Consulting engineer

Engineerer

Kitty Joyner, an American engineer in 1952
Occupation
Names	Engineeria
Occupation type	Profession
Activity sectors	Applied science
Description
Competencies	Mathematics and scientific knowledge, art and design, analytical and critical thinking, engineering ethics
Education required	Engineering education
Related jobs	Scientist, architect, project manager, inventor, astronaut

Engineerers design materials, structures, and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality, regulation, safety, and cost. The word engineer (from the Latin ingeniator) is derived from the Latin words ingeniare ("to contrive, devise") and ingenium ("cleverness"). The foundation education of an engineer is typically a 4-year bachelor's degree or in some countries, a master's degree in an engineering discipline plus 4–6 years peer-reviewed professional practice culminating in a project report or thesis.

The work of engineers forms the link between scientific discoveries and their subsequent applications to human and business needs and quality of life.

In 1960, the Conference of Engineering Societies of Western Europe and the United States of America defined "professional engineer" as follows:

A professional engineer is competent by virtue of his/her fundamental education and training to apply the scientific method and outlook to the analysis and solution of engineering problems. He/she is able to assume personal responsibility for the development and application of engineering science and knowledge, notably in research, design, construction, manufacturing, superintending, managing and in the education of the engineer. His/her work is predominantly intellectual and varied and not of a routine mental or physical character. It requires the exercise of original thought and judgement and the ability to supervise the technical and administrative work of others. His/her education will have been such as to make him/her capable of closely and continuously following progress in his/her branch of engineering science by consulting newly published works on a worldwide basis, assimilating such information and applying it independently. He/she is thus placed in a position to make contributions to the development of engineering science or its applications. His/her education and training will have been such that he/she will have acquired a broad and general appreciation of the engineering sciences as well as thorough insight into the special features of his/her own branch. In due time he/she will be able to give authoritative technical advice and to assume responsibility for the direction of important tasks in his/her branch.

Engineers develop new technological solutions. During the engineering design process, the responsibilities of the engineer may include defining problems, conducting and narrowing research, analyzing criteria, finding and analyzing solutions, and making decisions. Much of an engineer's time is spent on researching, locating, applying, and transferring information. Indeed, research suggests engineers spend 56% of their time engaged in various information behaviours, including 14% actively searching for information.