EngineeringGeneral
|
The word "Engineer" has always puzzled me. There are so many different kinds of engineer and I kept seeing a real conflict in how the
word was applied to different people and the work they did.
I started investigating engineering before going to university and it sounded really interesting. Many different sorts and all looking deeply into the workings of natural law and it's application to practical problems. Then there was the guy down the street who proudly called himself a "Hydraulics Engineer" with this and his name on his van. I tried to find out what this kind of engineering was. I was stumped because there wasn't a course named that at university, and the guy only seemed to be a plumber anyway. The real undertstanding for me was when I started to learn some German properly. "Was sind Sie von beruf?" (what is your job?), and I would answer, "Ich bin ingenieur"(I'm an engineer). It was the fact that the german for engineer is a french word, and it is based on "ingenious". So, there's like two meanings: One is someone who comes up with ingenious solutions to practical problems (has a degree) and someone who does a type of technical work (without a degree, properly called a technician). I like to think of it as one meaning is derived from igenious, and the other meaning is derived from engine, as in to do work. |