Why did I choose to become an engineering educator and engineering practice researcher instead of staying in practice?

The simple yet potentially controversial answer to this question is that I didn’t value or enjoy most of my engineering education at university but loved and valued my Physics education. This was true while I studied, and even more so once I moved into the workplace.

Why?

My engineering degree had almost no context. Nearly every problem I worked on was fundamentally focused on developing my ability to accurately apply a theory, with one correct answer to a well-defined problem. My interactions with other engineering students were all about ‘how do I get the right answer?’, and ‘can you help me understand this theorem, because I just don’t get it’. And to those who helped me with these questions, thank you! I am forever grateful.

My engineering education experience rarely had an obvious connection to reality, with exception of thermodynamics, and to some extent fluid mechanics. Both topics that were delivered by educators who clearly cared for their student’s engagement. I suspect their care is why I enjoyed those subjects much more than others, and why I take the time to care for and engage my students today.

In contrast, my Physics degree became quite ambiguous after the first year. The problems we defined and attempted to solve became increasingly conceptual due to the nature of the topics covered. This encouraged disagreement and discussion with my peers and educators inside and outside of class. We couldn’t agree because there wasn’t a correct answer to agree upon. We worked in physical labs every week and were not expected to get them ‘right’, but we were expected to analyse and discuss uncertainties and errors to help explain why our lab didn’t work (which was the norm, not the exception).

In Physics labs we had to solve practical problems, be aware of safety when working with Lead, radioactive materials, lasers, electricity and other fun hazardous things. “Do not look into the laser with remaining good eye” is a quote that sticks with me still today 15+ years on. In third year, we got to define our own conceptual problems to solve and then try to design and build our own experiments to test our hypotheses. Again, all this uncertainty and lack of focus on right and wrong encouraged disagreement, discussion, critical thinking, practical thinking and skill development. We learned through experienced failures and engaged discussions.

My engineering and science double degree was a 5-year program. I nearly dropped out of my Engineering degree after my 3rd year because I didn't know what I was studying or why. I started talking to people in other fields to see if the grass was any greener elsewhere. One friend in architecture suggested I try to get some work experience before I made that call. Even with her help I had a failed attempt at getting vacation work between my 3rd and 4th year, but I persisted with my studies and the job hunt regardless. I simply had my architecture friend's voice in my head urging me to try working in the field before I quit studying.

It was at about the same time that this friends younger sister started studying engineering at the same university as me. I saw the genuine excitement and enthusiasm in her eyes when she explained why she chose engineering. Her choice to study engineering, unlike mine, was very deliberate and extremely inspiring, even though I couldn’t fully appreciate why at the time. She knew the impact an engineer could have on society, even before studying it. In contrast, I was over three years into my degree and still trying to work out what on earth an engineer is, let alone what an engineer is supposed to do other than solve mathematical problems for random 4 bar linkage systems with no context or reason why.

So, by luck or determination I got a 1-year internship at Ford at the end of my fourth year. I deferred university (no credit for a placement those days) and started working in an engine lab. I believe I was placed in the lab purely because of the joy that I displayed during my interview when we got onto the topic of how much I loved my physics lab work and enjoyed thermodynamics.

My very first task on the job was simple. “Take a photograph of the intake manifold and crank pulley on that engine over there.” Four years into a mechanical engineering degree and I had no idea what these things were. I had never considered that I would need to photograph stuff as an engineer, and at the time digital cameras were new and I had no idea how to use them. I had to do administrative work to get a photographer’s permit and book out a camera. I then had the embarrassing task of needing to work out what side of the engine was the intake (I didn’t really know there was an exhaust at that point). Let’s not mention that I hadn’t even started to work out what a crank pulley was yet. So, I bashfully but honestly walked back to my boss’s office and asked him the embarrassing questions. His very memorable smile and response was the first time my eyes opened to the fact that this wasn’t the first time a fresh young university educated engineer asked him a dumb question. “Oh dear, this is where we’re starting from is it?”

From that moment on I have been open to acknowledging what I do and don’t know and ask the questions that need to be asked, no matter how dumb I think they are. A skill and virtue I aim to instill in all students I teach and mentor today.

