• Question: As an engineer do you get lots of different new problems to solve each day or do you tend to work on one problem ?

    Asked by 707hspc24 to Jamie, Kristen, Sheun, Simon, Will on 16 Jun 2015. This question was also asked by Jess.
    • Photo: William Scott-Jackson

      William Scott-Jackson answered on 16 Jun 2015:

      I’ve been working on the same problem for 6 months now; but that problem has it’s own little sub-problems that require solving.

      Solving problems as an engineer is often made up of many hurdles along the way, each of varying difficulty. Sometimes the first problem might be the hardest or the one dead in the middle might be the one that gives you problem. Sometimes a problem you think will be difficult will be easy (I love it when that happens); and sometimes the opposite happens.

      Never a dull moment as an engineer!

    • Photo: Sheun Oshinbolu

      Sheun Oshinbolu answered on 16 Jun 2015:

      For me I’ve been working on this one project, but since this project is really big and its my project (I’m the only one working on it) there is many steps to do to complete it. Each step comes with its own problems and along the way I generate data which can even take me in a completely different direction. So everyday I’ve been tackling the problems one by one. Sometime a problem may take a few days (worst case being even weeks) to solve, some I can solve within a day so it depends

    • Photo: Jamie Johnston

      Jamie Johnston answered on 16 Jun 2015:

      If I had to put a number on it I tend to have a new problem maybe each week but each of those is working toward one major goal over a long time frame.

    • Photo: Simon Marchant

      Simon Marchant answered on 16 Jun 2015:

      As for me, sometimes I work on one problem for a long time (weeks) like these guys, and other times I have a new ‘problem’ every half an hour. I work in a hospital, so if a patient comes in then we have to use all of our equipment and what we know about mechanics to fix whatever problem they have before they leave! Other times, we’re improving the way things work in the hospital so we have a bit more time.

Comments

  • Photo: 707hspc24

    707hspc24 commented on :

    Thanks for replying, I was just curious as I definitely want a career where it is different everyday and I face new problems.

    • Photo: Simon

      Simon commented on :

      That’s a good thing to look for – I wanted a similar thing when I was looking for a career! I reckon you can get that in engineering – but as with everything, it perhaps depends more on the job than the industry you’re in! So just bear in mind what you want to do when you make your decisions and you’ll be fine 🙂