What is an engineer?

What is an engineer?  Most people picture someone who drives a train.  Perhaps you picture someone sitting in a cubicle with graph paper and a pocket protector. Would you picture that little girl on the left?  Or someone wearing high heels and a Loft sweater?

How would you explain what an engineer is to a child?  It is hard for them to see an engineer in action. They see that doctors help sick people feel better. They see that vets help sick animals feel better. And of course Doc McStuffins is amazing because she helps sick TOYS feel better.

 

 

So…how did I explain engineering to Allie?

Here was our conversation:

Allie: “I’ve decided I want to be animal doctor.”

Me: “Why not a people doctor?”

Allie: “Other people can do that.”

Me: “Why not be an engineer?”

Allie: “I don’t know what an engineer does.”

Me: “Mommy’s an engineer!”

Allie: “Do engineer’s make toys?”

Me: “Engineer’s solve the world’s problems. We get people energy so they can drive their cars, we fix roads so that the rainwater drains to the bayous. We make plastic so that it can hold your sandwiches and milk. Engineers make people’s lives easier.”

Allie: “God must be an engineer.”

I was speechless.  Maybe I played up engineering a little too much?

What did I do as an engineer?

I was part of a team whose goal was to safely produce oil and gas from an offshore platform.  I would go to work in a high rise building in my Loft sweater and high heels.  Every morning we would video conference with the team who worked on the offshore platform.  The platform was located 200 miles off the coast of Louisiana. Our team would engineer projects to produce as much oil and gas the equipment would safely allow within environmental standards.  Occasionally, I would take an hour long helicopter ride to the platform to scope out and deliver these projects. I felt an incredible ownership of that platform as one of it’s engineers and very proud to be on that team.

So today, as I am showing my daughter science,  I realize that much of what I learned as a kid I used as an engineer. When I saw salad dressing separated in layers, I was learning about the density of oil and water.   When I left my bike outside and saw it rust, I was learning how metals corrode. And little did I know when I saw the 1986 Challenger explosion, I was learning about the important role engineers play on safety systems.

Where do we go from here?

From building bridges, designing better processes, creating electricity, changing chemical molecules to make plastic, designing computers, and turning oil into gasoline; engineers are a vital part of our society. We need engineers today and certainly tomorrow. We need engineers who are hard working, passionate, nurturing, creative, caring, and have a unique sense of style. Sounds like a few little girls I know!

What is an engineer? Someday it just might be your little girl.