I Want To Be An Engineer But I don't Know What Type And I Do Not Know What They Do.

     

A form four student asked me this morning, “Teacher I want to be an engineer but I do not know what engineers do and how I can best prepare myself?”

This presentation is targeting S.4 candidates interested in Engineering fields in future. Candidates are argued to be frank and carefully assess themselves using fields in the Skills and Personal characteristics columns. An average of 8 fields in each column would best prepare a candidate eligible for engineering career. A candidate is supposed to work hard to perfect the other fields which make a good Engineer.

Personal characteristics:                  

1)     Introvert                                        

2)     Investigative                                 

3)     Intelligent & Creative                                     

4)     Self drive                                      

5)     Self disciplined                             

6)     Flexible & patient                         

7)     Stamina                                         

8)     Supervisory & leadership skills    

9)     Observant                                       

10)Responsible & Accountable           

11)Good listening skills.                     

12)Reliable 

                                         

Characteristics attained at school   

a)     Ability to work under pressure

b)     Accuracy   

c)     Working with minimum supervision  

d)     Patience

e)     Dependability

f)      Organized

g)     Following instructions

h)    Logical thinking

i)       Sound judgments

j)       Manipulation

k)     Ability to work with machines

l)       Computing Skills   

m)  Coping with Stress                                                                                                  

          

The essential subjects for engineering include Majors or Principals of Physics (P) and Mathematics (M) with either Technical Drawing (TD), Fine Art (Art), Entrepreneurship (Ent), Economics (E) or Chemistry (C) with minors of General Studies (GP) and Subsidiary ICT. 

Therefore we end up with the following subject combinations for Engineering: PCM, PEM, PMTD, PMEnt and PMArt/ PAT.

Who is an Engineer?

            The definition is largely tailored towards the type of occupation he/she does as                    shown below in the table.

Types of Engineers and Engineer related personnel with their job description in Uganda.

Occupations	Descriptions
Builder Contractor	Builds or tenders on specific assignments within a major Construction project.
Building Surveyor	Responsible for getting the right building materials in terms of specifications to a Construction site on time.
Civil Engineer	Plans designs of Construction projects.
Computer Engineer/ Computer Hardware Designer	Designs computer chips, Computer components and central processing units. Sets and maintains the required standards of an I.T. Company’s hardware.
Electrical Engineer
Environmental Engineer	Responsible for designing environmentally friendly public infrastructural system that ensure sustainable development.
Information Systems Manager	Oversees the functions such as technical support, training, network and data base operations in an information systems department.
Land Surveyor	In charge of recording measurements of natural and manmade features on the earth’s surface and this is a very vital undertaking for all Construction projects.
Quantity Surveyor	Calculates the Economic viability of building projects and offers professional advice on contractual and financial matters before the building projects begin.
Software Engineer	Installs and creates new software products and program for an Organization.
Telecommunication Engineer	Responsible for the continual and rapid development in the Science and method of telecommunication and the general and basic planning of future expansion.