Learning Engineering Practice

This is an essential, easy-to-read guide for students, early-career engineers, supervisors, and human resources professionals. It is written by one of the world's leading authorities on global engineering practices with decades of research, 40 years of teaching engineering, and 50 years of working as a professional engineer in several countries. This guide will teach essential engineering soft skills and specialized capabilities to work as an engineer that universities cannot teach. The author also explores how to gain a job as a new engineer and delves into how engineers gain access to informal technical knowledge, the experience of other engineers, how to gain the willing collaboration of others to make things happen, and how to work safely in hazardous environments. This book also lists effective ways to use the latest digital collaboration tools and artificial intelligence apps, as well as how to estimate costs, generate commercial value, and develop cost-effective sustainable solutions. Lastly, it shows how to understand and navigate the complex working systems and social cultures of engineering firms in a globalized market for engineering services.

Table of Contents:

Part I Preparations for an Engineering Career 1 Engineering: Doing More with Less 2 Elements of Engineering Practice 3 Seeking Paid Engineering Work 4 Essential Professional Skills 5 Listening 6 Reading Documents 7 Reading People: Emotional Intelligence 8 Seeing and Creativity. Part II Workplace Learning 9 Starting Work: Learning the Ropes 10 Engineering knowledge 11 Knowledge Is a Social Network 12 Making Things Happen 13 Working Safely 14 Making Big Things Happen 15 Generating Value 16 Estimating Costs 17 Organizations, Systems, Culture, and Agency 18 Design for Sustainability and Resilience 19 Time Management 20 Learning from Failure Epilogue – Next Steps, Appendix 1 Engineering Practice Checklist, Online Supplement

James Trevelyan is an engineer, educator, researcher, and start-up entrepreneur. He invented Coolzy, a new energy-saving, low-emissions air conditioning technology for a global market. The world’s leading authority on engineering practices, he helped define Engineers Australia's professional competencies for chartered engineers. His books are influencing the future of engineering education worldwide. He is best known internationally for pioneering research on sheep shearing robots from 1975 to 1993 and for the first industrial robot that could be remotely operated through the internet in 1994, one of the earliest demonstrations of the "Internet of Things." He also made significant contributions to help with the removal of antipersonnel landmines and other unexploded ordnance in many countries. His research has shown how engineers could help eliminate widespread poverty in the Global South and accelerate progress toward achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.