William Merunka
Featured Guest Blogger: William Merunka
Follow me on my journey to become a great engineer.
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As time passes, new methods are developed and tasks that used to take up valuable time or would be tedious have become fast and simple. One such item is the internet. While it may have caught on slow, the internet is a necessity in almost everybody’s life. Whether it is communicating with clients through email, research for a project, ordering gifts, or even ordering lunch for the office staff, we all use the internet.
While the internet is a useful tool, it has its flaws. One of the bigger problems is that it does not come with a lie detector. Whenever we have a question to answer and none of our friends or colleagues know the answer, or can convince us that their solution is correct, we Google it. Instantly, we have multiple, sometimes hundreds of websites with information related to our research topic. How do you use this information? Do you trust it is 100% or do you do further research to validate it?
It is important to realize that anybody can create a website and put whatever information they want to on it. Of course there is certain content that is illegal, but for the most part you can write anything you want to. If you wanted to, you could say that the New York Yankees are the best football team in the world. While a sports fan would know that this is obviously wrong, other people won’t know and may believe it and spread this false information. In a short matter of time, there will be multiple websites containing this false invitation, and numerous amounts of people believing it and spreading false information to their friends.
By now you are probably wondering what this has to do with your career. In fact, this has a lot to do with it, you work hard to earn your reputation and get your various licenses, certificates, etc. The last thing you want is to lose it all due to lack of correct information. You also don’t want to be in a position where you are presenting information to colleagues and look like a fool because somebody in the audience is actually knowledgeable in the topic area and calls you out for not knowing your information.
If possible, consult with other people or credible websites to confirm the information that you find. There are plenty of good websites out there, but you can’t just believe the information because it appeared on a single website. Do your due diligence and research it more. Try to check out professional journals and publications, which go through technical reviews before being published.
Another thing to be cautious of is computer software. It seems like there is software to do just about anything, including solving engineering problems and tedious calculations. While this may appear to make your job easier, you are also risking your name, reputation, and professional licenses. While there are laws that control who can sign off on engineering design drawings, there is no regulations on who can publish computer programs. It is possible for a non-certified individual to research an engineering topic online, and then create a program to solve problems related to this area.
Do you know who wrote the programs that you use? Are you willing to risk your reputation for these individuals? Yes, there are some strong programs out there that are reliable, but there are also faulty programs out there. While the programmer may not have created a bad program on purpose, if they do not have the proper training and education, they may not realize they are making mistakes. A good example is a project that I had to do in my senior year of college for my Modeling and Simulation class. The task was to use Scientific Notebook to write a program where the user would input any truss and the program would solve for the resulting forces. I wrote the program and tested several trusses in the program and it seemed to work as it was designed to work. When it was time to demonstrate the program for the teacher, the program failed to spit out the correct solution.
There is no doubt that technology is important and a valuable asset. However, there are a lot of risks that go along with the benefits. Technology should be used as an aid and not as the sole problem solver. When using technology, make sure you know what you are doing and can fully explain and back up the results of what your programs may spit out. After all, when your design fails to perform as designed, people are going to come after you. They don’t care what websites you got information from, or what computer programs you used on the design. What they will care about is the faulty design you produced and going after you to recover the loss of money and property as a result of the faulty design.
With all of this new technology, it is important that you do not let technology kill your career. Don’t assume that just because something is supposed to perform a specific way that it will actually work that way.
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Anthony Fasano, P.E., aka Your Professional Partner, founded Powerful Purpose Associates after he realized that it was the development of his soft skills that helped him to become an associate partner at a reputable engineering firm at the young age of 27. With history as a civil engineer, Anthony is now a nationally recognized executive coach and inspirational speaker, specializing in the areas of engineering career development, as well as leadership. He uses his highly effective coaching and speaking techniques through affordable programs to help engineers develop their soft skills, work through blocks, prioritize effectively, set clear goals and achieve their maximum potential.
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