The Making Of An Expert Engineer

This book sets out the principles of engineering practice, knowledge that has come to light through more than a decade of research by the author and his students studying engineers at work. Until now, this knowledge has been almost entirely unwritten, passed on invisibly from one generation of engineers to the next, what engineers refer to as “experience”. This is a book for all engineers. It distils the knowledge of many experts in one volume. The book will help engineers enjoy a more satisfying and rewarding career and provide more valuable results for their employers and clients. The book focuses on issues often seen as “non-technical” in the world of engineering, yet it shows how these issues are thoroughly technical. Engineering firms traditionally have sought expert advice on these aspects from management schools, often regarding these aspects of engineering practice as something to do with psychology or organisational behaviour. The results are normally disappointing because management schools and psychologists have limited insight and understanding of the technical dimensions in engineering work. Little if any of the material in this book can be obtained from management texts or courses. Management schools have avoided the technical dimension of workplace practices and that is precisely what characterises engineering practice. The technical dimension infuses almost every aspect of an engineer’s working day and cannot be avoided. That’s why this book is so necessary: there has not yet been any authoritative source or guidance to bridge the gap between inanimate technical issues and organisational behaviour. This book fills this gap in our knowledge, is based on rigorous research, and yet is written in a style which is accessible for a wide audience.

Technology and increasing levels of education have exposed people to more information than ever before. These societal gains, however, have also helped fuel a surge in narcissistic and misguided intellectual egalitarianism that has crippled informed debates on any number of issues. Today, everyone knows everything: with only a quick trip through WebMD or Wikipedia, average citizens believe themselves to be on an equal intellectual footing with doctors and diplomats. All voices, even the most ridiculous, demand to be taken with equal seriousness, and any claim to the contrary is dismissed as undemocratic elitism. Tom Nichols' The Death of Expertise shows how this rejection of experts has occurred: the openness of the internet, the emergence of a customer satisfaction model in higher education, and the transformation of the news industry into a 24-hour entertainment machine, among other reasons. Paradoxically, the increasingly democratic dissemination of information, rather than producing an educated public, has instead created an army of ill-informed and angry citizens who denounce intellectual achievement. When ordinary citizens believe that no one knows more than anyone else, democratic institutions themselves are in danger of falling either to populism or to technocracy or, in the worst case, a combination of both. An update to the 2017breakout hit, the paperback edition of The Death of Expertise provides a new foreword to cover the alarming exacerbation of these trends in the aftermath of Donald Trump's election. Judging from events on the ground since it first published, The Death of Expertise issues a warning about the stability and survival of modern democracy in the Information Age that is even more important today.

The Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research is the critical reference source for the growing field of engineering education research, featuring the work of world luminaries writing to define and inform this emerging field. The Handbook draws extensively on contemporary research in the learning sciences, examining how technology affects learners and learning environments, and the role of social context in learning. Since a landmark issue of the Journal of Engineering Education (2005), in which senior scholars argued for a stronger theoretical and empirically driven agenda, engineering education has quickly emerged as a research-driven field increasing in both theoretical and empirical work drawing on many social science disciplines, disciplinary engineering knowledge, and computing. The Handbook is based on the research agenda from a series of interdisciplinary colloquia funded by the US National Science Foundation and published in the Journal of Engineering Education in October 2006.

This report reviews engineering's importance to human, economic, social and cultural development and in addressing the UN Millennium Development Goals. Engineering tends to be viewed as a national issue, but engineering knowledge, companies, conferences and journals, all demonstrate that it is as international as science. The report reviews the role of engineering in development, and covers issues including poverty reduction, sustainable development, climate change mitigation and adaptation. It presents the various fields of engineering around the world and is intended to identify issues and challenges facing engineering, promote better understanding of engineering and its role, and highlight ways of making engineering more attractive to young people, especially women.--Publisher's description.