How right my friend was to recommend I work before I quit. Within that one year of work, I learned what engineering could be, and it turns out I was pretty good at it, and I loved it. Sure, I did lots of calculations, finally realised why I needed to learn how to code, and looked up specific theorems in textbooks and on the internet to apply (nothing like a closed book exam though). But all those ambiguous, argumentative, conceptual and poorly defined problems I had worked through in my physics degree were the experiences I drew upon to get by and grow in the workplace. Not how to apply Euler’s method to solve differential equations of motion for an arbitrary system, or how to plot a root locus for an unexplained fourth order transfer function in the S-plane. Useful to know these things in the right technical context, but not taught or assessed in a formative way that informed my approach to the engineering process in practice.

I know I am not alone in this view. Many others have had similar experiences struggling to transition to work from study. I know this because I’ve worked with these people, I’ve talked to these people, I've observed these people, I’ve supported and mentored these people. I am one of these people.

The developmental superpower a workplace has to offer young engineers is within the context and ambiguity they provide to drive learning. Engineering workplaces position the role of theory and tools within the broader engineering process, rather than making it the sole focus as is so common in higher education settings. The workplace brings a human dimension that is diverse, complex and very hard to replicate in a university environment. A complex mix of social and technical that I refuse to believe is impossible to replicate at universities in some way, but I acknowledge is a wicked problem without a correct solution. So much so, it’s now the focus of my PhD research.

By entering the workplace, I had discovered the true joy of what engineering is. This motivated me to finish my final year of engineering with a purpose and vision of what my career could be that I never had prior. Purely because I had spent a year working.

I suddenly enjoyed learning, and this is why…

Engineering is an exciting career prospect. The breadth of available work choices is nearly endless, and you get loads of opportunities to break stuff, build stuff, blow stuff up, make things do stuff that appears unnatural, generate and harness energy in amazing ways, and all while sharing the highs and lows of every experience with others. Not just a few others, but hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions depending on the product or problem you work on or the organisation you work in. Our work impacts lives, it impacts communities, it impacts our environments, people’s moods, people’s quality of life, so many things.

The importance of engineers in shaping our future means that a level of responsibility and robustness lands on our laps as practitioners, educators, and project owners (those who fund our work – often not engineers). So, our technical expertise and capability is the bedrock of our profession. It is what gains our trust with communities, governments, and private investors that pay us to deliver all our societies needs and dreams.

Developing an engineer’s technical competence is therefore critical to the endeavour of educating future practitioners. But so is developing an engineer’s values of integrity and transparency. Fostering their ability to critically think, respectfully ask contrarian and clarifying questions, and humbly be open to changing their own mind on a frequent basis. And, maybe most importantly is our ability to adapt student (and prospective student) expectations of what ‘engineering’ is, to help their perceptions at the outset of their career go well beyond the technical to include a social and interpersonal focus.

We cannot make this change however if those teaching our students don’t first acknowledge the 'sociotechnical' reality of what engineering is. It is not the fault of the majority who teach our engineering students, it is an outcome of the education system we have developed over a long time. Majority of engineering educators require a PhD, most (not all) people who achieve a PhD (no mean feat) have not worked outside of academia. As a result, many of these educators do not understand the complexities of engineering practice in the delivery focused environments majority of our graduates transition into.

So, I believe it as my role to help these educators see what we who have worked in practice see. That is…

All technical work conducted in engineering practice has an intertwined human and social element. Not only the societal factor that drives the need for the projects we work on, but also the simple fact that to get the information you need; to define the problem you are solving; to get someone to apply or build your solution; you always need to talk to others, and everyone has an opinion. Engineering work, for all its perceived objectivity, is ultimately a subjective game. Hence, some of us in the engineering practice research field say that engineering is a 'sociotechnical' discipline (for more on this read the work of James Trevelyan, Wendy Faulkner, and Joyce Fletcher, they coined the phrase, not me – links at the end).

Truth is, you may have the best technical solution in the world, but if your customer can’t afford it, then it’s just an idea. If you’re going to run out of material supply in two years, then it’s not going to last. If you physically can’t build it, then you’re going to get laughed at and not taken seriously by those you need to rely on to build it. So, get used to it, to get ahead as an engineer you need to be good at building relationships, communicating clearly, and adapting to changing conditions.

