Interview for Engineering Assignment

Hello Jackie,

Welcome to this forum. You will see other messages from me in your mailbox, just between us two.

We do like to remain anonymous for various reasons.

Good luck with your school asignment.

Ditto #1↑.

Welcome to CR4, Jackie. Great to have younger members involved in the forum!

I'd be interested to know how you found CR4 -- via an internet search, or do you know someone who's a member?

Good luck with your assignment.

Hello. I found CR4 from this website: http://www.mastersinengineering.org/top-40-engineering-forums-message-boards

Cool! thanks!

GA on your advice. It applies not only to future engineers, but to the whole generation(s) of younger people. Now,,,, if only they will take your advice.

Thank you, I needed that.

This would be a good commencement speech!

Most excellent, sir! How do you feel to be nearing "the finish line"? I suspect you have a lot of good to look back upon, and say, "It is good."

You are welcome. I had been teaching in Engineering colleges for about 6-7 years after retirement. Now enjoying company of young ones like you. I never see finish line. As I move, my finish line also moves forward. Even now I get calls from consultants and those associated in repair, maintenance of generators from power stations etc. Yes it was good, it is good and it will be good. Best wishes.

I am not so young, and another birthday coming next month. Mostly, I am just ignorant and thirsty for more powerful knowledge. Still working at work, and still working at home (at least when weather allows me) in my shed on projects of personal interest, that are energy related matters.

Hi Jackie:

It's not easy to conduct an interview by email, but here it goes:

* I work for a company that is a collection of power transmission companies, some previous competitors (has made the incorporation interesting at times). I am tasked with finding new ways of solving problems, and making a business out of these solutions. You could say it's a research title, with technical business development tossed into the mix.

* I'm a physics and math majors undergrad, my technical job is mostly mechanical engineering with a basic understanding of electronics. I find my education really started with my first job, as the mechanics of calculation was NOT the real job.

* I like this question, what are my tasks. I have worked most of my carrier (so far) in one field/product. I started with a relatively large company and was not given much opportunity to expand my carrier. This road block led me to smaller companies that helped me develop a real appreciation for what it takes to build a business around a product that is designed for specific applications/markets. I've been given the opportunity to dabble in many areas of the business but always with an eye on the technical. My most important accomplishments are helping to solve "unsolvable problems" with our team of engineers.

* I like diversity. We have many markets that require our products and many different requirements within those markets. One trait required by engineers I have the most difficulty with is patience. Some projects take years to get off the ground, this at times frustrates me.

* Work hard, study, learn as much as you can in the years you are in school. Of course I didn't always follow that advice.

* That's an easy question. I thought it would be difficult to answer, I've been at this a while. We worked on a small part for the Hubble Telescope, when I see the pictures it reminds me there is more to our "world" than we realize.

* If you have an opportunity to intern with a company in engineering it will give you a taste of how engineers work,,, maybe. If you have a choice, intern with a smaller company, you'll have more diversification in projects.

I wish you the best in this assignment, and your chosen carrier.

Name with held to protect me from past posts my company would frown on.

Formally trained as an Electrical Engineer with a side in Physics (not the source of Phys - that's an old nickname from my not so spectacular high school athletic endeavors)

In addition to schooling, my past employments have had at least as big an importance as the schooling, as they involved trouble shooting electrical/electronic equipment in pressure situations.

My job is to design (usually from scratch) a control system to run a process skid, that my company builds. This will contain dozens of automated valves, several pressure transmitter, usually a flow meter or two, temperature measuring devices which can be RTD's or complete RTD + transmitters, sometimes parameter measuring devices such as conductance, pH, total organic carbon, and so on. All these devices and associated pumps must be controlled from a central cabinet with a PLC. I design this, and in heavy product load times in the plant, help to wire them also. Always I get the task of check out and trouble shooting the finished system. Easily the most satisfying part of the job.

My most important accomplishment is making it to near retirement without killing someone at the end user, and not having a system dump a $500000 batch of medicine to drain. (these are pharmaceutical skids)

I love the trouble shooting, as that has always been my forte. I absolutely hate the wiring, because that always involves after hours and week ends if they must get me out to the production floor. Wait until you are 66 and see what concrete floors do to you after having sat on your back side for the last 4 months staring at a computer screen.

For someone pursuing an engineering career - get as much diverse work as possible when young and find your niche about 50 years of age. I've sold electronics, analyzed oil wells with electronic instruments, designed power systems and alarm systems for hospitals, and now as mentioned above. Plus I had side pursuits that were good for the job. They were building and racing a drag car with electronic controls and now I rebuild old bicycles. (I've got 15 of them) Yeah the last one is a bit far from work, but...

I always thought the students in college who got a summer internship were better prepared for classes when they returned.

Now I have to ask if you have had any funny experiences with your name, as it is so close to a rather famous Hong Kong actor? I did a double check on the spelling when I first read it.