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What makes a good engineer?
8 September 2011
LANSING, Mich.–We first heard from Allan Dale, CEO of Lectronix, as he described how the world around us has changed and is influencing innovation. We called it Quotations from the Book of Allan.
Here’s another excerpt on a simple but controversial topic: What makes a good engineer? And, more importantly, what makes a good engineer today?
Dale is opinionated in a way that is not off-putting and his view is simple: A good engineer needs to be curious, logical and communicative.
Here’s his take. What do you think? What’s Dale missing? Anything?
Richard Dudley September 11, 2011 at 5:47 am
Second without a shadow of a doubt the requirement for curiosity. However a good engineer needs creativity more than logic – logic cannot guide the way to an innovative solution to a problem. Problem solving is at the heart of engineering and this is an optimization of available resources requiring insights and flair – what de Bono would call lateral thinking. Excellent communications skills come in part from being able to couch technical arguments in everyday vernacular so they can be grasped by non-technical people.
Charles J Gervasi September 16, 2011 at 3:54 pm
Very, very few technical people are good communicators. I am! That’s the reason I’m sitting here instead of out there in the lab hammering away.
Two things come to mind:
1. I wonder if any of the people “out there hammering away” in his shop listened to the interview.
2. I’m not sure if it’s just the camera position, but he looks about as aspie as your typical engineer including me. I hope I’m a good communicator, but I don’t think I’ll ever have that level of confidence in my communication ability.
Peter Maitland September 16, 2011 at 3:54 pm
A good engineer never makes the same mistake twice.
Bob Rip September 16, 2011 at 4:46 pm
It depends on what aspect of the project the engineer is working on. The requirements for the project manager are very different from the circuit design engineer and the software engineer. It is a stretch that any one person could do both. That expectations gets projects in big trouble.
Ray Keefe September 16, 2011 at 5:02 pm
I think this touches on a number of good points but to be a good engineer needs a lot more than curiosity, logic and communication skills. Those are generic.
I run an engineering company specialising in electronics design and embedded software development and for me, at it’s heart, engineering is the disciplined creative application of technology to solve problems.
- it is disciplined because there are best practices, there are equations to solve, there are technologies to learn, there are the published aspects of components and there are real world quirks to be identified and overcome. In particular, testing and proving a design meets its requirements is very important.
- it is creative because some probolems are brand new. No previous solution too look at, IP to license or application note to read. There are new solutions, new patents, new ideas all the time. Then there are old problems that need new solutions. Energy is a good example of this. Our current solutions to energy are not sustainable. And then there are new technologies which can change old problems and old solutions by either replacing or augmenting the outcome.
- it is technology because engineers rarely do raw research. We use the already garnered knowledge to solve problems. That knowledge or techniques and methods is applied to creating the products, systems and infrastructure needed for today and tomorrow; creating the future.
- it is problem solving because if the answers were obvious, we would all know what to do. Einstein once said that the solution to today’s problems will require better thinking than the thinking that got us into those problems. Better thinking means better problem solving. Also, if there were no problems there would be no opportunities.
Where communciation comes in is that unless the client is sophisticated, they do not know how to ask for what they need. So understanding the problem is vital. Many a product has been well developed but a failure because the product didn’t meet a real need. I have seen the results of good market research and it is invaluable.
Then, the possible solutions and the tradeoffs associated with them have to be communicated so good decisions are made about the engineering. This is where I think we get confused. Engineers solve problems using technology. They don’t create market leading products unless the product requirements are for a market leading product. And even if they do create a great product, it doesn’t guarantee that it gets made or sold. So there are more than just engineering problems to be solved for a successful product or outcome. I have personally developed an underground cable fault locating device that was significantly better than anything on the market. The client decided not to make it. That was in 2000 and 11 years later it would still be a market leader. Why did they decide that? Because if it took off they woudl have to expand to handle the volume and they didn’t want to grow that much. Not all problems are engineering related.
So communication is a two way problem and is multidimensional.
Ray Keefe
Successful Endeavours Pty Ltd
Casey Business of the Year 2010
Industrial Electronics Future Award 2011
Award Winning Electronics Design and Embedded Software Development
Billy Bee September 16, 2011 at 8:24 pm
Interesting.
This guy is interesting. The whole curiosity and logic I would sum up that Engineers must use both sides of their brain. Engineers are artists, bottom line. The logic of engineering is being able to recreate your creation, which is what distinguishes us from scientists.
I think he misses the point on communication. He kind of blasts out the standard CEO blah blah statements. But from personal experience, I have communicated ideas easily with excellent engineers that speak extremely poor English. But I can’t communicate with a lousy engineer period, even when they speak perfect English.
Maitrey Makim September 17, 2011 at 1:05 am
I agree and liked the key things he said…(excluding the other un-necessary stuff)…but I’ll like to add-on to it by saying two more things,
1. Do not trust anyone’s work or word. Check for yourself. Check again. Always good to be a Pessimist Engr.
2. Jack of all, expert of One.
Cheers!
Brian September 19, 2011 at 3:48 pm
To @Billy Bee’s comment: I think CEOs have to communicate differently from that perch. True story: years ago I interviewed Gil Amelio when he ran National Semiconductor. Walked out of his office completely clueless about his strategy. A few years later, I had the same conversation after Brian Halla took over. He laid out his strategy in three basic prongs. Easy to understand (and to explore further) and most importantly, memorable.
I told him about my Amelio experience, and he said his point was that the CEOs strategy has to be understood and remembered by everyone in the company. Now Halla was pretty good at the “blah-blah” to be sure. But I’ve never forgotten that simple approach.
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JULIAN DRISCOLL September 9, 2011 at 7:00 pm
To be certainly a good communicator, using straightforward language, not some arcane geekspeak invented for a subgroup.
As important is being a good listener so the team based design process is one of a dialectic where the contributions of all make the whole product or process.