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Become Real Engineers, Build Real Things

By SiliconIndia | Friday, 27 August 2010, 03:22 Hrs | 5 Comments

Then we had Mathematics. Today we use Fourier Transforms, Arithmetic and Geometric Series, and many other mathematical tools in our development of algorithms. Few days ago we used techniques to convert Cartesian to Polar Coordinates to use them in our algorithms. To do this we had to open the Engineering Mathematics text book taught in our first and second year.

One of the most neglected subjects was Accounting, called Economics. We hated it, ridiculed it, and completely dismissed it. 'We are engineers, not accountants', we told ourselves. I wish I paid little more attention - because now I continuously fail to grapple with balance sheets and profit & loss accounts though it is my mandate to understand them to take decisions. We also had Engineering Drawing. Thankfully I liked it, and now it comes again and again to aid us in making designs of our products, making CAD/CAM drawings for manufacturing them, and making 3D drawings for visualizing the product before fabricating them.

Then we had Workshop in our first/second year. There we worked with lathe machines, cutting mechanical tools, and also casting and molding where we actually dirtied our hands. For most of us, it didn't make sense back then. We complained, why should electronics engineers go through workshop? Today, we spend time and money in making casts for our enclosures and have to take a decision on sand cast, gravity cast or pressure die cast, and conduct great deal of research to mill, grind, and cut the exact design for our heat sinks that dissipate heat for many days and nights. Hopefully in a year we will have our own workshop. I look forward to that day with excitement.

We program our software using linked lists that we learnt in the courses on programming language and data structures. Our embedded software uses microprocessor programs in Assembly and C. We design electronic circuits, both Analog and Digital. We have a soldering iron and oscilloscopes that we use daily. Our baseband software uses Digital Signal Processing, and we continuously work on the internals of Data Networks. We use all topics of Digital Communications. We use antennas and its technologies to decide on the antenna propagation techniques and antenna patterns.

I realize that I am currently using more than 90% of what I learnt in my B. Tech, on a regular basis. I didn't know this would happen. If I had known, I would have treated by B. Tech little differently. There is beauty in building things and seeing them work. There is satisfaction in engineering products and solutions that find a place in this real world. There is no other joy for an engineer than being able to use the length and breadth of entire gamut of engineering. while trying to build a working product I wouldn't trade this job for any other. May be we are not as rich, maybe we are not as successful, but we are all proud engineers. While most other engineers may say that they don't use 90% of what they learnt, we can actually claim that we use more than 90% of what we learnt.

I want the young engineers in India to know that what they learn can be used in their lives. Instead of looking for the highest paying non-engineering job, they have a choice to look for a real engineering job. Hope we have more technology companies in India, and hope we create a generation of engineers who can actually claim they make use of what they learnt in their B.Tech. Hope they build airplanes and design ships. Hope they make cell phones and electronic gadgets. Hope they make computer games and robots. Hope they go through fun of what it means to be an engineer. Hope they will not be satisfied with just the title, but become real engineers building things.

Courtesy: Pluggd.in

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Reader's comments(5)

1: Well I completely agree with your point of trying to be a real and passionate engineer. But, I don't think the number of jobs which requires the knowledge of all or most of the subjects that we study in 4 years is not that much in india and certainly it's not equal to the number of engineers produced in india.....

Posted by:Ajai - 30 Aug, 2010

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2: above one is superb......k...but there is question i.e always roaming in my mind is that engineering college matters in your future life or not .i mean if we r not from the prestigious institute or government institute.....so is there any difference between those students.....any uncomfortness......

Posted by:sudhanshu - 27 Aug, 2010

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College matters. Not just because you get a good job or high pay initially when you pass out. Because of faculty and facilities. If you have to passion to learn and interest, college doesn't matter. When you get your first job, it may not be a high pay, but people with proper knowledge always get recognized, no matter what the college is.

Krshna Replied to: sudhanshu - 27 Aug, 2010

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4: I agree that each subject has its own relevance but I think its worthwhile to make students understand that by conducting industrial visits or college trip by pros
And last but not the least showing the students that there are enough jobs for those kinda work

Posted by:Deepak Kapoor - 27 Aug, 2010

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5: Absolutely Correct..
i will definitely try to be 'REAL ENGINEER'.
Nice article.

Posted by:Ramesh - 27 Aug, 2010

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