Stanley Hooker joined the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1949 and tugged a rather reluctant company into the jet age, determined to give real competition to Rolls-Royce. So successful was he that in 1966 Rolls-Royce decided the best thing to do was to spend ?63.6 million and buy its rival. By this time there was scarcely a single modern British aero-engine for which Hooker had not been responsible.

Clearly explained engineering concepts and fun, simple projects give kids ages 7-9 the chance to put their STEAM knowledge to the test! Teach kids to think like an engineer! The engaging projects in this book will encourage kids to investigate using items from around the house. Build a robot arm out of rulers; learn about jet propulsion with balloons; crush toilet-paper rolls to explore materials; and much more. Read about how engineers use STEAM subjects and their imaginations to think critically and solve problems. Be inspired by engineering heroes such as Leonardo da Vinci, Mae Jemison, and Elon Musk. Fun questions, engineering experiments, and real-life scenarios come together to make engineering relevant. In How to Be an Engineer, the emphasis is on inspiring kids, which means less time at a computer and more time exploring in the real world.

Highly effective thinking is an art that engineers and scientists can be taught to develop. By presenting actual experiences and analyzing them as they are described, the author conveys the developmental thought processes employed and shows a style of thinking that leads to successful results is something that can be learned. Along with spectacular successes, the author also conveys how failures contributed to shaping the thought processes. Provides the reader with a style of thinking that will enhance a person's ability to function as a problem-solver of complex technical issues. Consists of a collection of stories about the author's participation in significant discoveries, relating how those discoveries came about and, most importantly, provides analysis about the thought processes and reasoning that took place as the author and his associates progressed through engineering problems.

Want to know the secret to becoming an expert software engineer and getting any job you want? The answer is simple: Experience. Although, the only valuable form of experience you can add to your résumé, is the kind you can actually prove to have earned. So, how do you gain tangible experience in skills your current job can't offer you? Get back to programming for fun! What better way is there to prove a skill in coding than with code itself? Not only is writing open source software a great way to learn and acquire new skills, it's a brilliant way to gain real world experience that you can legitimately claim on your résumé! In this book, I will show you the system I use to design, develop, and deliver open source projects, steer you away from the mistakes I've made along the way, and help you build an impressive résumé of projects that'll get you that job you've always wanted, and in time, will earn you the right to call yourself an expert.

The overwhelming majority of a software system’s lifespan is spent in use, not in design or implementation. So, why does conventional wisdom insist that software engineers focus primarily on the design and development of large-scale computing systems? In this collection of essays and articles, key members of Google’s Site Reliability Team explain how and why their commitment to the entire lifecycle has enabled the company to successfully build, deploy, monitor, and maintain some of the largest software systems in the world. You’ll learn the principles and practices that enable Google engineers to make systems more scalable, reliable, and efficient—lessons directly applicable to your organization. This book is divided into four sections: Introduction—Learn what site reliability engineering is and why it differs from conventional IT industry practices Principles—Examine the patterns, behaviors, and areas of concern that influence the work of a site reliability engineer (SRE) Practices—Understand the theory and practice of an SRE’s day-to-day work: building and operating large distributed computing systems Management—Explore Google's best practices for training, communication, and meetings that your organization can use

“Though ours is an age of high technology, the essence of what engineering is and what engineers do is not common knowledge. Even the most elementary of principles upon which great bridges, jumbo jets, or super computers are built are alien concepts to many. This is so in part because engineering as a human endeavor is not yet integrated into our culture and intellectual tradition. And while educators are currently wrestling with the problem of introducing technology into conventional academic curricula, thus better preparing today’s students for life in a world increasingly technological, there is as yet no consensus as to how technological literacy can best be achieved. " I believe, and I argue in this essay, that the ideas of engineering are in fact in our bones and part of our human nature and experience. Furthermore, I believe that an understanding and an appreciation of engineers and engineering can be gotten without an engineering or technical education. Thus I hope that the technologically uninitiated will come to read what I have written as an introduction to technology. Indeed, this book is my answer to the questions 'What is engineering?' and 'What do engineers do?'" - Henry Petroski, To Engineer is Human

