Are you wondering engineering is right for you.?
Well in this video we talk about the top 10 personal attributes that are critical for
engineering success.
Hey 1 % nation, I'm Jake Voorhees and you were watching episode 33 of the 1% engineer
show.
Where we empower young engineers to rise to the top 1% of their career.
If this is your first time in the channel.
Make sure you subscribe because I release videos for young engineers on Wednesdays and
Saturdays.
So you don't want to miss out on that.
Particularly at the beginning but sometimes in the middle and latter portions as well.
Many students question if engineering is right for them they will be a good engineer.
Things like this so I made this video that talk about the top 10 attributes like characteristics
and things like this so you can decide if you're on the right path so you can decide
if you're a good engineer.
So
let's jump right into it and not miss any time guys with Number One curiosity an analytical
mind.
Engineers should always be questioning the world wondering why things are this way.
Wonder how things work.
Wondering how building stand up or how software code works or how a biomedical invention is
actually operational.
So if you're not curious and you're not always striving to figure out how things work and
want to dig deeper into problems because you have to be able to fundamentally understand
lots of little intricacies about things in order to problem solve in order to design.
So you have to be a curious person to math and science there's an incredible amount of
math and science in engineering.
So you have to be good at it.
Not only that we have to like it.
You have to be able to deploy that curiosity you have to be able to deploy your student
habits to all of this math and science so you just have to have a strong liking for
it.
I get this question a lot.
Can I still be an engineer if I'm not good at math if I don't like math.
The answer is No. 3 Are you a serious student.
Are you committed to your work.
Because this is going to apply not only in your university days but into your professional
career you really have to be serious about your job later on you really have to be serious
about all of your classes your studies your projects your relationships with your professors
your labs everything because engineering just requires more work than a lot of other fields.
So unless you're really into the material unless you're into the coursework unless you're
into your job your internships later on then you're not going to be successful you really
have to be all in in engineering.
So this is required.
You have to be a good student you have to be serious for being a good problem solver
problem solving is the essence of engineering.
We're trying to figure out how things went wrong so we can improve them for the future
so we can constantly be evolving our infrastructure our inventions our software applications our
energy whatever it may be that is your nation engineering.
You're always going to be problem solving and that starts at the beginning of your university
road.
When you're talking about homework problems exam problems and all the way throughout your
career you're trying to figure something out.
You try to make it better you're trying to figure out why something failed in order to
improve it.
That is the essence of engineering.
You have to be a good problem solver guys.
5.
Attention to detail may times engineering problems engineering solutions engineering.
Critical thinking involves lots of mine details that comprise a total picture.
So you have to be able to have very strong attention to little details because if one
thing is out of place if one conversion is missed if a single step in a long process
of equations or design or software code is missed if a single thing is omitted the entire
thing is going to fail.
So you have to have a very very strong attention to detail.
You can't be lazy you can't just say Oh well I looked it over once it's going to be fine.
No you have to double check.
You have to triple check your stuff.
So being willing being able being attracted to fine tune detail strong attention to detail
skills is mandatory six creativity this one is subject to a little bit of debate because
engineers editorialists and oftentimes stereotyped as being very far left brained.
Well the reality is lots of times in the problem solving approach you have to be creative you
have to think outside of the box.
You have to be willing to do something that may not have ever been done before in order
to solve a unique problem in order to think that the best solutions within a cost effective
fashion or maybe time are strict in fashion.
So you have to be creative you have to be able to go against the grain sometimes in
engineering so creativity is a massive massively strong and spatial awareness.
Oftentimes engineers are given a three dimensional problem or something where they may just be
working with code or they may just be working in a petri dish doing some research or something
like this but the greater schema or the greater type of problem that theyre working on is
something like a massive building or a realistic problem.
For example you could be writing a software application for something that actually is
at a grocery store actually happens in a factory line and you have to be able to envision this
problem.
Envision the application for what you're working on in the real world so many times.
Engineers have good three dimensional brain.
They can see something in a two dimensional page.
They can look at code and they can envision what this thing would look like in the real
world.
So a knack for spatial awareness is pretty strong.
You have to be a good team player.
There's very few situations in this world where a single engineer can accomplish anything.
Me myself personally as a civil engineer we are always working in massive teams on transportation.
We are often working with bridge people environmental people architects construction survey people
so you have to be a good team player.
You have to be able to do your tasks and communicate well to other people and just be a good team
member be supportive of others who are struggling.
Be empathetic to these situations.
You just have to be able to work as one cog in this big overhaul machine.
That's crazy important guys.
You have to excel in teamwork environments my technical knowledge engineering is rife
with software applications and conversions and a long list of mathematical science statistical
and overall materials and whatever Nishan other practical knowledge that is required
for your field you have to know a lot of stuff about a lot of stuff and it's not subjective.
It's not a philosophical world it's not a entirely creative world where for example
an artist doesn't necessarily need to know a lot of technical knowledge.
As long as they have that talent they can succeed.
But as an engineer you need to know a lot of stuff about software science math and all
these technical areas so you have to be a tactician in technical skills guys.
10.
I saved this one for last because I do believe it is often omitted yet it is the most powerful
attribute if you can be a good communicator.
You are going to win in engineering just like talking about team players.
Oftentimes the leaders the managers the CEOs of companies are not only good engineers and
good team players but they can communicate as well.
And if you can take them I think if you can present if you can speak in front of your
group even in an internal fashion you're going away and you're going to Shine's.
So I cannot stress this enough guys the best engineers in this world have really strong
world and written communication.
They know how to deal with technical writing they know how to deal with team management
and working in groups and using that communication whether it be speaking whether it be written
whether it be just casual water cooler developing good relationship or their colleagues developing
good relationships with their clients.
We live in a world where communication and your ability to deal with people is a highlight
highlight attribute.
So those that are strong communicators when in life and engineering is no different than
those in my top ten personal attributes for engineering success guys.
So you can decide if engineering is right for you and you're going to be able to crush
it in your career.
Comment below about which of these skills that you think is the strongest in engineering
and which of them that you're working on right now in your engineering journey.
If you like this video guys consider subscribing to this channel, because
I release videos on Wednesdays and Saturdays for young engineers.
so you can crush it in your career and become a 1% engineer.