Developing Vital Traits of an Engineer
Prof. Seeram Ramakrishna's opinions on the ever changing state of engineering featured in the article entitled "The Expanding World of Engineers" published in The Sunday Times, 5th August 2007 were brief outlines of the job scope for engineers, the current scenario in engineering education and some crucial ideas on the challenges and future of engineers. Prof. Seeram Ramakrishna also highlighted how engineering changed over the time, from the conventional jobs in highly technical fields to service oriented industries of no less technicalities and complexity. The diversity, versatility and flexibility of engineers' skills and knowledge have propelled the engineering field to a new level of difficulty in facing growing demands and challenges nowadays.
The versatility of engineers owes much to the systematic and analytical thinking that engineers practise coupled with the uncanny abilities in designing holistic solutions to problems encounter. These abilities are not inherent and it may take years to develop and hone.
Engineering education provided by universities addresses the need to develop the aforementioned abilities in engineers. The courses offered are usually structured to provide engineers in training with ample amount of technical knowledge and enough practical sessions to reinforce classroom learning. These practical sessions are crucial because they provide the opportunities for the trainee engineers to develop their skills in controlled environment. Many engineering undergraduates sign up for enhancement programmes such as industrial attachments and internship programmes which are products of collaboration between the university and companies with the intentions of providing the undergraduates with exposure to the working environment. These programmes allow the trainee engineers to hone their analytical skills and solution designing skills along with a myriad of soft skills which are lacking in the controlled environment of classroom. That aside, these trainings ensure trainee engineers have a smooth transition from university life to working life.
There is a limit of how much can these skills be developed within the confines of university though. Work experiences will help engineers to develop the aforementioned skills even further. The engineering field is an ever changing one and engineers need to constantly update themselves with latest information and skills in order to be better equipped in their work.
