Interview an Engineer: Questions & Answers

[alllvin01]

I need to interview an engineer, please answer the followings.

1. What is your name?

2. What type of engineer are you?

3. Do you have P.E.?

4. Do you think having P.E. is always better?

5. What does it take to achieve a P.E.?

6. What college did you graduate from?

7. Did you go to graduate school?

8. Do you think having M.S. make better life than B.S.? (in making money)

9. How many years of schooling did you have to go through to become an engineer?

10.What was the hardest class you took in college?

11. Have you done any internship during college year? what company? what did you do?

12. What made you to become an engineer?

13. What kind of qualities does an engineer have to have in order to become successful?

14. What company do you work for?

15. What is your position?

16. What is your current project?

17. Who are you affiliated with?

18. What is your work environment like?

19. What kind of tools or other equipment do you use frequently?

20. What do you like most about your job?

21. What do you dislike most about your job?

 

[Dr.D]

I need to interview an engineer, please answer the followings.

1. What is your name? Dr.D

2. What type of engineer are you? Mechanical Engineer

3. Do you have P.E.? yes

4. Do you think having P.E. is always better? not always, but it is useful

5. What does it take to achieve a P.E.? passing the EIT and PE exams and getting the necessary experience to become registered

6. What college did you graduate from? UT-Austin

7. Did you go to graduate school? yes

8. Do you think having M.S. make better life than B.S.? (in making money) It is probably a good idea, but much depends on what you want to do and how much initiative you show.

9. How many years of schooling did you have to go through to become an engineer? A BS in engineering is sufficient. I have quite a bit more than that.

10.What was the hardest class you took in college? US government.

11. Have you done any internship during college year? what company? what did you do? This was not available to me at the time I went to college.

12. What made you to become an engineer? I enjoyed building things and I enjoyed math and science. I came from a family of inventive people.

13. What kind of qualities does an engineer have to have in order to become successful? Integrity, perseverance, professionalism, honesty.

14. What company do you work for? I am now retired. I have worked for the US Navy (as a civilian), for Southwest Research Institute, for Stewart & Stevenson Services, Bethlehem Steel Corp, and Hamilton Watch Co. I have also taught at a number of universities.

15. What is your position? - I do consulting work and I write.

16. What is your current project? I am working on a book on reciprocating machines -- engines and compressors.

17. Who are you affiliated with? I am a life member of ASME. I used to be a member of SAE, but I have stopped paying my dues there.

18. What is your work environment like? I work at home, so it is pretty nice. I have a desk, my library, and several computers.

19. What kind of tools or other equipment do you use frequently? I use micrometers, volt-ohm meters, and a microbalance to get the physical characteristics of small parts.

20. What do you like most about your job? I like the freedom to pursue whatever I want to work on.

21. What do you dislike most about your job?

I miss the contact with other people working on similar matters.

 

[brewnog]

I'll pick a few. All that jargon about "PE" isn't relevant to me, Chartered status in the UK is similar, but I'm not sure why you were asking so I won't answer that bit.

I'm a mechanical engineer, I graduated from UMIST, I spent about 14 years at school plus a further three at university. I found thermodynamics to be the hardest module at uni, they taught a lot of stuff which I know know to be outdated (in application, not principle). I decided to become an engineer because I loved taking things apart to find out why they work, and am a natural problem solver. These days, an engineer has to be an excellent team player as well as all the usual technical ability; gone are the days where one can sit in an ivory tower and invent. I took an industrial placement at a forge, where I designed a new piece of equipment. I now work as a development engineer for a company making engines, where my work now involves a lot of project management. My work environment is pretty dynamic, no two days are the same and I face fresh challenges regularly. My main tool as an engineer is my laptop, with lots of pieces of software for data capture and analysis, and for configuration of various engine management systems. More 'technical' tools tend (for me) to be the realm of my technicians. Things I like about my job: Diversity of work, dealing with people, seeing my product in production and making lots of money for my business. Things I dislike: Bureocracy, absurd health and safety procedures (only absurd ones), impatient customers.