As a kid growing up and in school I never really used to study nor truly apply myself to my academic endeavours. My interest and curiosity in the topics being taught seemed to be ample to keep me in good enough stead. My grades were high, but I was not the best. What would you expect however when you never took the time.
Moving on to university, I quickly came to the realisation that this approach would no longer cut it. Back in school, the stakes were far lower. You were not playing for tuition costs nor did you have to contend with a culture that demanded personal responsibility for your own learning. So I began to study and study hard I did. Hard work has never really bothered me and the older I get the more I come to appreciate its merits.
Like most students, the first year of my university studies was the hardest. Adjusting to a new system of examination and teaching takes its time. As time went by, like my peers, I became well versed in how much effort to apply and when. This subsequently made the following years considerably easier. I remember a point in my third year when the dean of engineering, questioned by a students on the lack of funding we were receiving from the university towards our experiments, came out with a memorable answer. Addressing a small chorus of students around him he replied "Our university is a small university and as such has a moderate amount of funding. Last year we spent 98% of this funding on wages. This year we will be spending 99.5%. We cannot compete with the larger universities in terms of budget and resources, so we'll just make you work harder for it". This seemed to be the motto for my university days.
I guess the picture I am trying to paint here is that I did not find university a walk in the park. I feel as though I earned my degree through four solid years of academic investment. All the while lecturers and the like would often tell of how a good academic result was key to kick starting a successful career. Looking back now that is debatable.
It has been 11 years since I finished my last day at university. I have held a total of 8 positions with 4 different employers. As I progress through the engineering landscape I am amazed at how it is changing around me. Some of this change is due to my development as a person and some of it is due to the actual day to day, year to year change surrounding me. One thing is for certain, the world of the working man is a far different one than I had imagined. For some reason I stand here somewhat disappointed with what I have found. In other regards I see a vast amount of opportunity. I guess life is about perspectives and I have been working on mine. Constant travels have made me aware of the world in a far grander scale than many get to experience. This has made me fortunate. Travel is an escape from your own personal reality though, in particular your responsibilities to a more constructive life beyond just yourself. In this I ponder and try to define my next move.
Engineering as a profession suits my way of being. I am a very rational person with a key desire to learn the underlying structure of things. This provides me with core principles for understanding and tools to formulate solutions to any number of problems or questions. This can be considered the engineering mindset. This mindset has me constantly putting two and two together, questioning issues that exist in plain sight.
The purpose of this blog is to share some of my own personal thoughts, insights and learnings using my own "engineering perspective". Lets see how it goes...
