Considered Opinions

Engineer In Me

I was reminded recently of why I chose to become an engineer, or more accurately, “why my Dad chose for me to become an engineer”.  Even though I had been fixing neighbor’s TV sets when I was 15 or 16 years old, I didn’t make the connection to engineering until some years later, finding myself working my way through engineering school, in a radio/TV repair shop in Angola.

In high school had won a scholarship to study physics at Kalamazoo College, where my older brother had attended,  but Dad had other ideas. I recall him saying that if I wanted to be a high school teacher, physics was a good way to go, but if I wanted to earn good money, engineering was a better choice. I didn’t know the difference at the time – I thought an engineer was a guy with a blue and white striped hat who drove a train.

I quickly narrowed the choices down to two branches (Mechanical or Electrical), and the Electrical choice had two options – Power^[i].. as in generating it and distributing it to homes and businesses or Electronics^[ii] Bardeen & Brattain had invented the transistor a mere decade earlier, and Noyce & Moore were standing on the threshold of a revolution that would turn the world upside down.. Neither the Chemical or Civil Engineering choices of analyzing wastewater or mixing concrete were very appealing at the time. In hindsight, it didn’t matter because after the chemistry, physics, algebra, solid geometry, trigonometry, calculus, and differential equations are done, the thermodynamics, structures, mechanisms, fluid dynamics, etc., would fall in place next to the magnetism, electric fields, circuit theory, computer science, and the rest of it. The underlying fundamentals are what matter.

Even though Dad was part owner of Clifton Engineering Company, in our hometown of Three Rivers, building overhead and underground electrical and gas distribution infrastructure, the Electronics option sounded more interesting, and so the die was cast – I would become an Electronics Engineer.

So I did it and I did it well, considering what I started with, and despite the ups and downs of life, looking back, I attribute my ability, albeit limited in so many ways, of solving everyday problems stems from the basic understanding I acquired during those years of engineering school. Without those basic skills, it would have been impossible in later years for me to harken back to first principles, to solve difficult problems, whether electrical, mechanical, or just common-sense ones.

In real life, while knowing how pumps, planets, elevators, or electrons work is not essential, it sure comes in handy. Finding myself equally comfortable discussing heat transfer in a crowded room, the starting current for a one-horsepower motor, or the intrinsic band gap of a Silicon junction are things I wish I had another chance to thank my Dad for.

I saw this T-shirt recently. I think I will borrow the idea and make laser-engraved Christmas tree ornaments like it.

By: Jim
Written: March 9, 2024
Published: March 9, 2024
Revised: 
Reader feedback always appreciated^[iii]. . thoughtful commentary perhaps more so than shallow thoughts