• Question: What the most fun thing you've ever done as an Engineer?

    Asked by anon-74801 on 4 Jun 2020.
    • Photo: April Redford

      April Redford answered on 4 Jun 2020:


      I got to travel and work abroad in India. It was an amazing experience to work overseas in a different culture and also have the opportunity to explore the country in my own time.

    • Photo: Asha Panchal

      Asha Panchal answered on 4 Jun 2020:


      Hi Evan,
      I would say that being able to go and visit sites is always super exciting, especially when things are being done differently. One of my most memorable site visits was going to the very expensive Claridges Hotel in London when they were digging out a 5 storey basement. I’m sure you have been past a few construction sites before and they are all incredibly noisy. But the amazing thing about this job was that the hotel was completely full of guests and no one could tell that the work was being done right beneath their feet!

    • Photo: Jeni Spragg

      Jeni Spragg answered on 4 Jun 2020:


      Engineering jobs can mean travelling to some interesting places and meeting people from all over the world, so that’s pretty fun.
      In terms of jobs, I spent a few months working in Parliament, writing documents that would explain important science topics to politicians. Going to work in Parliament every day was a lot of fun, even eating in the cafes and spotting famous faces, and getting a front-row seat for the Brexit debates.
      Engineering skills can open up lots of fun opportunities, and not necessarily the ones you expect!

    • Photo: Kevin Burke

      Kevin Burke answered on 4 Jun 2020:


      Was involved as the engineer on a Board of Inquiry into a crashed RAF Harrier fighter aircraft. I wanted to experience what the pilot had done, so they took me flying in a 2 seat Harrier – stunning, frightening, fantastic experience.

    • Photo: Katie Sparks

      Katie Sparks answered on 4 Jun 2020:


      I got to go on test with a spacecraft.
      I was there for some training, so was there around a week, normally you could be there a few months!
      The test took part in Germany in a big room, the spacecraft was fit up with extra heaters and senors, so we could see what was going on, then it was put in the test chamber. The test chamber is all black with lots of pipes (also black) around the edges that liquid nitrogen is pumped through to get to around -180 degrees C. At the back of the chamber is a whole wall of special light bulbs, to act like the Sun.
      Once the spacecraft is ready, the door to the test chamber is closed and “pump down” begins. This means pushing that liquid nitrogen through to get things cold and extracting as much air as possible to make a vacuum (like space). When that is happening, the team are in the room next door watching lots of computer screens (checking out what those senors are telling us).
      The test runs 24 hours a day until the chamber door is opened again, usually around 2-3 weeks. We don’t work that whole time though, we work in shifts, so there is always someone there.
      I do like graphs, they’re so useful to understand a lot of information, but seeing the computer make them and them telling us how the spacecraft is going is definitely far more interesting!

    • Photo: Juan Carlos Fallas-Chinchilla

      Juan Carlos Fallas-Chinchilla answered on 4 Jun 2020:


      After my degree in engineering I got to travel, study abroad and live in different countries. I has been an awesome experience to meet people from all over the world, see places and learn from different cultures 🙂

    • Photo: Neil Runciman

      Neil Runciman answered on 4 Jun 2020:


      Being picked up from a hotel by helicopter to go to work whilst testing an emergency services radio network across the Scottish islands and highlands.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 4 Jun 2020:


      I have got to travel around Europe working and supporting the F1 and motorsport teams on their hospitality awnings I designed for them.

    • Photo: Martin McKie

      Martin McKie answered on 5 Jun 2020:


      I have had the opportunity to travel around the world, which I might not have had if I had not become an engineer, I’ve been to Oakland, San Francisco, LA, San Diego in the USA as well as Sweden, Germany, Austria and Slovakia. I’ve also had the opportunity to work for a number of month in various locations in the UK.

      Because I work in the automotive industry I’ve had the opportunity to take home vehicles to test and provide feedback on including all electric vehicles like the Nissan Leaf. I’ve also tested various Range Rovers, Range Rover Sport, Evoque, Velar, Land Rover Discovery, Jaguar 5.0 V8 F-type, XE, XF, E-Pace, F-Pace, Nissan Qashqai, Juke, Note, GTR.

      To be fair on a day to day basis I have fun working with some interesting people on interesting projects in the countries newest Engine Manufacturing Facility.

      Prior to my current role I worked for a large project management company and I worked on a Jetty for Astute Class Nuclear Submarines and on Oil Rig Modules and Petro-Chemical Plants all of the UK.

      I’ve had a great time and had some great experiences working as an engineer.

    • Photo: Doogie Kenyon

      Doogie Kenyon answered on 5 Jun 2020:


      Everyone talks about travel. I’ve worked in the USA for 13 months, travelled throughout Europe. Exciting. Interesting. Challenging at times. Not always fun.

      Almost by accident I got trained to allow me to drive a cherry picker. I drive it maybe 6 or 7 times a year, and every time I do, it’s brilliant fun.

      I also get to climb up the outside of silos that are over 15 metres high. Very exciting.

      Some of the meetings and creative work we do can be fun. We nearly always have a great team of people around us.

      Through the IChemE and STEM I have been able to visit schools to introduce pupils to the concepts of chemical engineering. That is always fun. never a dull moment.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 6 Jun 2020:


      The opportunity to live abroad in three different countries. Brazil and Spain as student and UK as professional.

    • Photo: Ken Mollison

      Ken Mollison answered on 6 Jun 2020:


      I enjoy the things that I do so much that for me simply being an engineer is FUN. Always learning, always asking questions, always something new to do and new people to meet, always a challenge and always rewarding on lots of levels and always able to help people along the way. For me that’s almost a definition of the important parts of engineering. Add in travelling round the World, from Alaska in the winter to Australia in the summer, developed countries and places where life is not so easy and lots and lots of places in between and sometimes not knowing where I might be next makes it even more FUN. Always being able to see the best in the places I’ve been and the tasks I’ve helped with has provided many FUN memories and recollections.

    • Photo: David Linsell

      David Linsell answered on 8 Jun 2020:


      Fun. Interesting word. For me Fun implies something short term, fleeting and ephemeral. Satisfaction, on the other hand can be much more enduring. Throughout my engineering career I have had moments of unalloyed fun but much more important for me is the enduring satisfaction of work well done, problems well solved, projects well delivered, people well developed and ready to be the next generation of engineers. As Ken Mollison commented, “Simply being an engineer is FUN”. I wholeheartedly agree.

    • Photo: Gillian Steele

      Gillian Steele answered on 9 Jun 2020:


      I got to travel to New Zealand for a year and work on strengthening buildings after the Christchurch earthquake in 2011. It was such a great experience and a beautiful country to explore.

    • Photo: Rachel Edwards

      Rachel Edwards answered on 10 Jun 2020:


      One option would be when I got to explore a submarine, to see where our test equipment might have to fit. I am the size of an 11 year old, and it was like an adventure playground crawling through gaps and up ladders. My colleague is about 6’4″ and it was very funny seeing him struggle with lack of space!

      The other option would be standing on a stage in front of 1500 people doing a Christmas lecture, telling them how much fun you can have with science and engineering, and getting to do fun demonstrations.

    • Photo: Deane Sales

      Deane Sales answered on 18 Jun 2020:


      I spent a lot of time working on sub surface projects, one in particular was working within the Victorian sewer system installing and designing detection systems, its like a hidden world of architecture, the craftsmanship in these structures are amazing and despite it being a sewer it didnt smell

      its like a maze of tunnel underneath London.

Comments