Integrity: A Favorable Desirable Personality Trait and also an Excellent Rewarding Career Path for Engineers!

A lot has been discussed about the important word known as: Integrity. I have seen the discourse in the family reunion, religious settings, the school system, social gatherings; on every side.

Integrity is a relevant topic in our small units starting from families, communities, to towns, states as it cuts across nations and the world at large in the economic, socio-cultural, and religious perspectives of life.

So what is the term integrity?

Integrity in Quotes

·        “Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity.” - W. Clement Stone

·        “Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.” - Oprah Winfrey

·        “Perhaps the surest test of an individual's integrity is his refusal to do or say anything that would damage his self-respect.” - Thomas S. Monson

·        “One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.” - Chinua Achebe

·        “You are in integrity when the life you are living on the outside matches who you are on the inside.” - Alan Cohen

Integrity stems from the Latin word ‘integer’ which means whole and complete.

Cambridge Dictionary defines integrity as: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles that you refuse to change or  the quality of being whole and complete.

Integrity means following your moral or ethical convictions and doing the right thing in all circumstances, even if no one is watching you. Having integrity means you are true to yourself and would do nothing that demeans or dishonors you. When you are in integrity, people should be able to see it ‘crystal clear’ through your actions, words, decisions, methods, and outcomes. So, integrity requires an inner sense of ‘wholeness’ and consistency of character.

Integrity is a personality trait for all of us that we desire and admire, since it means a person has a moral compass that doesn't waver. A man of integrity is a whole, undivided and reliable being.

Given the definitions of integrity, we can understand that it is extremely difficult to have a 100% scorecard on integrity all the time. Sometimes, we don’t give ourselves full permission to be our true selves out of fear of what others may think about us or due to our inability to truly ‘integrate’ the various parts of ourselves into one complete person by taking a holistic approach to life. This shows why we are not perfect as human beings but tend to perfection. So, a man of integrity is not a saint from above but really a decent man on the natural context.

Technical Integrity Engineering is a term applied to the engineering disciplines associated with the design, assurance and verification functions that ensure a product, process, or system meets its appropriate and intended requirements under stated operating conditions and envelopes.

As a professional engineer, Integrity may be the most appropriate word used to describe the person who willingly and consistently acts in accordance with social and engineering standards or moral values of society.

Typical responsibilities for an Integrity Engineer would be, to coordinate efficient and cost effective implementation of inspections and integrity management programs and to ensure integrity of plant facilities including all onshore and offshore structures, pipelines, stationary equipment, piping systems, etc.

Theses integrity management programs are found in Asset Integrity Management (AIM) defined by Inspectioneering as follows:

Asset Integrity Management (AIM) is a standard of operating that aims to protect equipment, health, safety, and environment. While there are numerous definitions of AIM, we define AIM as the cradle-to-grave approach to understanding and operating equipment in a safe, reliable manner. AIM does not apply merely to aging infrastructure; instead, it considers all stages of the equipment life cycle, from conception, to engineering and design, construction, operation, inspection, and finally to repair/replacement when necessary.

Finding this holistic building approach to engineering in the interdisciplinary working system of (AIM) makes the professional an asset integrity engineer.

As an interdisciplinary engineer with over 7 years of research and experience in engineering, construction, Welding, Coating/Painting, Insulation, Fireproofing, Composites Wrapping and Inspection in Oil and Gas sector, I can confidently say that integrity is not only a favorable desirable personality trait but also an excellent rewarding career path for engineers.

Article written by Ikenna Athan Oparaji

(Engineer, Poet, Creative Picturesque Writer)