Prompt One: Asking Questions and Breaking Assumptions

Written By: Adam Tarrant
Prompt #1

           Of course, entering any particular field or career, there will undoubtedly be multiple preconceptions about that discipline. Being a freshman pursuing a career in Civil Engineering, I expected to be in contact will a significant amount of aspiring or current engineers, which was true. Growing up in a technology based society, I was persuaded by TV and other media outlets in believing that engineers are all the same typical nerds playing World of Warcraft competitively. Saying that I was painfully incorrect would be an understatement.

 Initially, I always thought engineering was strictly math and science, involving no other components. Wrong again. My Intro to Engineering 100 textbook “Thinking Like an Engineer” defines engineering “as the application of science” and “mathematics and other fields to turn ideas into reality”. Although it supports my earlier preconceptions, it later explains that engineering involves countless other components, such as team work, communication skills and attention to detail. 

I won’t lie, I laughed when I saw “communication skills” because I always had the impression engineers were geeks and struggled to socialize with anyone. In addition to the textbook, I was introduced to real engineers and they were, of course, highly intelligent but in no way, shape or form, did they lack in social or communicational skills. Some people in my engineering class have become close friends of mine, and not one of them play World of Warcraft, not that it’s a bad thing. Certainly, it refuted what I expected to see when walking into class the first day.

Even though some of my preconceptions were off-target, they are rightfully justified because “most students who start off in a technical major know very little about their chosen field” (Thinking Like an Engineer). The textbook was very thorough on providing the facts about what a job as an engineer entails and letting the reader decide if a career in engineering was right for them. 

The contents of the textbook are exactly what a future engineer requires to be successful in the field because it lays out the basis of what an engineer is. It gives the reader a more accurate and broader perspective on the profession. It certainly altered my views on engineers in a good way. Even though I knew the gist of it, meeting real engineers and reading the textbook offered me the key information I needed to better understand what being an engineer demands.