No, this post is not to crib about Engineering College. Not entirely at least. This post is to actually appreciate engineering as a science and an art. Design - this is a word most of us engineers use without realizing the intricacies involved in it. For an Engineering student design is just about solving a few word problems in the subject. Unfortunately Engineering Design Drawing is just tracing out the equipment onto an a2 size sheet for marks. For a designer in office, it is about calculation, theories, assumptions. Assume losses, values of co-efficients, factors of safety so on and so forth...
What is my point? Why am I talking about design from different points of view, because I feel now after interacting for a few days with a particular client I am able to understand the real and true sense of design. So, the site engineer is the real designer. S/he who does the job is the designer. The Engineer in office has to back her/him up completely.
Did you know that the failure of a simple joint between the bridge wall and floor more so a nut and bolt holding the two has caused the collapse of so many bridges? If one steel rod is not bent properly during the foundation of a building, there could be cracks in the building at a later stage? So basically even though the theory is important, engineering and design is about practical application which we are clueless about in college.
The client's questions are ringing in my mind... "How will the anchor fasteners be fastened into the concrete? till what depth will the fasteners penetrate? What precautions will be taken before the concrete is poured..." I shudder to look at all the nails and screws driven in my house walls. What is the factor of safety??? hehehehehe
On a more serious note, all this does matter. details matter, how one applies one's learning matter. Cramming the formula is not enough. Which formula to use at which time is more important. If one can derive the formula on the spot using dimensional analysis, that's an icing on the cake. These are the fundamentals that my college should have taught me. What is to be used when!!!
I would like to conclude with a heartfelt thanks to our client who has finally made me understand why I learnt what I learnt for 4 long years. Those ros, and gammas actually have a meaning. They all make sense to a commonman as well, not as symbols / co-efficients but as those parameters that will keep them safe! Every single detail matters. So next time you switch on the light, look at the switch, look at the wall, look the bulb, look at the room designed... All have been designed, with care and engineered for us. And trust me, it's not a small thing....
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