Engineer
An engineer is a practitioner of engineering. The word engineer is derived from the Latin words ingeniare and ingenium. The foundational qualifications of a licensed professional engineer typically include a four-year bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline, or in some jurisdictions, a master's degree in an engineering discipline plus four to six years of peer-reviewed professional practice and passage of engineering board examinations.
The work of engineers forms the link between scientific discoveries and their subsequent applications to human and business needs and quality of life.
Definition
In 1961, the Conference of Engineering Societies of Western Europe and the United States of America defined "professional engineer" as follows:Roles and expertise
Design
Engineers develop new technological solutions. During the engineering design process, the responsibilities of the engineer may include defining problems, conducting and narrowing research, analyzing criteria, finding and analyzing solutions, and making decisions. Much of an engineer's time is spent on researching, locating, applying, and transferring information. Indeed, research suggests engineers spend 56% of their time engaged in various information behaviours, including 14% actively searching for information.Engineers must weigh different design choices on their merits and choose the solution that best matches the requirements and needs. Their crucial and unique task is to identify, understand, and interpret the constraints on a design in order to produce a successful result. Good problem solving skills are an important asset for engineers.
Analysis
Engineers apply techniques of engineering analysis in testing, production, or maintenance. Analytical engineers may supervise production in factories and elsewhere, determine the causes of a process failure, and test output to maintain quality. They also estimate the time and cost required to complete projects. Supervisory engineers are responsible for major components or entire projects. Engineering analysis involves the application of scientific analytic principles and processes to reveal the properties and state of the system, device or mechanism under study. Engineering analysis proceeds by separating the engineering design into the mechanisms of operation or failure, analyzing or estimating each component of the operation or failure mechanism in isolation, and recombining the components. They may analyze risk.Many engineers use computers to produce and analyze designs, to simulate and test how a machine, structure, or system operates, to generate specifications for parts, to monitor the quality of products, and to control the efficiency of processes.
Specialization and management
Most engineers specialize in one or more engineering disciplines. Numerous specialties are recognized by professional societies, and each of the major branches of engineering has numerous subdivisions. Civil engineering, for example, includes structural engineering, along with transportation engineering, geotechnical engineering, and materials engineering, including ceramic, metallurgical, and polymer engineering. Mechanical engineering cuts across most disciplines since its core essence is applied physics. Engineers also may specialize in one industry, such as motor vehicles, or in one type of technology, such as turbines or semiconductor materials.Several recent studies have investigated how engineers spend their time; that is, the work tasks they perform and how their time is distributed among these. Research suggests that there are several key themes present in engineers' work: technical work, social work, computer-based work and information behaviors. Among other more detailed findings, a 2012 work sampling study found that engineers spend 62.92% of their time engaged in technical work, 40.37% in social work, and 49.66% in computer-based work. Furthermore, there was considerable overlap between these different types of work, with engineers spending 24.96% of their time engaged in technical and social work, 37.97% in technical and non-social, 15.42% in non-technical and social, and 21.66% in non-technical and non-social.
Engineering is also an information-intensive field, with research finding that engineers spend 55.8% of their time engaged in various different information behaviors, including 14.2% actively seeking information from other people and information repositories such as documents and databases.
The time engineers spend engaged in such activities is also reflected in the competencies required in engineering roles. In addition to engineers' core technical competence, research has also demonstrated the critical nature of their personal attributes, project management skills, and cognitive abilities to success in the role.
Types of engineers
There are many branches of engineering, each of which specializes in specific technologies and products. Typically, engineers will have deep knowledge in one area and basic knowledge in related areas. For example, mechanical engineering curricula typically include introductory courses in electrical engineering, computer science, materials science, metallurgy, mathematics, and software engineering.An engineer may either be hired for a firm that requires engineers on a continuous basis, or may belong to an engineering firm that provides engineering consulting services to other firms.
When developing a product, engineers typically work in interdisciplinary teams. For example, when building robots an engineering team will typically have at least three types of engineers. A mechanical engineer would design the body and actuators. An electrical engineer would design the power systems, sensors, electronics, embedded software in electronics, and control circuitry. Finally, a software engineer would develop the software that makes the robot behave properly. Engineers that aspire to management engage in further study in business administration, project management and organizational or business psychology. Often engineers move up the management hierarchy from managing projects, functional departments, and divisions, and some eventually become CEOs of multi-national corporations.
