Problem Solvers: The Paths to Becoming an Engineer

The Definitive Account on What it Takes to be an Engineer

What does it mean to become and be an engineer? So many schools spend so much time training their students in science and its applications. Check any school’s slate of classes and you will observe a heavy emphasis on the engineering sciences, and rightfully so. And yet something is missing.

The professional world has spoken and they say many graduates enter the workforce lacking the fundamental skills to be an engineer. How do we come to understand what those skills are in authentic ways? We believe a profound way to do this is through leveraging the power of stories.

We interviewed sixteen engineers about their journeys to becoming the professionals they are today. Compelling, raw, challenging, and ultimately inspiring, these accounts from individuals of a wide variety of backgrounds offer a myriad of lessons on what it takes to become one of the world’s premiere problem solvers.

You as a reader will find yourself coming back to these stories time and again, whether it’s to recall how Cyber Security Engineer Nikeem Coleman beat the outrageous odds against him, or how Entrepreneur Katrien Herdweyn turned her engineering degree and skills into a standout fashion company, or how Environmental Engineer Jesse Milliken-Callan faced extreme pressure of the highest degree to come out on the other side.

In this book, you’ll read about what’s been missing in our schooling for engineering: humanity. You’ll be reminded or realize for the first time that becoming an engineer—or becoming anything really—is a human endeavor. Through engaging with their shared paths, the combination of the lessons they share explicitly and the personal lessons learned from their stories will give any reader who seeks to become an engineer an added dimension, an introduction to the hidden curriculum that is indispensable in order for our next generation of engineers to truly become the problem solvers the world needs.