Consulting-Specifying Engineer - August 2007 - (Page 8)

to piece them together to form a conclusion. I can talk to contractors. I know when they’re trying to get me to do their jobs and bear their risks—and I tell them so. I’m never referred to as a designer—in fact, I call myself an engineer to avoid having to explain what a designer is or does. Of eight electrical professionals where I work, two are degreed professional engineers. The remaining six talk about where our replace- ments are coming from when we start to fade out in 20 to 30 years. Where are the kids that are going to replace us who are doing the real work? I’m talking about competent designers; power distribution, lighting, etc. I’m not criticizing P.E.s and E.E.s—hey, they did it. I tried and got busy with family; life changed and school took a back seat. The problem is still the same—someone needs to do the work and do it right. I have four young boys and I’ll do what I can to steer them toward a professional livelihood and a higher education, but they’ll know how to turn a wrench, too—they already do. ERIK SPIELVOGEL Regarding the perceived engineering shortage: I just don’t see it. What I do see is a lot of poorly supervised middle managers, uninformed top managers, poorly utilized existing engineers and a whole lot of folks who try to get by with no continuing education. Thirty-three years ago, as the manager of engineering, I had just finished checking a new 500-ton traveling block for an offshore automated rig and had signed off on the drawings, making certain it was to be manufactured in only one accepted way, i.e., using numerically controlled machines for extreme accuracy. The vice president, a non-engineer, changed several items in the finished product and advised that block attachments would be manufactured in a cheaper manner with manual machining. I had seen similar instances happen, but they were minor compared to this one and this was unacceptable. I went to the president of the company and turned in the company car, gave two weeks’ notice and became an independent consulting engineer. From then until now, I have worked around the world on product failure analysis and international projects because of one important fact: I quit working typical work weeks with middle managers and started dealing only with owners of companies and CEOs. Another item that adversely affects the engineering community is the proliferation of the many subclasses of the term “engineer.” You are either an engineer or you are not. These newly created positions of engineering technology, manufacturing engineer—the list goes on and on—have made many good draftsmen too good to draft, turn wrenches or run wires. If they can’t handle the calculations, know the codes and have the abilities to sign off on a project, they are not engineers. Quit the current practices of not requiring all people working in an engineering position to be licensed in the state where they are practicing and carelessly using the title of engineer. Call those employees something else, but do not call them engineers. LARRY E. LEE, P.E. CONSULTING ENGINEER HOUSTON Input #206 at csemag.com/quickResponse 8 Consulting-Specifying Engineer • AUGUST, 2007 http://www.uecorp.com http://www.uecorp.com http://csemag.com/quickResponse

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Consulting-Specifying Engineer - August 2007

Contents M/E Roundtable Giants 100 Pullout Poster Giants Stand Tall: CSE Giants 100 Report Electrical Design for Tall Buildings HVAC and Fire Safety for Elevator Systems How to Beat the Codes GAS Technology Supplement Recovering Waste Heat from Boilers New Applications for Tankless Water Heating Systmes Techniques Improve for Powder Coating MDF New Tools Available for Heat Treating Steel Direct Drive Engines

Consulting-Specifying Engineer - August 2007

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