How often do you have to work with people in different fields of engineering in projects

April Redford answered on 3 Jun 2020:

Quite often is the short answer. Usually in roads projects there are other things to consider like the condition of the ground we are building on, if we need any structures to cross over anything or need walls, do we require any street lighting or traffic signals and if there are any impacts to be thought about from an environmental or landscape point of view.

Conor Tickner answered on 3 Jun 2020:

All the time. It’s very rare that a project comes along that only involved me or my team. It does happen occasionally, perhaps something small, but the vast majority of my work involves regular contact and collaboration with other disciplines.
I work in acoustics (i.e. sound and vibration), so when doing acoustic design work for buildings I would need to engage with all kinds of other architectural disciplines like mechanical engineers and civil engineers, people who specialise in heating and ventilation, fire safety, construction, architects, etc., and when doing environmental acoustic work, I’d regularly need to be in touch with other environmental disciplines like air quality, ecology, landscape and visual specialists, as well as civil engineers for scheme designs, public officials like planning officers or environmental health officers, etc.
Often we work on complex projects with complex contracts that require discussion with lawyers and experts in various related fields, e.g. once we worked on a project that involved knowing about seismic activity (i.e. earthquakes) so we had to work closely with them to look at ground vibration effects.

Jeni Spragg answered on 3 Jun 2020:

All the time! I am a chemical engineer on a power plant. I regularly work with engineers with other specialisms, because we have to look at problems from every perspective. For example, I understand the design of our process, but my colleagues know a lot more about our huge turbines (mechanical engineers), process control systems (control engineers) and structures (civil engineers), so we come to each other for advice.

Ken Mollison answered on 3 Jun 2020:

MattiE,Good Afternoon, I always work with engineers from different fields. The types of engineers I work with changes from project to project. I am a control engineer and can work with mechanical, civil, electrical, chemical, process, vessels, planning, software and hardware engineers and sometimes have to act as an interface point for them to help bring ideas and solutions together. Engineering is all about team work and some teams can be very diverse and some teams are spread all over the world.

Catherine Baker answered on 3 Jun 2020:

One of my recent projects has been the new High Speed Rail lines in the North of the country. Using this as an example, we worked in a group of 8 different engineering disciplines on a daily basis. These were structural engineers, geotechnical engineers, mechanical engineers designing overhead lines and level crossings, electrical engineers designing the power supply, environmental engineers, track engineers, transport planners… and that’s before you add in the project managers and their team of organisers AND the client (who also had their own team of different engineers too).

There will often then be architects, land owners and governing bodies such as the local council to think about on a regular basis too, so being good with people and ready to learn from others is always a good idea.

Florence Van Vaerenbergh answered on 3 Jun 2020:

All the time! As a water engineer, I mostly work on multi-disciplinary projects as we provide the drainage and flood risks aspects of larger projects.
We collaborate with various disciplines. Some that come to mind are highway engineers, structural engineers, environmental engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, etc. And it’s not just engineers, we often collaborate with landscape architects and various environmental disciplines in order to implement our designs.

anon answered on 3 Jun 2020:

I often work with different people within different fields, including non-engineering related people such as sales team, production, marketing and etc.

Siobhán Mullan answered on 3 Jun 2020:

The majority of projects I am involved in requires me to work with other types of Engineers. Also, I work regularly with Architects and Landscape Architects.

Asha Panchal answered on 3 Jun 2020:

Everyday. It is impossible to know everything about every field of engineering. That is the great thing about engineering, you can specialise and have knowledge in other disciplines but ultimately you need to work in teams to deliver a project. It’s a great way to meet other people and work towards new and innovative solutions.

Juan Carlos Fallas-Chinchilla answered on 3 Jun 2020:

In my job every day I have to meet with people from various fields to sort out different problems. Materials, thermals and stress engineers mainly but also project managers who can be engineers too.

Gillian Steele answered on 4 Jun 2020:

I have to work with other teams all the time. In Geotechnical Engineering we are usually doing the initial ground investigation to determine what the ground conditions are like and then looking at foundations for a structure or stability of slopes. I work with bridge, structural, highways, hydrologists, environmental and development engineers regularly.

Kevin Burke answered on 4 Jun 2020:

Everyday. To design and build complex systems (like aircraft), i need to work with mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, computer scientists, software engineers, aerodynamicists, environmental specialists, manufacturers, project managers, financial experts, pilots, government officials (the customers!), and huge range of other experts. And these can be based in the UK, Europe, the USA and many other places throughout the world. t’s one of the most difficult aspects of the job, but also the most enjoyable.

Katie Sparks answered on 4 Jun 2020:

All the time!
I couldn’t have built any computer models of the things I worked on without knowing all the different parts of the spacecraft and how they were being used.

Once I’ve been busy making my model and seeing how things go, I then need to work with people so they know what I’ve found out and we all work together to iron out any things that don’t work (there are always these problems).

David Linsell answered on 4 Jun 2020:

All the time. I am a Marine and Mechanical Engineer. The projects and activities that I have worked would also need the contribution of: the following disciplines of Engineers: Geotechnical, Civil, Structural, Electrical, Environmental, Control to name only a few.

Question: How often do you have to work with people in different fields of engineering in projects

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