Proud to be an Engineer
Martin Lawrence
Experienced commercial sales and business development professional for high integrity manufacturing
A lot of engineers, mainly in the UK, have a self perceived image that our very honourable profession is not held in the same regard as others such as medicine, legal, academia, etc. I too hold this same opinion, but on reflection should we wallow in self-pity that we think we're just seen as the 'oily rag brigade'?
I could reel off all the great things engineers have created, how society is so dependent on the technology we've all developed & manufactured but would I not be just reinforcing the point why maybe engineers don't think they're held in high regard? We all believe our achievements are great (which they are) but 'average Joe' in the street takes these for granted. In reality they are right, essentially that's what we're paid to do? Is it headline news when a surgeon saves a life or a lawyer successfully defends an innocent person?
In order to raise our profile and improve our image to ensure that future generations are attracted to this vocation, should we not be embracing the need for celebrity support (as much as it pains me to say!). Science has inspiring & engaging individuals such as Brian Cox and the late Patrick Moore who explain complex scientific issues in an entertaining way that the layman can understand and appreciate.
Do we have the same potential we you look within our ranks? I googled 'celebrity engineer' and it is quite surprising who we have amongst us - Rowan Atkinson, Cindy Crawford, Dennis Bergkamp, Ashton Kutcher, Teri Hatcher, Donald Sutherland, and Dolph Lundgren to name but a few.
You can see we have many engineers who have chosen another path, but why can't we develop the next Brian Cox or Patrick Moore to become a 'Celebrity Engineer'? I guess someone like Sir James Dyson is the closest we have, but with the greatest respect to Sir James, do we need some younger blood from the engineering fraternity?
Lets ensure that future generations can get the same level of satisfaction we all enjoy from overcoming the challenges we all face every day and are proud of our engineering profession.
Engineering heroes step forward...!!!