Whether you are designing rockets, military planes, jets, or pumps, there is always room for creative engineering. At this point in time, designs are pretty set in stone. There’s not much “game-changing” that has occurred as of late. If you’re a younger engineer, you pretty much listen to what the senior engineer tells you to do. As a young engineer, you have not developed the skill set and experience that the senior has. As a result, you won’t have much input to offer.
Because there is so much standardization in the industry, there is not much creative engineering going on. Older designs are always referenced. The younger guys ask the senior guys what to do because they don’t know any better. There isn’t room for much creativity or improvement.
Understand The Fundamentals Of Each Engineering Discipline Before Coming Up With Creative Ideas
Make sure you understand the basics of each engineering course. Whether you are a mechanical, electrical, or civil engineer, understand the basics of each. As an engineer in any of these fields, you will find that these disciplines are intertwined.
Are you a mechanical engineer?
You will likely work with electromechanical systems. Know the basics of electrical engineering such as voltage, current, and resistance. Be familiar with the basics of circuits and batteries. This knowledge will pay you in dividends. Don’t be the engineer that says “I’m not an electrical engineer”. Instead, be very versatile in your engineering knowledge.
Are you a civil engineer?
You may deal with mechanical systems to achieve the desired configuration, layout, and material properties for your concrete. Be familiar with basic concepts of both mechanical and electrical systems. You will become a dangerous civil engineer if you do so.
Read Engineering Books To Become More Creative
I know, reading books doesn’t sound sexy. But what does sound sexy is being confident and knowledgeable. Reading an hour a day about some engineering topic is additional knowledge that will compound. You likely have time in your day that you can allocate towards reading. Time spent scrolling through your phone, watching Netflix, and going on social media, although very relaxing, can be wasted time. Use this valuable time to read.
Books such as More Than My Share Of It All by Kelly Johnson is a good place to start if you’re into Aerospace Engineering. From then, branch on out to different books and learn. Reading an hour a day is more than enough. 15 minutes after you wake up, 15 minutes before bed, and find 30 minutes in the day to read.
Don’t Be Afraid To Speak Up
You’re going to be in a lot of design review meetings as an engineer. Either reviewing others’ designs or presenting your own. During one of these meetings, you may have an abstract thought that is out the norm, and you think is weird, but is a potential solution to a design challenge. You should bring this weird thought up. Don’t be afraid of what others think or being perceived as dumb. What’s dumb is potentially holding out on some brilliant idea, all because you are afraid others will think you are dumb.
Don’t feel confident about speaking up? It’s because you’re not confident in your own engineering abilities. You know yourself the best. This means only you can gauge how much engineering knowledge you have and if what you say is of value or not. Want to know how to be more confident in engineering? One simple trick is to read more books!
Be Healthy (Underrated For Creativity)
When you’re healthy, you feel good. Feeling good will reflect in your work – both physically and mentally. Do you see a lot of people drinking coffee, energy drinks, and eating an unusual amount of sweets in engineering? This is because engineering is very taxing on the mind. Engineers are required to sit in long meetings, and grind at least 40-50 hours on their day job. At all times of the day, they need to be sharp. Coffee, energy drinks, and sweets, although unhealthy provide a quick boost in cognitive function. I’ve experienced this firsthand through many engineers, both in school and in the industry, as I’ve witnessed how dependent many are on energy drinks.
Socialize – Become More Creative Through Conversation!
Whether it’s talking to your friends or coworkers, socializing is an absolute must to keep your social skills fresh. The smart, but quiet guy sitting in the corner that can’t hold a conversation rarely gets any praise or respect. When you socialize with your friends or coworkers, this is a great way to take in new perspectives and thoughts different from your own. Some of those thoughts may be good, some bad. It all depends. But when you socialize, you understand the entire equation easier. It’s very easy to get “tunnel-visioned” into something you’re working on and forget other aspects. Socializing prevents this by giving you more perspective. Random conversations even have the potential to create billion dollar ideas.
Stuck in a rut? Go talk to someone about anything. You’ll find that your brain will no longer be “frozen” and it gives it the ability to be creative.
Identify Your Own Problems, And Come Up With Creative Solutions
The best way to learn problem solving is by doing! What better way than by solving your own problems? An example could be weight loss. To simplify it, if you want to lose weight, you need to make sure you are in a caloric deficit. (Hello Laws of Thermodynamics) If you need to gain weight (muscle), you need to make sure you are in a caloric surplus. There are many many many variables regarding weight loss and gain, but to simply put it, we are using the first law of thermodynamics.
Example – Calorie Counter
Onto my point, if we have a weight loss problem on our hands, what do we do? We can create a tool to track our calories! There are many out there, but as an engineer, it’s fun to create your own tools! Creating your own tools makes you a producer, and not a consumer, which can lead to feeling like you’re in a rut.
Take action on all of these methods and learn creative engineering. Take each section little by little. Don’t do it all at once, or you will be overwhelmed. Find just one of the many action items in this page, and work on it. Continue to keep adding on action items as you’re done.
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About the author
Kazuyoshi Fujimoto, PE
Founder | Engineering Career Coach | Principal Mechanical Engineer
Kazu oversees all of ultmeche’s engineering services. He provides consulting such as resume reviews, rewrites, mock interviews, and all services career related. Additionally, Kazu performs consulting work regarding Oil & Gas, Automotive, and Aerospace & Defense. Kazu is licensed as a professional engineer in the state of California and has 9+ years of experience in Oil & Gas, Automotive, and Aerospace & Defense.