This is an Engineer speaking...

Engineering is one career held in great awe by almost everyone. I, for one, am proud of (almost) being an Engineer. I landed up in mechanical engineering by chance. Throughout my engineering there were so many instances of pure luck that anyone might be compelled to declare that it was written in my destiny. Some of those instances fox me even today but, as an agnostic I am saved from being fooled by the high talk of destiny. Since my childhood, I never had a clear picture as to what career I wanted to get into. The only thing I always knew was that I will to make it big into something. Consider this -

After my 12th, I appeared for the AIEEE only because I wanted to stay back in Pune in the vacations instead of going back to my home town Solapur. Luckily, I cleared it and got an admission into BITS Ranchi. But suddenly that was not where I wanted to go. I wanted to stay back in Pune for some more time but I could find no reason strong enough to convince my parents. A thats when my dad asked me not to go to Ranchi and stay back in Pune with my sister as he did not want her to stay alone. So I took an admission in the then coveted MIT Mechanical. I opted for Mechanical because I was fascinated by Aeronautical and a lot of experts in the field of engineering recommended that Mechanical was the best branch if one intended to get into Aeronautical! But, I was not even sure of mechanical and I had filled up mechanical as my preference in the AIEEE quota form and Electronics and Computers in the regular CET form. Luckily, my AIEEE form was processed and I got my first preference. I found out how naive I had been in accepting that mechanical was the best road to Aeronautical by the end of my 1st semester. So I wanted to change my branch and get into computers. Luckily or unluckily, I fell ill during one of my papers and flunked. This disqualified me from branch change process and I had to stay in Mechanical. I almost lost my interest in mechanical. But, by the end of 2nd year, I started feeling at home in the most basic branch of engineering and began faring extremely well in the exams and topping the department. It seemed I was made for this very branch of engineering and it all seemed so logical and natural to me. Thats when I realized I had landed in the right place. Sheer luck huh!
Next was the time of placements. In the 5th sem (the last one that counts for placements in our college), I could not appear for 2 papers because of the sudden death of my grandfather. I was quite disappointed that I would miss the best companies. Then along came the company which had the best job profile I could imagine, in line with my future plans at the moment. This company came only on a very high percentage criteria and I was among the very few high percentage students left to be placed. Thats how I got the job of my dreams. Sheer luck huh! There were quite a few other events too but the above ones were the most glaring examples of unplanned events in my career.
Throughout these 4 years that I have spent in engineering, I have encountered countless people who seemed to be disillusioned as to what engineering exactly is. I heard a lot of question and statements such as -

"You should have opted for computers. Its more in demand."
"Why didn't you opt for electronics? Thats the branch for intelligent people."
"What does a mechanical guy have to do in the computer industry?"
"If you always wanted to get into business, why did you get into engineering?"
"Don't you think if you enter into the field of commerce/management, all the time you spent in learning design and machines would turn out to be a waste?"
"You are a mechanical engineer and yet you don't know what technology is used in which car?"
"A mechanical engineer is worth his mettle only if he works in a core company."

Some of them might seem naive to you, and with some you may identify your own beliefs. To me, they all signify one thing - lack of understanding of what engineering or any other course is all about. This was the one thing that disturbed me. It was in the 3rd year or so when I started searching for the real meaning of engineering. Somehow I could not digest that I was here to learn the text books or to score marks. The whole system looked hollow to me. But, soon I figured out what engineering actually meant and what it stood for. Thats when I started respecting engineering even more. Once I really understood engineering, it felt obvious that the various branches were just manifestations of the same thing. Thats when the boundaries between the branches faded and disappeared for me. It was then that I realized that it was not mechanical that made me happy, I might have equally enjoyed any other branch of engineering, actually it was the concept of engineering education that I enjoyed. If you ask me to name the one thing that engineering has taught me, I would say its not technology, its not design equations, its not thermodynamics, its not machining. It is - how to think. It has taught me that behind every design equation there is a well defined logic, it has taught me that the thought process that goes into designing any mechanism, the though process that goes into machining. Though its never stated explicitly, the aim of engineering is not to show you how things are done but, to demonstrate the power of the mind and imagination. It shows that even the intangible failure of materials can be fitted with an approximate failure theory. It shows that though man does not understand the exact nature of a few phenomenon, it is possible to hypothesize the reasons and fit an approximation that is a stone throw away from the exact solution.
People who just memorize design equations and claim to be designers are fooling themselves. Those who really understand it know that equations are not an end in itself, the thought process going into their derivation is the end and the equations are just a means towards this end. Isn't it true about every other course also? Take arts e.g., students are not there to learn the names of the master pieces of the masters but to understand what goes behind creating master pieces. The master pieces are not an end in itself, they are the means to a much higher end.
If an engineer fails to understand this, in my view that person is still an incomplete engineer. Sooner or later, s/he has to realize this because only then will s/he understand the actual worth of engineering.
The extent to which I feel about engineering might be evident from this feeling of mine that tomorrow, when I achieve any of the career goals that I have set for myself, though it may not be in the field of core engineering in the layman terms, I know that the engineering education I have had will be one of the strong pillars on which it will stand. I know that on the days when I shall put into practice all that engineering has taught me, not the equations but the thought process, the power of logic, those will be the times when I shall proudly reward myself by claiming to be an Engineer, a Mechanical Engineer!