The majority of professors have never had a formal course in education, and the most common method for learning how to teach is on-the-job training. This represents a challenge for disciplines with ever more complex subject matter, and a lost opportunity when new active learning approaches to education are yielding dramatic improvements in student learning and retention. This book aims to cover all aspects of teaching engineering and other technical subjects. It presents both practical matters and educational theories in a format useful for both new and experienced teachers. It is organized to start with specific, practical teaching applications and then leads to psychological and educational theories. The "practical orientation" section explains how to develop objectives and then use them to enhance student learning, and the "theoretical orientation" section discusses the theoretical basis for learning/teaching and its impact on students. Written mainly for PhD students and professors in all areas of engineering, the book may be used as a text for graduate-level classes and professional workshops or by professionals who wish to read it on their own. Although the focus is engineering education, most of this book will be useful to teachers in other disciplines. Teaching is a complex human activity, so it is impossible to develop a formula that guarantees it will be excellent. However, the methods in this book will help all professors become good teachers while spending less time preparing for the classroom. This is a new edition of the well-received volume published by McGraw-Hill in 1993. It includes an entirely revised section on the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and new sections on the characteristics of great teachers, different active learning methods, the application of technology in the classroom (from clickers to intelligent tutorial systems), and how people learn.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Paul Kennedy, award-winning author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers and one of today’s most renowned historians, now provides a new and unique look at how World War II was won. Engineers of Victory is a fascinating nuts-and-bolts account of the strategic factors that led to Allied victory. Kennedy reveals how the leaders’ grand strategy was carried out by the ordinary soldiers, scientists, engineers, and businessmen responsible for realizing their commanders’ visions of success. In January 1943, FDR and Churchill convened in Casablanca and established the Allied objectives for the war: to defeat the Nazi blitzkrieg; to control the Atlantic sea lanes and the air over western and central Europe; to take the fight to the European mainland; and to end Japan’s imperialism. Astonishingly, a little over a year later, these ambitious goals had nearly all been accomplished. With riveting, tactical detail, Engineers of Victory reveals how. Kennedy recounts the inside stories of the invention of the cavity magnetron, a miniature radar “as small as a soup plate,” and the Hedgehog, a multi-headed grenade launcher that allowed the Allies to overcome the threat to their convoys crossing the Atlantic; the critical decision by engineers to install a super-charged Rolls-Royce engine in the P-51 Mustang, creating a fighter plane more powerful than the Luftwaffe’s; and the innovative use of pontoon bridges (made from rafts strung together) to help Russian troops cross rivers and elude the Nazi blitzkrieg. He takes readers behind the scenes, unveiling exactly how thousands of individual Allied planes and fighting ships were choreographed to collectively pull off the invasion of Normandy, and illuminating how crew chiefs perfected the high-flying and inaccessible B-29 Superfortress that would drop the atomic bombs on Japan. The story of World War II is often told as a grand narrative, as if it were fought by supermen or decided by fate. Here Kennedy uncovers the real heroes of the war, highlighting for the first time the creative strategies, tactics, and organizational decisions that made the lofty Allied objectives into a successful reality. In an even more significant way, Engineers of Victory has another claim to our attention, for it restores “the middle level of war” to its rightful place in history. Praise for Engineers of Victory “Superbly written and carefully documented . . . indispensable reading for anyone who seeks to understand how and why the Allies won.”—The Christian Science Monitor “An important contribution to our understanding of World War II . . . Like an engineer who pries open a pocket watch to reveal its inner mechanics, [Paul] Kennedy tells how little-known men and women at lower levels helped win the war.”—Michael Beschloss, The New York Times Book Review “Histories of World War II tend to concentrate on the leaders and generals at the top who make the big strategic decisions and on the lowly grunts at the bottom. . . . [Engineers of Victory] seeks to fill this gap in the historiography of World War II and does so triumphantly. . . . This book is a fine tribute.”—The Wall Street Journal “[Kennedy] colorfully and convincingly illustrates the ingenuity and persistence of a few men who made all the difference.”—The Washington Post “This superb book is Kennedy’s best.”—Foreign Affairs

