{"id":7293,"date":"2015-02-23T10:33:38","date_gmt":"2015-02-23T09:33:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.mentor.com\/colinwalls\/?p=7293"},"modified":"2026-03-26T16:45:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T20:45:19","slug":"national-engineers-week-how-to-tell-if-youre-an-engineer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/2015\/02\/23\/national-engineers-week-how-to-tell-if-youre-an-engineer\/","title":{"rendered":"National Engineers Week: How to tell if you\u2019re an engineer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the United States, this is <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/National_Engineers_Week_(U.S.)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Engineers Week<\/a>. This annual event is aimed at raising awareness of science, technology, engineering and mathematics [STEM] and the great contribution that workers in this area contribute to society. As a strong <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.mentor.com\/colinwalls\/blog\/2014\/02\/06\/i-am-an-ambassador\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">supporter and enthusiast<\/a> for STEM subjects, even though I am not located in the US, I am very keen to participate in the activities this week.<\/p>\n<p>With this in mind, I wanted to pose a question: Are you an engineer? &#8230;<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>It is quite likely that, since you are reading this blog, that on your business card or ID the word &#8220;engineer&#8221; makes an appearance. But that is not what I am asking. Are you <em>really<\/em> an engineer deep inside? Does this simple word define how you function on a daily basis?<\/p>\n<p>OK. Consider these questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are you dissatisfied by not knowing how something works?<\/li>\n<li>Do you like taking things apart to see how they work [or did you do that as a child?]?<\/li>\n<li>Do you regard a machine\/device that does its job efficiently [and\/or elegantly] as intrinsically beautiful?<\/li>\n<li>Is the solving of a problem a source of true pleasure to you?<\/li>\n<li>Do you often come up with ideas to make the world better?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you can answer yes to at least three of these questions, then you were born to be an engineer [or perhaps a scientist, but that is nearly as good].<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\">\n<div><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/181064563\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">View image<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">gettyimages.com<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>For me, I score on all five. Thankfully, I was raised to consider my future in terms of what I loved doing and, hence, pursued a science\/engineering education, which eventually led to where I am today. When I was a kid, microprocessors did not exist and the term &#8220;embedded software&#8221; was not coined until I was in my early 30s, but I arrived in the right place. My gratitude for this guidance unbounded.<\/p>\n<p>I am often asked by young people about choosing a job\/career. All too often, they are simply focused on what pays best today. It does not seem to occur to many that a vast amount of one&#8217;s life is spent working. Anything that can make that time more satisfying and enjoyable is a boon. Not everyone can make a living following their passion, but it is a worthy aspiration.<\/p>\n<p>Not everyone is an engineer at heart, but if you know a young person who is [by reviewing the questions above], please do your utmost to shepherd them in the right direction. You may have to wait for a few years, but they will thank you for the advice one day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the United States, this is National Engineers Week. This annual event is aimed at raising awareness of science, technology,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71677,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[300,606],"industry":[],"product":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-7293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-embedded-software","tag-national-engineers-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10341,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7293\/revisions\/10341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7293"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=7293"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=7293"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/embedded-software\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=7293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}