• Question: What do you get out of engineering that you wouldn't get out of any otger job or hobbies

    Asked by Orla to Stephen, Sita, Rory, Hannah, Brian, Alison on 1 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Rory Scarrott

      Rory Scarrott answered on 1 Mar 2019:


      I’m not an engineer, but my brother is. He had the chance to work on the giant A380, and every time I’m waiting in Heathrow airport, I see an A380 and think “My brother helped design a little bit of that”. He gets a great kick out of it to this day 🙂

    • Photo: Alison Dufresne

      Alison Dufresne answered on 1 Mar 2019:


      That’s a really good/tough question! I’d say you get a toolbox (both physical and mental) of ways to solve any problem that comes up in your life. That and access to space missions that you wouldn’t otherwise have. Only the engineers at my company get to design/build/test and play with the satellites so I guess hands on experience with that is a bonus that only engineers get!

    • Photo: Hannah Currivan

      Hannah Currivan answered on 2 Mar 2019:


      You get to build, which is something I quite enjoy! With my background as a physicist you have the skills to solve problems, but with engineering you get to put those skills to use in the world around you, from helping people and making new discoveries and inventions.

    • Photo: Sita Karki

      Sita Karki answered on 4 Mar 2019:


      In engineering, we always look for problems and try to fix it. We don’t hate problems because it is what teaches and gives us the opportunity to learn more.
      In our jobs or disciplines, we try to avoid problems, this is what I like about engineering.

    • Photo: Brian OConnor

      Brian OConnor answered on 4 Mar 2019:


      Time spent on tasks that require creativity, imagination and problem solving. Also, you see how nothing can be achieved without people working together. Everybody has a contribution to make in a team of engineers and scientists. When you see them all working together, great things can happen, like building, launching and running an Earth Observation satellite then using all the cool imagery it takes of Earth and making maps from it and telling the story to the world like when you see Arctic ice disappearing or tropical rainforest being cut down because we are not doing enough to protect it.

    • Photo: Stephen O'Connor

      Stephen O'Connor answered on 7 Mar 2019: last edited 7 Mar 2019 1:51 pm


      The feeling that you are helping to improve our understanding of the Universe, the quality of human life, and the protection of Earth and the many other species we share our home planet with.

Comments