How to plan your career is not a static equation.
Always remember that engineering is the art of applied science, you will be asked to make decisions that are not popular, or emotionally rewarding. Always communicate with and understand your peers as well as an objective and it's scope and relevance in space and time. Elegant solutions come from a curious life of solving problems that have not yet occurred. Good luck.
Mostly, check everything.
IMHO, good engineering is down to experience and innate character, neither of which can be acquired any other way. In terms of projects, I have observed two things where good engineers show their capabilities.
One is in the trade off between doing more work now so as to keep a project flexible, by which I mean, able to respond easily to changes in requirements, and similarly adding in features (hooks) which may make future, but as yet unknown, projects easier. All that, versus working to the current specification only and doing it as simply as possible and thus getting it done quickly and easily but - and here is the catch - possibly choosing a route that will involve much more work if new requirements come along mid project or afterwards.
There is no easy answer to this and you can easily find examples of each approach failing or being successful, so it is really a judgment call.
The other thing is identifying showstopping bottlenecks well in advance and getting them sorted out before they occur. Again, this is often a judgement call. Say your project requires work from various external sources at some point. They will all probably tell you that it will be no problem because they want the work. However, it may be that one of them really isn't ready to do what you ask and you need to "pipe clean" the process with some dummy work first so that they can get it fixed before the time when you really need them.
As to a general principal or motto, then based on my experience I would say "Clarity". Clarity of original purpose, clarity of functional specification, clarity of design at the level of individual working, clarity of end user experience (ie how obvious is it to use) etc. One test of this is, how easy would it be for someone new to take this work and understand what is going on?
For instance, it may be that you can do something a certain way using a simple thing many times, or that it can be done using a complicated thing once. It could well be that using the simple thing many times is a better option, because it is easy to understand, it is easy to design, you can tell if it is working properly, and so on, even tho it may be less efficient as a design in itself. Of course all these things cross a line at some point but I would perhaps put it this way; If an approach looses clarity, then it needs to justify itself quite strongly.
Oh yes, another tip; Try to avoid using more than one novel thing per project.
Get into the Engineering stream that you enjoy and enjoy it.
Then, as an Engineer, take a view on the bigger picture:
Understand that while others rely on your expertise, they probably will never understand it but they do the Marketing, the Purchasing and the Administration. Without them you would have no job. You all add value to the raw materials to make the product for the company to sell.
One of the hardest parts is to develop your communications skills so that you don't distance them from you and subsequently you from them.
As time passes and your years advance you can realise that being a good Engineer is not all about Engineering.
After 10 year of engineering 5 of which I have been a Development engineer. I have found that to be a good engineer you must never, never stop asking question. If no one will tell you the answer to your questions you will have to find the answers your self.
Remember you don't always have the answer's and "I don't know but, I will find out" is a good answer for your boss becouse they all want you to 'change the laws of physics'.
One last thing is to follow what interest you or you will not like what you do.
There are no more stephenson's any more becouse of red tape just try you best.
what kind of engineer? civil, electronic, chemical, computer?
generally, I think the best traits an enginer could have is:
1. some are born with the knack, but mostly it is basing judgements on good empirical evidence. Having the knack means you can analyze and digest information quickly. Being able to recognize patterns in test samples unconciously is sometimes a gift. But careful analysis of evidences also helps.
2. A meticulous attitude in looking over your work.
3. Studying smart, not just hard. Know what is and is not relevant. It helps you to quickly get through tasks if you know to isolate the problem and find a solution for it.
http://www.canzonatech.com/engineers.sht...
If you were a naval architect,how will you plan your career time and how will you do to be a great engineer?And what is the main thing to become a good engineer?