For newly hired young engineers assigned to their first real 'project', there has been little to offer in the way of advice on 'where to begin', 'what to look out for and avoid', and 'how to get the job done right'. This book gives this advice from an author with long experience as senior engineer in government and industry (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Exxon-Mobil). Beginning with guidance on understanding the typical organizational structure of any type of technical firm or company, author Plummer incorporates numerous hands-on examples and provides help on getting started with a project team, understanding key roles, and avoiding common pitfalls. In addition, he offers unique help on first-time experiences of working in other countries with engineering cultures that can be considerably different from the US. Reviews essentials of management for any new engineer suddenly thrust into responsibility Emphasizes skills that can get you promoted—and pitfalls that can get you fired Expanded case study to show typical evolution of a new engineer handed responsibility for a major design project

Once a natural gas or oil well is drilled, and it has been verified that commercially viable, it must be "completed" to allow for the flow of petroleum or natural gas out of the formation and up to the surface. This process includes: casing, pressure and temperature evaluation, and the proper instillation of equipment to ensure an efficient flow out of the well. In recent years, these processes have been greatly enhanced by new technologies. Advanced Well Completion Engineering summarizes and explains these advances while providing expert advice for deploying these new breakthrough engineering systems. The book has two themes: one, the idea of preventing damage, and preventing formation from drilling into an oil formation to putting the well introduction stage; and two, the utilization of nodal system analysis method, which optimizes the pressure distribution from reservoir to well head, and plays the sensitivity analysis to design the tubing diameters first and then the production casing size, so as to achieve whole system optimization. With this book, drilling and production engineers should be able to improve operational efficiency by applying the latest state of the art technology in all facets of well completion during development drilling-completion and work over operations. One of the only books devoted to the key technologies for all major aspects of advanced well completion activities. Unique coverage of all aspects of well completion activities based on 25 years in the exploration, production and completion industry. Matchless in-depth technical advice for achieving operational excellence with advance solutions.

In this book, some of the world's foremost 'experts on expertise' provide scientific knowledge on expertise and expert performance.

Going far beyond "plug-and-chug" solutions, this relatable guide simplifies the scientific principles and breaks down the art of efficient problem-solving. Andrew Sario breaks down years of experience into digestible tips. Boost your career with 10+1 steps to solve real-life engineering problems effectively. Can engineers improve their problem-solving skills? Sario guides readers through ten steps of practical problem-solving with each step including engineering stories from his career as a lead systems engineer in the critical infrastructure and operational technology fields. The 10+1 Steps are an unorthodox way of looking at things but spend its efforts on improving your average time to solve. 1. The Question 2. The Obvious 3. Eyes 4. Check Yourself 5. Doctor G 6. The RTFM Protocol 7. Strip 8. What about the environment? 9. Phone-A-Friend 10. PrayThe last step? The Secret step. The steps are designed so that they can work with formal engineering methods giving you ways to improve your approach. 10+1 Steps to problem-solving provides that extra "+1" step for those situations when you have run out of options. The book shows the reader how their problem-solving skills can lead to better pay, more respect and land bigger projects. By following the guiding principles in this book you can confidently help solve problems regardless of current skill and experience.

