• Question: Does your job involve a lot of creativity?

    Asked by hallb005 to Amit, Joanne, Martin, Paige on 21 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Martin Wallace

      Martin Wallace answered on 21 Mar 2012:

      Yes, this is the most creative job I’ve been involved in. We have lots of room to come up with new and interesting ideas for different products. Not only do we design the mechanisms and manufacturing processes of the different things that we make, but also we can use our artistic side to develop products that are nice to look at as well as functional. A big part of how good you think a product is relates to your impressions of how it looks. Almost everything we use in day-to-day life has been designed so that it not only does the job it is meant for, but that it looks and feels good to the person using it. This could be by having nice smooth edges and an interesting texture, or by deciding to use different materials or colours to generate an emotional response in the person using it.
      Engineering is not just about nuts and bolts.

    • Photo: Joanne Davies

      Joanne Davies answered on 21 Mar 2012:

      Hello hallb005. Pleased to meet you. 🙂

      Engineering involves a lot of creativity but not all engineers are creative. In fact I was once told that engineers can’t be creative. That’s not true though, because I know some very creative engineers and I’m creative. In my job I use this creativity to introduce new ideas and ways of working that haven’t been done before. I am creative outside work as well; I write poetry, lyrics, I’m writing a book and I’m artistic too.

    • Photo: Paige Brown

      Paige Brown answered on 21 Mar 2012:

      Hi hallb!!!!

      SOOOOO MUUCCH Creativity!!!

      Engineering in general is so awesome and interesting because it allows you to use your creativity in the design of new things, or the better design of old things. As an engineer, you are often improving objects or processes through design like nobody else has done before you.

      In my own job of science communications and science journalism, creativity is everything! It takes a LOT of creativity to write a story about a scientific achievement that any reader can understand and enjoy! I love expressing my creativity in science writing on my blog: http://blogs.nature.com/from_the_lab_bench/

    • Photo: Amit Pujari

      Amit Pujari answered on 21 Mar 2012:

      Hi hallb005,

      First sorry for the late reply.

      Yes, I would say, engineering is one of professions where you can use creativity to build something new, useful, interesting etc.

      Creativity is a valued thing! Apart from the ‘looks’ which Martin mentions, you can use creativity to solve problems from a new perspective. Imagine people who first found out that, radiations can be used to kill cancer cells, this is one form of creativity.
      Designing a better aeroplane, which is more aerodynamic, hence flies faster; this is another form of creativity….

      Creativity means different things in different contexts, and it is quite useful (and necessary) tool.
      And Yes, I need to be creative in my work, to solve problems.

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