| Branch | Focus | Related sciences | Products |
| Automobile engineering | Focuses on the development of automobiles and related technology | Structural engineering, electronics, materials science, automotive safety, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, engineering mathematics, ergonomics, environmental compliance, road traffic safety, chemistry | Automobiles |
| Aerospace engineering | Focuses on the development of aircraft and spacecraft | Aeronautics, astrodynamics, astronautics, avionics, control engineering, fluid mechanics, kinematics, materials science, thermodynamics | Aircraft, robotics, spacecraft, trajectories |
| Agricultural engineering | Focuses on the engineering, science, and technology for the production and processing of food from agriculture, such as the production of arable crops, soft fruit and livestock. A key goal of this discipline is to improve the efficacy and sustainability of agricultural practices for food production. | Agricultural engineering often combines and converges many other engineering disciplines such as mechanical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, biosystems engineering, soil science, environmental engineering | Livestock, food, horticulture, forestry, renewable energy crops. Agricultural machinery such as tractors, combine harvesters, forage harvesters. Agricultural technology incorporates such things as robotics and autonomous vehicles. |
| Architectural engineering and building engineering | Focuses on building and construction | Architecture, architectural technology | Buildings and bridges |
| Biomedical engineering | Focuses on closing the gap between engineering and medicine to advance various health care treatments | Biology, physics, chemistry, medicine | Prostheses, medical devices, regenerative tissue growth, various safety mechanisms, genetic engineering |
| Chemical engineering | Focuses on the transformation of raw materials into useful products in large scale | Chemistry, thermodynamics, chemical thermodynamics, process engineering, transport phenomena, nanotechnology, biology, chemical kinetics, genetic engineering medicine, fluid mechanics, textiles | Synthetic chemicals, fuels, medicines, raw materials, foods and beverages, waste and water treatment, pure gases, plastics, coatings, textiles |
| Civil engineering | Focuses on the construction of large systems, structures, and environmental systems | Statics, fluid mechanics, soil mechanics, structural engineering, transportation engineering, geotechnical engineering, environmental engineering, hydraulic engineering, construction engineering | Roads, bridges, dams, buildings, structural system, foundation, earthworks, waste management, water treatment |
| Computer engineering | Focuses on the design and development of computer hardware & software systems | Computer science, mathematics, electrical engineering | Microprocessors, microcontrollers, operating systems, embedded systems, computer networks |
| Electrical engineering | Focuses on application of electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism | Mathematics, probability and statistics, engineering ethics, engineering economics, instrumentation, materials science, physics, network analysis, electromagnetism, linear system, electronics, electric power, logic, computer science, data transmission, systems engineering, control engineering, signal processing | Electricity generation and equipment, remote sensing, robotics, control system, computers, home appliances, internet of things, consumer electronics, avionics, hybrid vehicles, spacecraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, optoelectronics, embedded systems |
| Fire protection engineering | Focuses on application of science and engineering principles to protect people, property, and their environments from the harmful and destructive effects of fire and smoke. | Fire, smoke, fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, combustion, physics, materials science, chemistry, statics, dynamics, probabilistic risk assessment or risk management, environmental psychology, engineering ethics, engineering economics, systems engineering, reliability, fire suppression, fire alarms, building fire safety, wildfire, building codes, measurement and simulation of fire phenomena, mathematics, probability and statistics. | Fire suppression systems, fire alarm systems, passive fire protection, smoke control systems, sprinkler systems, code consulting, fire and smoke modeling, emergency management, water supply systems, fire pumps, structural fire protection, foam extinguishing systems, gaseous fire suppression systems, oxygen reduction systems, flame detection, aerosol fire suppression. |
| Industrial engineering | Focuses on the design, optimization, and operation of production, logistics, and service systems and processes | Operations research, engineering statistics, applied probability and stochastic processes, automation engineering, methods engineering, production engineering, manufacturing engineering, systems engineering, logistics engineering, ergonomics | quality control systems, manufacturing systems, warehousing systems, supply chains, logistics networks, queueing systems, business process management |
| Mechatronics engineering | Focuses on the technology and controlling all the industrial field | Process control, automation | Robotics, controllers, CNC |
| Mechanical engineering | Focuses on the development and operation of energy systems, transport systems, manufacturing systems, machines and control systems | Dynamics, kinematics, statics, fluid mechanics, materials science, metallurgy, strength of materials, thermodynamics, heat transfer, mechanics, mechatronics, manufacturing engineering, control engineering | Cars, airplanes, machines, power generation, spacecraft, buildings, consumer goods, manufacturing, HVAC |
| Metallurgical engineering/materials engineering | Focuses on extraction of metals from its ores and development of new materials | Material science, thermodynamics, extraction of metals, physical metallurgy, mechanical metallurgy, nuclear materials, steel technology | Iron, steel, polymers, ceramics, metals |
| Mining engineering | Focuses on the use of applied science and technology to extract various minerals from the earth, not to be confused with metallurgical engineering, which deals with mineral processing of various ores after they have already been mined | Rock mechanics, geostatistics, soil mechanics, control engineering, geophysics, fluid mechanics, drilling and blasting | Gold, silver, coal, iron ore, potash, limestone, diamond, rare-earth element, bauxite, copper |
| Military engineering | Focuses on constructions and repairs of military structures as well as repairing damaged structures or producing/repairing combat vehicles, aircraft or seacraft | Military science | Weapon, ammunition, tanks, attack helicopters, fighters, bombers, military bases, warships, carrier, submarines, ballistic missiles |
| Software engineering | Focuses on the design and development of software systems | Computer science, Computing, information theory, systems engineering, formal language | Application software, Mobile apps, Websites, operating systems, embedded systems, real-time computing, video games, virtual reality, AI software, edge computing, distributed systems, computer vision, music sequencers, digital audio workstations, software synthesizers, robotics, CGI, medical software, computer-assisted surgery, internet of things, avionics software, computer simulation, quantum programming, satellite navigation software, antivirus software, electronic design automation, computer-aided design, self-driving cars, educational software |