***Editor’s Note: The “I Became An Engineer” blog runs every Friday. To share your story email jennifer.delaosa@advantagemedia.com***
This week’s story comes to us from ECN reader Doug Hill, Product Engineering Supervisor, Robroy Enclosures.
One of my favorite quotes is: “The person that knows how will always have a job, but they will always work for the person that knows why.” This fascination for “why” drove me to the engineering field.
Growing up, I was always intrigued by airplanes and technology. One of my hobbies was building the model cars that I purchased at the grocery store. By building these models, you could discover “why” they were built in a particular way. I also really enjoyed following the instructions to piece together the final product.
One time, a portable DVD player I owned stopped working. Instead of buying a new one, I wanted to know “why” it would no longer work, so I opened it up and found the part that needed to be replaced.
In high school, I attended a two-year drafting program that taught me the basics of engineering drawings. The instructor is still one of my mentors today. Without that drafting program, I may not have ended up studying Mechanical Engineering at Grand Valley State in my home state of Michigan.
Even today, when I look at an airplane or any other engineering feat, I am still intrigued as to how and “why” mankind was able to develop such an amazing part of our everyday lives. This fascination is also present when looking at history and how the pyramids were built with little to no technology.
This fascination with “why” is what led me to the engineering field, and also why I enjoy coming to work each day at Robroy Enclosures. There is always something to learn when you continue to ask yourself the tough question of “why.”
Read other stories, here:
- A Note From The Editor: An Engineer’s Story
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of MacGyver And Comfortable Clothes
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Small FM Radio
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Model Airplane Contest
- I Became An Engineer: Because I Loved LEGOs And Tinkertoys
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Magazine Ad
- I Became An Engineer: Because I Grew Up In Kenya
- I Became An Engineer: So I Wouldn’t Have To Go To Vietnam
- I Became An Engineer: By Just Being Myself
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of Sci-Fi Novels
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Watch
- I Became An Engineer: Because I Couldn’t Stop Tinkering
- I Became An Engineer: Despite Being Bad At Math
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of Christmas Lights
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of Uncle Chet
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of Star Trek (Specifically Montgomery Scott)
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of A 1930s Vintage Radio
- I Became An Engineer: Because I Couldn’t Be An Astronaut
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of Nuclear Submarines
- I Became An Engineer: Because No One Was Hiring Shoe Salesmen
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Book (And My Mom)
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Wise Father And The Possibility Of Death
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of An Evil Mastermind