From the Reviews "[This book] contains an excellent blend of both Shiny-specific topics ... and practical advice from software development that fits in nicely with Shiny apps. You will find many nuggets of wisdom sprinkled throughout these chapters...." Eric Nantz, Host of the R-Podcast and the Shiny Developer Series (from the Foreword) "[This] book is a gradual and pleasant invitation to the production-ready shiny apps world. It ...exposes a comprehensive and robust workflow powered by the {golem} package. [It] fills the not yet covered gap between shiny app development and deployment in such a thrilling way that it may be read in one sitting.... In the industry world, where processes robustness is a key toward productivity, this book will indubitably have a tremendous impact." David Granjon, Sr. Expert Data Science, Novartis Presented in full color, Engineering Production-Grade Shiny Apps helps people build production-grade shiny applications, by providing advice, tools, and a methodology to work on web applications with R. This book starts with an overview of the challenges which arise from any big web application project: organizing work, thinking about the user interface, the challenges of teamwork and the production environment. Then, it moves to a step-by-step methodology that goes from the idea to the end application. Each part of this process will cover in detail a series of tools and methods to use while building production-ready shiny applications. Finally, the book will end with a series of approaches and advice about optimizations for production. Features Focused on practical matters: This book does not cover Shiny concepts, but practical tools and methodologies to use for production. Based on experience: This book is a formalization of several years of experience building Shiny applications. Original content: This book presents new methodologies and tooling, not just a review of what already exists. Engineering Production-Grade Shiny Apps covers medium to advanced content about Shiny, so it will help people that are already familiar with building apps with Shiny, and who want to go one step further.

The Audio Expert is a comprehensive reference that covers all aspects of audio, with many practical, as well as theoretical, explanations. Providing in-depth descriptions of how audio really works, using common sense plain-English explanations and mechanical analogies with minimal math, the book is written for people who want to understand audio at the deepest, most technical level, without needing an engineering degree. It's presented in an easy-to-read, conversational tone, and includes more than 400 figures and photos augmenting the text. The Audio Expert takes the intermediate to advanced recording engineer or audiophile and makes you an expert. The book goes far beyond merely explaining how audio "works." It brings together the concepts of audio, aural perception, musical instrument physics, acoustics, and basic electronics, showing how they're intimately related. Describing in great detail many of the practices and techniques used by recording and mixing engineers, the topics include video production and computers. Rather than merely showing how to use audio devices such as equalizers and compressors, Ethan Winer explains how they work internally, and how they are spec'd and tested. Most explanations are platform-agnostic, applying equally to Windows and Mac operating systems, and to most software and hardware. TheAudioExpertbook.com, the companion website, has audio and video examples to better present complex topics such as vibration and resonance. There are also videos demonstrating editing techniques and audio processing, as well as interviews with skilled musicians demonstrating their instruments and playing techniques.

Providing clear, expert guidance to help engineers make a smooth transition to the management team, this a newly revised and updated edition of an Artech House bestseller belongs on every engineer’s reference shelf. The author’s 30-plus year perspective indicates that, while most engineers will spend the majority of their careers as managers, most are dissatisfied with the transition. Much of this frustration is the result of lack of preparation and training. This book provides a solid grounding in the critical attitudes and principles needed for success. The greatly expanded Second Edition adds critical new discussions on the development of healthy teams, meeting management, delegating, decision making, and personal branding. New managers are taught to internalize the attitudes and master the associated skills to excel in, and be satisfied with the transition to management. The book explains how to communicate more effectively and improve relationships with colleagues. Professionals learn how to use their newly acquired skills to solve immediate problems. Moreover, they are shown how to apply six fundamental principles to their on-going work with engineering teams and management. Supplemental material, such as templates, exercises, and worksheets are available at no additional cost at ArtechHouse.com.

Today, software engineers need to know not only how to program effectively but also how to develop proper engineering practices to make their codebase sustainable and healthy. This book emphasizes this difference between programming and software engineering. How can software engineers manage a living codebase that evolves and responds to changing requirements and demands over the length of its life? Based on their experience at Google, software engineers Titus Winters and Hyrum Wright, along with technical writer Tom Manshreck, present a candid and insightful look at how some of the world’s leading practitioners construct and maintain software. This book covers Google’s unique engineering culture, processes, and tools and how these aspects contribute to the effectiveness of an engineering organization. You’ll explore three fundamental principles that software organizations should keep in mind when designing, architecting, writing, and maintaining code: How time affects the sustainability of software and how to make your code resilient over time How scale affects the viability of software practices within an engineering organization What trade-offs a typical engineer needs to make when evaluating design and development decisions