The next time you drive your car, use an escalator, do the laundry, walk over a platform or bridge, take a trip on the plane or train, pump your car tyre, or whatever, pause for a minute and thank the engineers for saving your life.

It has not hit me until recently just how much is involved in every bit of mechanical design just to keep people, like you and me, safe. So much maths, calculations and hours of testing to make sure that the cables holding the lift you are standing in will not snap and the floor would not buckle and fail beneath you.

Just on Monday, in design, we were designing a heavy duty clamp used in manufacturing plants. Previously, I would have thought that would be a pretty basic and easy thing to do but I was wrong. The lecturer went through almost every single mathematical equation under the sun in order to design this damn thing. Ok, so maybe I'm over-exaggerating a little, but seriously, I was stumped to the ground and beyond. Every single component of the clamp, and there aren't that many, required some rather complex mathematical calculation to figure out the right size and specification so that it will not fail when in use. Do you know the hole where the threaded cylindrical bar sticks through so you can screw the clamp tighter? Yeah, even THAT had to be calculated. So can you imagine what is involved in designing a CAR?!

Since that day, we students had to design instantaneous braking systems for laundry tumble dryers, an arm that carries logs onto a conveyor belt and a materials tensile testing device. And there is just so much work involved. It really uses your brain to the farthest extent (well, mine anyway because I'm not that smart) and draws on everything that you've learnt in physics, mechanics and maths. All for the purpose of functionability and most importantly, safety.

So hats off to all engineers. I believe it should be the highest paying job not only because I will be an engineer one day (haha) but because of them, life is so much more convenient and we are not falling off bridges and blowing up in flames in our cars. I had always taken these things for granted. I assumed that when I drive over a bridge, it will not collapse. I assumed that when I look at the computer screen, it will not blow up in my face. It wasn't until I actually HAD to design such things that I realised that engineers are really really cool (and undeniably smart) people.

So the reason of this blog is to allow you folks to be more aware of everything around you. We have so much to thank engineers for our lifestyle. From convenience to safety. So from today onwards, for everything you use or see, thank the engineers for their time and effort in making your life a much better one.



A few old folks chatting about how cool the engineers who designed this elevator really are ;) ;).