I received en email from someone who followed my blog posts. It’s an article regarding engineering profession. The writer for this article is President Herbert Hoover. I’m not quite sure from which organisation or universities his in, but the article really open up my mind and it’s really good for those people who wanted to become engineer themselves. Enjoy!

The Profession Of Engineering

Engineering… it is a great profession. There is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and homes to men. Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life… That is the engineer’s high privilege.

The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot, like the architects, cover his failures with trees and vines. He cannot, like the politicians, screen his shortcomings by blaming his opponents and hope the people will forget.

The engineer simply cannot deny he did it. If his works do not work, he is damned…

That is the phantasmagoria that haunts his nights and dogs his days. He comes from the job at the end of the day resolved to calculate it again. He wakes in the night in a cold sweat and puts something on paper that looks silly in the morning. All day he shivers at the thought of the bugs which will inevitably appear to jolt his smooth consummation.

On the other hand, unlike the doctor he is not a life among the weak. Unlike the soldier, destruction is not his purpose. Unlike the lawyer, quarrels are not his daily bread. To the engineer falls the job of clothing the bare bones of science with life, comfort and hope.

No doubt as years go by the people forget which engineer did it, even if they ever knew. Or some politician puts his name on it. Or they credit it to some promoter who used other people’s money… but the engineer himself looks back at the unending stream of goodness which flows from his successes with satisfaction that few professions may know. And the verdict of his fellow professionals is all the accolade he wants.

Tags : engineer, engineering, professional, professionals, profession, construction, project, site, management, phantasmagoria, life

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 27th, 2007 at 3:06 pm and is filed under Civil Engineering, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.