An engineer's training helps to systematically analyze complex information and apply a holistic approach in design solutions

When we talk about engineering, we are talking about a wide range. There are many types of engineering fields in today's world, i.e. mechanical, electrical, computering, bioengineering... And even though they are of different fields, they all have one thing in common, and that is engineers exists to solve problems.

An engineering education is no doubt different from any education provided in the world. And in Singapore, the curriculum design and pedagogical approaches train the mind to systematically analyze complex sets of information and to apply systems thinking in designing solutions. The nest few subsequent paragraphs will briefly describe how an engineer would deal with a problem at hand.

Firstly, there has to be a problem. So for example, a client requires his car to be built with his expectations, basically, wants his car to be customise. An engineer first job would be to know what the specifications his client wants are. It is the specifications that would determine how an engineer would approach and get the final product done. Once specifications have been determine, he has to consider factors that would affect the performance of the product and to see if the product were to be of what the client expect it to be.

With factors and specifications included, he can start off by coming up with a design or many designs. These designs would give him a rough start. Before the actual product can be built, a model has to be constructed. The model comes in with many benefits; i.e The model can be used to determine if it is safe or very safe to be use by operators. It also would help him to see if all factors considered were to be valid or non-valid. And the model can be put through tests to determine if when a actual product was design, would there be any defects or unforeseen problems. All these would help to prevent additional cost in productions should there be any defects or problems that would or might occur when actual products were built.

With all conditions and safety tested, the engineer can finally build a prototype and wait for approval. However, in the above descriptions, the steps involved may be simple yet the processes are very long and very tedious and in most projects, it would involve many engineers as there will be many details to be cover.