These are the realities I wish I had of known when I started studying to be an engineer, or even earlier. These are realities that will scare some folks off and attract others. I suspect they could attract more than detract, but I’m biased on this point.

What I do wonder however is how much the existing perception of what engineering is and how it is taught contributes the high attrition of engineering students and practitioners in our society. Keep in mind that I am white male practicing in Australia, I am privileged, and I am in the majority in this industry, but I still nearly quit the profession.

Engineering as an industry has an attrition problem, not just in minority groups, but overall. According to the Engineers Australia census data analysis only a bit over half the folks in Australia with an engineering degree work in an engineering related job. I’d love to understand why so many leave. Especially as many people leave before they even graduate and let’s not get started on the declining number of domestic enrollments in Australian engineering degrees.

Engineering as a profession appears to have a cultural problem in this country, unpacking what that could be will take many PhD’s worth of work. But a big part of the problem is that no one really knows what engineers are, what engineer’s value, or what they really do until they become one. By then it is too late.

What’s more concerning to me is that many of the great people who educate our future engineers don’t really know what engineers do in practice either. I believe this is an issue, and one that we can collectively address.

Addressing this challenge will take more people like me with practice and teaching experience to step up and assist in their own way. You don’t all need to jump ship into academia and start teaching full time like I have (we can’t afford for you all to do that and deliver all the engineering work we have). But any little thing practicing engineers can do to help a local university, help a student, or work with an engineering educator to provide them more context and meaning to how the theory they teach and assess can be applied in practice will help. The more we can collectively help each other make incremental change, the faster we can respond to the need of our society as an industry.

Our country has a shortage of engineers. Our country is doing some crazy things (mostly good, some potentially misguided - time will tell) to try and help contribute to a global effort to sustain growing populations while consuming less resources to ensure our survival as a race. The planet will keep ticking on without us until it doesn’t. But regardless your world view, engineers are needed to extend our time on earth (and maybe beyond earth), and to continue giving our future generations a quality of life that we have enjoyed or better.

So, as I see it, we owe it to the young engineers of the future to help them make an informed decision about their career early in their journey so that they can develop a meaningful and somewhat more accurate perception of what an engineering career will look like.

Not five years after they graduate, but at the outset before they spend all their (our) time and money on the wrong career for them. Or, even worse, they commit to a career they are not ready for, or is not what they expected, get disenchanted, make a poor decision that falls through the cracks and hurts themselves, someone else, or our environment in irreversible ways. Sounds dramatic but it happens more than we like to admit. Just look at how few engineering projects deliver on time, on budget, and to the level of quality we all expect. Look how exhausted many of those engineers are at the end of those projects. If you don’t know, just ask an engineer.

All of this is why I do what I do, and why I am committed to engineering education and engineering practice research.

I’ll research engineering practice and try to apply what I learn in my teaching practice as best I can and share what I learn with anyone who will listen. I will continue to support my engineering educator colleagues in their development and understanding of practice, to become more well-rounded educators and develop their agency to develop and deliver 'sociotechnical' engineering curriculum. I will continue to be authentic with the students I teach, and bring some of that home grown ambiguity, humility, and contextualised learning and assessment style from my practice experience and research to their learning experiences to help them see what engineering really can be.

I’ll keep having fun and trying to bring others along for the ride with me, and in time hope to contribute to a growing community of people who share a similar vision. Heart-warmingly, I’ve found many people who do already, and I expect I will find many more. Hence, I thought to share this lengthy but heartfelt message with you all.

Thanks to those of you still reading, and please do not hesitate to reach out to me, share your stories, or ask any questions.

The more we share and respectfully debate our thoughts, the better we will be collectively.

Cheers,

Rob

Some recommended reading on what is meant by engineering being a 'sociotechnical' discipline:

Faulkner, W. (2007). `Nuts and Bolts and People': Gender-Troubled Engineering Identities. Social Studies of Science, 37(3), 331-356. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312706072175

Fletcher, J. K. (2001). Disappearing acts: Gender, power, and relational practice at work. Mit Press.

Trevelyan, J. (2019). Transitioning to engineering practice. European Journal of Engineering Education, 44(6), 821-837. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2019.1681631