The Art of Attraction

As an introvert trapped in an extravert’s body, I’ve sold my soul to some extent and raised my hand as a volunteer for a number of roles that aim to promote engineering as a premier career. I’ve shamelessly spilled the sales pitch of my university degree to prospective students, I’ve exuberantly encouraged recent graduate to apply for a job with my employer, and I’ve talked until exhaustion to many-a-school-kid about why they should become an engineer and not a doctor or a lawyer. My need to promote my profession has slowly evolved into an addiction. So, in an effort to assure myself that I am not suffering from some chronic illness, I have to really ask, “why am I doing this? What is engineering anyway?”

School kids and grown adults alike will tell you that the engineer is the one with the hard hat on and plans under HIS arm (or something along those lines). They build bridges, approve plans for your new home and generally tend to have ‘the knack’ with stuff. There are no sexy dramas on TV about engineering firms and even your maths teacher can’t give you a straight answer. With such little main-stream attention on the subject I need to make sure I have a decent answer when asked about my profession and, while it may be succinct, I’ve always tended to fall back on Engineers Australia’s definition whenever I’m in doubt:

“Engineering is the art and science of production”[1].

It’s not a new definition but I think it highlights something that hasn’t been addressed by the institution in the past – the world, and even those living in ‘engineers land’, tend to get caught up on the science part and never seem to embrace the artistic and creative aspects that are needed to be a great engineer. No wonder we are considered to be second to accountants on the boring list! (no offence accountants, it’s just an observation). And how do we expect to be able to attract people, especially women, to the profession when it seems like being an engineer is about as exciting as living in a broken lottery ball mixing machine – too many numbers to deal with and not much chance of getting a million dollars out of it. If we’re competing with the fast-paced lifestyle tendencies of Gen Ys and Zs (all e-culture inspired of course) then surely we don’t even have a gun let alone a silver bullet solution.

The stereotype has to be changed to reflect who we really are and what we really do. Understandably, this will take time and there’s no doubt that The Year Of Women In Engineering has helped to make giant leaps towards shifting those perception. In particular, the year highlighted the many elements that women often bring to the profession, creativity being one of them.

It may seem hard at first but creativity, like most skills, can be developed if practiced often enough, although it helps to have natural flair to kick start the development process. This particular aspect of engineering appeals to many women and girls, and we need to demonstrate how a creative mind can enhance analytical process in an effort to attract more women to the profession. But to sell the creative or ‘art’ aspect, it has to be true (I can’t sell my soul forever). So get out there and actively practice being creative and use it to improve the art of engineering. Be inspired by nature and adaptation. Draw on other professions to solve problems or develop new products or processes. Become a better communicator (having a great idea means nothing if you can’t let others know about it). Take the scenic route, if only once in your life, to give you a little more perspective and appreciation for what you are used to. Be the engineer you imagined you would become when you first enrolled in your course. It’s a premier career; take advantage of it before you retire.

Rebecca Tilbrook, GradIEAust
Chair, Women In Engineering Tasmania
wietas@gmail.com | www.womeninengineeringtasmania.com

1. From “The Engineering Profession: A Statistical Overview”, Engineers Australia, March 2006 4th Edition

Comments

[Y Fisher]

I agree with what Rebecca has written - we often do forget about the creative aspect of Engineering and it is left out of many definitions of Engineering. It is this creative aspect that continues to inspire me in my profession and a shame if we ignore it.