Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day
Feb. 23rd, 2012 02:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crankyoldmanThis is apparently today! Due to my whole fleeing the area for Distant Worlds this weekend I won't be able to have my weekly meeting with my interns (sadness) but I figured I'd make a post in lieu of talking with high school girls about engineering (which is a crap substitute I know).
I know a lot of things will talk about robots and computers when it comes to engineering, but I guess I wanted to talk about the human aspect a bit. Because that's the part that matters, even though you may think otherwise. And this is by no means a comprehensive list, it's mostly based on my experiences and those of people I know. If you want something broader, check out this lovely comic.
What Engineering has been to me:
- It is spending several years in college working in teams that no one tells you you're supposed to make and some teams you're told to make. This is probably the most accurate part of school in regards to what you do later. You are not alone.
- It is one part degree, one part attitude. I consider a lot of techs to actually be better engineers than me, so however that falls is up to you.
- It's as much arts and language as it is math and science. If you can't express what you're trying to do in a way that people can understand, then not a lot is going to get done.
- It is not a reason to be unkind to your fellow ladyfolk, in the field with you or outside of it. There are just as many engineers who wear lipstick as those that wear steel-toed boots (and in some cases, they do both). Traditionally masculine and feminine traits only provide certain perspectives to solve problems and varying perspectives is what can solve the most difficult of problems at times.
- It is tearing your hair out because there is no right answer, and a billion failures before a success.
- It is a lot of math. But it's what math does and less what it is, no matter what your math TA will tell you. Theory is only a background, not an end, and no matter how many equations you memorize, they won't do you any good unless you know what to use them for.
- It's not just working hard, it's working smart. In school especially, sometimes you just have to ignore one class in order to pass all your other ones. Sometimes you have to let one thing go to solve another thing.
- It's about trains. And planes. And automobiles. But it's also about pacemakers and nail polish and teaching and living. As the lines blur between people and technology so do the fields of studying used to create and maintain these systems.
- It is and it isn't science. It works with science, but it isn't nearly as concerned with study (and yet is is if you go into academia). If science is finding a perfect cup of coffee, engineering is finding a coffeemaker in a dumpster and duct taping it up until it makes the perfect cup of coffee.
- It's a community as much as an identity. Being an engineer means that you can talk to a bunch of other people that say they are as such, and maybe getting along with some of them. And also maybe not. People are people after all.
- It doesn't really matter what college you go to, as long as it's one that has what you want to do. And if you don't know quite what you want to do? Go in-state.
- It's as boring as it is exciting. The only difference is what you make of it; if you don't want to make widgets, then don't make widgets. If you don't want to manage a team, don't manage a team. While it's true sometimes you'll be forced into roles you don't want it's what you make of it that matters.
- It can be really really cool though.
- And lastly, it's not a guaranteed job, though it is a set of experiences that can do a lot for where you think your future is going.
I know a lot of things will talk about robots and computers when it comes to engineering, but I guess I wanted to talk about the human aspect a bit. Because that's the part that matters, even though you may think otherwise. And this is by no means a comprehensive list, it's mostly based on my experiences and those of people I know. If you want something broader, check out this lovely comic.
What Engineering has been to me:
- It is spending several years in college working in teams that no one tells you you're supposed to make and some teams you're told to make. This is probably the most accurate part of school in regards to what you do later. You are not alone.
- It is one part degree, one part attitude. I consider a lot of techs to actually be better engineers than me, so however that falls is up to you.
- It's as much arts and language as it is math and science. If you can't express what you're trying to do in a way that people can understand, then not a lot is going to get done.
- It is not a reason to be unkind to your fellow ladyfolk, in the field with you or outside of it. There are just as many engineers who wear lipstick as those that wear steel-toed boots (and in some cases, they do both). Traditionally masculine and feminine traits only provide certain perspectives to solve problems and varying perspectives is what can solve the most difficult of problems at times.
- It is tearing your hair out because there is no right answer, and a billion failures before a success.
- It is a lot of math. But it's what math does and less what it is, no matter what your math TA will tell you. Theory is only a background, not an end, and no matter how many equations you memorize, they won't do you any good unless you know what to use them for.
- It's not just working hard, it's working smart. In school especially, sometimes you just have to ignore one class in order to pass all your other ones. Sometimes you have to let one thing go to solve another thing.
- It's about trains. And planes. And automobiles. But it's also about pacemakers and nail polish and teaching and living. As the lines blur between people and technology so do the fields of studying used to create and maintain these systems.
- It is and it isn't science. It works with science, but it isn't nearly as concerned with study (and yet is is if you go into academia). If science is finding a perfect cup of coffee, engineering is finding a coffeemaker in a dumpster and duct taping it up until it makes the perfect cup of coffee.
- It's a community as much as an identity. Being an engineer means that you can talk to a bunch of other people that say they are as such, and maybe getting along with some of them. And also maybe not. People are people after all.
- It doesn't really matter what college you go to, as long as it's one that has what you want to do. And if you don't know quite what you want to do? Go in-state.
- It's as boring as it is exciting. The only difference is what you make of it; if you don't want to make widgets, then don't make widgets. If you don't want to manage a team, don't manage a team. While it's true sometimes you'll be forced into roles you don't want it's what you make of it that matters.
- It can be really really cool though.
- And lastly, it's not a guaranteed job, though it is a set of experiences that can do a lot for where you think your future is going.