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Title Fight

I was thinking about this the other day when I was talking
to a longtime customer of mine. He has a small machine shop where he runs
mainly prototype parts for the medical industry. He has two CNC mills, a CNC
lathe and a manual mill. It is really the stereotypical machine shop; band saw
in the corner, music playing in the background, the smell of strong coffee and
machine coolant fill the air and a mini fridge full of Red Bull and beer. But
if you were to ask him what his title is, he would say engineer. This is
because he has a mechanical engineering degree. I often joke with him and say I
wish I was much of an engineer as he is a machinist. I asked him straight up,
“You own a machine shop. Why don’t you consider yourself a machinist?” He told
me, “Because I am a hack. I was never really trained and I have no idea if what
I am doing is the right way to do it.” So is the right to a certain title, no
matter what it is, just a question of experience and confidence?
Being in the product
development field for as long as I have, I have met hundreds of engineers and
industrial designers. Some were great, some…not so great. But they all had that
sheepskin on their wall so they got the title. Now, I am not knocking higher
education. I feel that achieving a degree shows not only intelligence, but also
fortitude and dedication. Sitting through those thermal dynamic classes teaches
lifelong skills in mental toughness when faced with insurmountable boredom. But
does it make you an “Engineer”? I say no.
So what does make someone an engineer? Experience and
confidence. Think about what you do on a daily basis and think about how much
of that was covered by a professor. I am talking about the real important stuff
like filling out work orders, processing revision changes, making coffee,
material pricing, vendor relations, drinking coffee, learning five different
CAD softwares, filling out timesheets, making more coffee and working the
office alarm system. These are the things that make someone an engineer. It is
the same with being a machinist. I learned a lot during my apprenticeship, both
in class and on the job. But it is impossible to count the things I learned
over the years that I feel truly make me a machinist. I really think the same
could be said for just about any vocation. They don’t have a “Bedside Manner
101” class for doctors or a “How to Sell Your Art” class in art school. These
are things that the most successful people in their field stumble and learn on
the job.
With all of this experience also comes confidence. I
remember the first year of machining education. We would be handed a stack of
about a hundred drawings for a mold and we would have to sift through them and
come up with a plan to build it. I remember my stomach dropping as I sat there
with my mentor hoping he wouldn’t give me any of the hard stuff. But every
single time he would take the most challenging pieces and give me the mold
bases. I used to think he was being nice to me. But after a couple years we
were fighting over the more difficult parts. Not because we wanted to show off,
but because making those hard parts is what a machinist does. I have seen the
same thing with engineers. The more experienced engineer views a difficult
design requirement as type of personal challenge. It seems to me that engineers
that have been around the block never say, “That can’t be done,” they always
say, “How about trying it this way?” This is a sign of confidence. Confidence
in ones thought process and problem solving skills. Confidence knowing that
this is the reason this company hired me; because I am an incredible engineer.
With all of this being said, I do feel we fall back on
titles too much. I think titles limit both personal and corporate progress. Any
contribution to success should never be limited to what is printed on a
business card. Machinist, engineer, CEO, MBA, assembler or receptionist, to let
your title define you isn’t fair to you or anyone around you. Because the
second best machinist I know showed me how to cut gears and he is just an
Industrial Designer.
Labels: CAD, engineer, machinist, mechanical