at a company alongside engineering students allows me to believe that people do still care enough about thoroughness and being informed. In every discipline you're going to have students who take their studies and future careers seriously - more often then not, I believe that these are the people who really have passion for what they're doing.

But, there is always going to be the people who chose their careers based on expected salary, title, wishes of others, etc; these people are the ones that are a little more worrisome to me - and I assume are the ones who post questions like "I just finished university in XYZ, please tell me what this field entails"

Great piece, thanks.

Good points. Just like with any profession, there is a mixed bag of marbles. Some have lost them, some have them all-together and some still are throwing them at other people (go figure).

I think that all engineers have the desire to be thorough, but whether they ask the right questions or not is a wildcard.

Hi Gary - Great article! Definitely this Engineer's Engineer.

The young engineers I met at Lafayette College, who volunteered for Engineers Without Borders USA and who came in on a May Saturday morning for our ASME feedback event, remind me a lot of your friend Jack. My earlier blog piece of the ASME District A meeting where they spoke: click here.

Also, click here for a web site ran by an early-career mechanical engineer - Julie Bachmann - from Philadelphia, who attended our May event and gave feedback. She's done an incredible job organizing events in the Philly-area for the early career folks, both work related and social-networking.

- Larry

Interesting and impressive......but come talk to me after he's managed to sit at the same desk staring into the same corner for 10 years! Now that is truly a feat!

Jack indeed deserves kudos for his work and accomplishments. That said, I wonder whether he had a large dose of financial help along the way. I mean, who wouldnt like to have had the opportunity to paddle down the Amazon and walk across Equador when they were 18 yrs old. In my neighborhood, you were fortunate to even get to university. Always consider the starting point when you consider accomplishments. Most people of high profile had a great starting point.

In the articles I read, He actually did the feat on a shoe string budget. He brought the dug out canoe for a few dollars and then he later modified it himself. Did get help from people he met along the way, but he did not have a large financial backing.

from Not too smart on another computer. I've been over the hill from San Jose to Santa Cruz 5 times in the last 8 days. The LOCKHEED FIRE had started about then in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Last weekend, we had heavy smoke in San Jose. Then the winds shifted toward the south and carried the trail of smoke over Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay. Well over 8,000 acres of mountain Valleys and Redwood Forest. We were sailing out of Santa Cruz and watched the Helicopters haul their water buckets to the fire.

Finally under control with no homes lost, truly a fine piece of work by the Fire Crews.

Hope that this fine gentleman has survived in good shape.

Steve

what if Jack had been in manufacturing and his customers went to China and now the business he would have sold is worthless. There are no job fro a mechanical engineer withe 30 years mfg. experience. , no retirement, and no money to build a hose on the side of a hill with a great view. Is it possible that he would be an engineers engineer?