How full is an engineer`s glass?

An old engineering joke considers the state of a glass 50 percent full of water. Optimists see the glass as being half-full. Pessimists see the glass as being half-empty. And engineers see the glass as being twice as large as it needs to be. (Don`t feel bad if you don`t think it`s funny. Engineering humor is notoriously dry.) The reality is that engineers are all three of those people: the optimist, the pessimist, and the pragmatist. Their profession requires it.

Engineers must be extremely pessimistic individuals because the consequences of poor performance can be devastating. Consider another old engineering joke. "The risk/reward calculation for engineers looks something like this: Risk: Public humiliation and the death of thousands of innocent people. Reward: A certificate of appreciation in a handsome plastic frame." This is an exaggeration of the situation; the responsibility for public safety is shared by many people in many professions. But when you consider that engineers design, analyze and construct power plants, water treatment plants, buildings, roads, cars, airplanes, bridges, dams and the toys that you give your small children, the risks are obvious. This is one of the reasons that engineers must pledge to put the "public welfare above all other considerations" before obtaining their professional engineer`s license.

Good design and engineering practices are aimed at increasing the safety of everyday products, structures, and systems. Codes and standards for the design and operation of common systems are developed and maintained by professional engineering societies. Safety factors are used to ensure that structures have a theoretical capacity to withstand loads that are many times larger than the predicted maximum needed. Many consumer products are designed with limit switches that prevent operation after safety equipment has been removed. Quality-control techniques are used to ensure that components are manufactured correctly. Design components are often asymmetrically designed to ensure that the final product will be assembled correctly. Instructions and warning labels must be included to advise the user on safe operation. And recall systems exist to permit easy repair and replacement of products in case a problem is identified after it is sold or put into use.

At the same time, engineers are professional optimists. They have seen far too much innovation to be certain that something cannot be done. They have solved too many problems that were declared unsolvable to believe such labels. Engineeringhumor.com notes that "(t)he fastest way to get an engineer to solve a problem is to declare that the problem is unsolvable. No engineer can walk away from an unsolvable problem until it`s solved. No illness or distraction is sufficient to get the engineer off the case. These types of challenges quickly become personal - a battle between the engineer and the laws of nature."

Engineers use experiments and back-of-the-envelope calculations to estimate whether approach to a given problem will not work. We sometimes have to change our strategy or redirect our search for a solution. Some problems cannot be solved immediately. We occasionally have to wait for technology or our understanding of the issues to develop before we can move forward. But unsolved problems rarely disappear. They are handed down from teacher to student and from parent to child, driven by need, curiosity, and a little bit of stubbornness.

The same website notes that when an engineer says that something can`t be done, it is the engineer`s way of saying that it`s not fun to do. That`s certainly one possible meaning. But it is more likely that it means that it will not be worth doing today. The practical engineer walks the line between pessimism and optimism, looking at the resources which will be required to solve a given problem. Given unlimited time, an unlimited budget and a talented staff, nearly anything can be accomplished. But most engineers have neither unlimited time nor resources. Value judgments must be made to determine which problems need the most attention and can be solved with the least amount of effort. Initially, this can seem like a daunting task, but for an engineer this balancing act becomes second nature over time.

To an engineer, the world is full of problems - more than any of us could ever solve in a lifetime. These problems can be technical, economic, social or a combination. We solve them at work and at home, as professionals, as hobbyists, and as volunteers. The result is that most engineers regularly feel like they have accomplished something and made a difference in the world. Despite the risk, the responsibility, and the relatively low pay, we make the world a better place. I would not trade being an engineer for anything.





Mary Kathryn Thompson, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. She can be reached at mkthompson@an.kaist.ac.kr. - Ed.