Can You Help Me Interview an Engineer for My School Project?

[chenshulun]

Help! Big engineering issue!

i need to interview an engineer for a school project could sombody answer my questions?

1. Why are you a professional engineer?
2. Who is your role model?
3. Why do you choose engineering as a field for yourself?
4. Which stream are you from?
5. Do you feel comfortable with your job?
6. Have you ever been involved in any project?
7. What separates a good engineer from a bad one? What qualtities are required to become a good engineer?
8. What advice would you give me as someone interested in pursuing a career path like yours?
9. What is your work environment like?
10. What is your name? (I need to know this so I can say who I interviewed, if possible, please provide your company name as well)


Thank you very much for answering these questions!

 

[jefswat]

I'm not a professional yet, but poor planning and no ability to work in a team makes for a terrible engineer. Strangely enough, this is exactly what you will find in many engineers that work at universities (professors or not). I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule...just not at my university. I'm more of a baby sitter than research assistant

 

[chenshulun]

I'm not a professional yet, but poor planning and no ability to work in a team makes for a terrible engineer. Strangely enough, this is exactly what you will find in many engineers that work at universities (professors or not). I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule...just not at my university. I'm more of a baby sitter than research assistant

Thanks any way.

 

[JaredJames]

Isn't question 4 the same as 10?

 

[chenshulun]

Isn't question 4 the same as 10?

Yes...I just corrected it...thanks

 

[JaredJames]

I'd answer them but I'm only a final year student. I did a work placement last year (for the year) with a company, so if you're really stuck I can answer them for you.

 

[chenshulun]

I'd answer them but I'm only a final year student. I did a work placement last year (for the year) with a company, so if you're really stuck I can answer them for you.

Thank you so much dude. I really hope that I can get something to write down in my assignment, such a pain in the ***.

 

[JaredJames]

Well let me know if no one else gives you the answers you need and I'll give it my best effort.

 

[chenshulun]

Well let me know if no one else gives you the answers you need and I'll give it my best effort.

If you can give a try that's going to be fantastic. Hope you answers can inspire some other answers threfore I can collect as much information as possible to finish my assignment. Thanks.

 

[chenshulun]

By the way, thank you for the help.

 

[JaredJames]

2. Who is your role model?
My grandfather. He worked in aerospace as an aircraft engineer and later on he worked in GE on engines.

3. Why do you choose engineering as a field for yourself?
I enjoy the various aspects and have always enjoyed anything relating to aircraft. Although my main interests are in computing and programming, I decided on engineering as I felt it would give me more of a challenge and interesting prospects, along with allowing me to incorporate my interests.

4. Which stream are you from?
Aerospace Engineering

5. Do you feel comfortable with your job?
I enjoyed working for the company. It allowed me to have a go at structural engineering tasks, aerodynamics and HVAC in general, whilst also allowing me to do certain programming jobs for them.

6. Have you ever been involved in any project?
I developed a number of various pieces of software, most were fairly small relating to leak testing of products. There was one larger project which involved creating a piece of software for designing Air Handling Units.

7. What separates a good engineer from a bad one? What qualtities are required to become a good engineer?
A good engineer can plan out their work and most importantly, stick to the plan as much as possible.
Fantastic planning skills, you need to be a good orally and aurally, I'd say that strong analytical skills and creativity are important.

8. What advice would you give me as someone interested in pursuing a career path like yours?
Choose a field of engineering you hold a strong interest in and more importantly, something you feel would enjoy doing. Try to choose a university that is strong in your field (employers recognise certain ones better than others). Attempt to do a work placement year to get experience as part of your course (and potentially get you a job at the end of it).

Importantly, you need to make sure you have a good understanding of maths and physics.

Try to get involved in as many engineering projects as you can, preferably in a number of engineering areas, doing various jobs within the teams. They can be fun and provide you with fantastic experience. Not to mention they look good on university applications (and can help when going for your first job to some extent).

9. What is your work environment like?
It is mainly an office based job. Most of the tasks are individual, I am given a specification and expected to handle it on my own. Perform any required problem solving and develop a workable solution. I am expected to report back on a daily / weekly basis, detailing the current progress of the job.
A new addition was the requirement to submit a weekly work planner, which all engineers in the company had to complete. It would outline all work you plan to undertake in the week. Any jobs not completed or with problems at the end of the week would require an explanation to the boss. (I wasn't a fan of this one.)

10. What is your name? (I need to know this so I can say who I interviewed, if possible, please provide your company name as well)

<< personal information deleted by berkeman >>

I've left out 1 as it is the same as 3.

 

[berkeman]

We no longer allow interview threads here on the PF. There are problems with spam and phishing for personal information that we have experienced in the past.

Thread locked.