Engineering is no new term for you or me, right? This one word has changed the world literally. Science enthusiasts who want to do something remarkable in the field or anyone who seeks to build a reliable career all have researched a lot about it. And no doubt that the internet is flooded with thousands & thousands of posts on engineering. But what is important out there to look for? Let’s know about Engineering Fields in this article.
There is science behind every breathe, every move, and everything that surrounds us. There are broad fields in science dedicated to each, from our body (biology) to cooking (chemistry) and machines (mechanics). And the field of study that is “Engineering” is to make modifications and developments of unique ways to take advantage of the resources in the provided field. If humanity has developed and reached this point of advancement of computers, medicine, architecture, entertainment, and education are all the gifts of engineering.
In earlier times engineering was about building things, and now it is about creating things. If you will try to dig up the history of engineering it goes back to 1325 when first the word ‘engineer’
was coined. Engineering has been in the human race for as long as we can remember, which has provided us with uncountable benefits. From day-to-day life to professional work management, engineering has played its role here and everywhere. In a way we can say, humanity thrives on engineering.
What is ENGINEERING?
It is a branch of science to create, recreate and conduct the best possible practices which give the appropriate solution. The whole field of engineering is based on problem-solving and specializes in the use of basic knowledge of science and technology to put forth the solve a wide variety of problems applying to concerned areas.
Engineering is a discipline that includes designing, creating, and analyzing structures, devices, and machines by applying scientific theories and mathematical methods. It is a profession of utilizing the resources, make adjustments & technicalities to improve performance, or create to-do work much efficiently in a new way. It is the power of action to work artfully to build something about.
Engineering is vast in itself and constitutes broadly five major fields, which are then further divided into subfields. When students come to the point where they’ve to choose one field of engineering in there it gets tough to choose. First, because the fields are vast and increasing with variations & specialization in one, and second the availability of courses in one region hinders the other field of engineering. Few fields are combined to make another, for which one holds more scope in the future.
We can’t discuss every field and subfield in detail but here is a brief outlook of each subfield and what it works for.
MAJOR FIELDS
Before getting into the world of engineering, it is a point to note that with continuous engagement and unique ideas onboard new types of engineering fields are evolving daily. To which some go down as interdisciplinary and some go into multiple fields. It is confusing and it seems the same when I put it like that right? Well, have a look further and I will try to clear your doubts.
1. CIVIL ENGINEERING
The one who has their mind in infrastructures, this is the field for you! This field deals with designing, building, maintaining physical structures, Hence, you can understand, it is the oldest of all engineering fields. We have been constructing bridges, buildings, walls, tombs since forever. And the infamous ‘The seven wonders’ are a sheer presentation of the power and beauty one’s mind can hold through engineering. It focuses on different aspects like public, private, and government structures.
To name a few civil engineers who work on buildings, bridges, dams, airports, water supply systems, roads, and many more, the list only gets bigger.
Now, especially when the world needs environmentalists the most, many aspiring candidates specialize in eco-friendly architecture, which is a step towards saving the earth by combing climate change.
In these fields, we got at least 22 subfields:
Architectural engineering, Construction engineering – Both fields work with a combination of building designs, construction, and management of infrastructure.
Earthquake engineering, Coastal engineering – These two are inspectors of other fields to develop and prevent damage due to earthquakes and to preserve work in coastal areas respectively.
Energy engineering, Forest engineering, Geotechnical engineering, Mining/geological engineering, Solar engineering – All these fields are focused on extracting from nature, in addition to process and use of energy, forest, earth metals, solar energy.
Highway engineering, Hydraulic engineering, Railway systems engineering, River engineering, Ocean engineering, Traffic engineering, Transport engineering – The field of construction of the need of human transportation of roads, railways, waterways, etc.
Municipal/urban engineering, Sanitary engineering, Structural engineering – The fields of a constructed system in a city or town for a clean environment. Including toilet pipelines, rainwater systems, drainage, etc. to provide a civilized place to live.
Sustainable engineering, Utility engineering, Environmental engineering – After exploiting a massive amount of energy in nature, we realized it’s only degrading day by day, thus, to work to preserve and lower the use of fossil fuels, trees, and stop polluting water bodies. These fields are developed to build ways to sustain and utilize the resources smartly.
2. CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
Going by the name it already suggests that it has to do everything with chemicals. Chemistry in itself is the art of science, or to collect in simple words ‘The magic which is possible and logical.’ This field focuses on the principle of chemistry, biology, mathematics, and physics where engineers specialize to work on microbes, food, fuels, and drugs. Their objective is to run experiments and check, adapt, discover innovative processes. One crucial thing to work on is saving energy, how to use it in efficient ways? And to find alternative sources of energy. Transforming one energy to the other.
The work lifestyle of a chemical engineer is limited to performing experiments in a laboratory by using computer techniques. This field may seem the least exciting but, the whole concept of endeavoring different elements of humans, plants, or now the discovery of new particles
gives a sense of power one can only imagine.
There are 21 subfields under this field:
Bioengineering, Biomedical Engineering, Biomolecular engineering, Biotechnological
engineering, Cellular Engineering, Corrosion Engineering, Genetic engineering,
Materials engineering, Metallurgical engineering, Microbial Engineering,
Molecular engineering, Paper engineering, Petroleum engineering, pharmaceutical
engineering, Plastics engineering, Polymer engineering, Process engineering,
Textile engineering, Tissue engineering, Welding engineering.
Briefly, all these fields work on parts of biology, on cells, genes, usage of energy in the body or plant, and so on taking the elements of biology and curating with chemistry to engineer the best
possible ways to achieve unique processes as concerned. The production of plastic, fuels, paper, and extraction earth metals all come under this field.
Food Engineering – What engineering has to do with food? Well, the snacks you eat, packed goods which are preserved for later consumption, and shapes & taste all are works of an engineer. Engineering is everywhere indeed! The field of food engineering is to come up with scientific, academic, and professional fields interpreting the preparation of food with less hassle. Also, to use the processing, handling, storage, and packing of foods efficiently.
3. MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
As the name derives, Mechanical engineering deals with mechanical systems, and the devices in motion to do work. Such as power and energy systems, engines, compressors, kinematic chains, aerospace products, etc. Any product which is used in motion to fulfill the desired work comes under it. The engineers work to design and manufacture them with critical thinking of the laws of physics and mathematics. They understand and apply conceptual theories & research on data to transform them into functional machines.
Do you know? The working of a common mechanical pencil is also a contribution to mechanical engineering. When you look harder into the daily products many are the outputs of mechanical engineering easing our work, which offers comfort. Most simple items also display the working of mechanics like spray bottles, locks & keys, bicycle bells, etc.
This includes 12 subfields:
Acoustical engineering – Acoustic does ring a bell, right? Yes, metaphorically and the field of engineering deals with sound and vibration. The engineers stand out to design, analyze and control sound.
Aeronautical engineering – The field of engineers in manufacturing, studying, and designing flight-capable machines. They are usually involved in projects of spacecraft, satellites, and missiles.
Aerospace engineering – Focusing on the theoretical approach of flight-related constructions, and basically up for designing, development, testing, and production of aircraft within earth’s
atmosphere.
Agricultural engineering – The field focused on agriculture development by combining various disciplines. The engineers study and apply engineering science to design ways for agricultural
purposes.
Astronautical engineering – The field dedicated to designing and developing spacecraft inside and outside the earth’s atmosphere.
Automotive engineering – This is a subfield that works along with other engineers to design and test essential features of an automotive. Includes brake system, engines, fuel equipment, and transmission inside of a vehicle.
Marine engineering – The field dealing with the construction and maintenance of all sailing vessels. They work on the design, consumption, technology, and efficiency of marine transports. Also, maintaining mechanical equipment for docks and harbor.
Power plant engineering – The workers in this field are responsible for everyday operations in a power plant. They do operational testing, provide preventive methods, etc. by closely associate with plant personnel operators.
Robotics engineering – Easy to decipher, isn’t it? The name suggests the field operating robots, technical engineers dedicated to building, function, maintain robots for industries or services.
Sports engineering – Excelling in technical skills, a sports engineer applies engineering methods to find a solution in the area of sports.
Thermal engineering – Engineers dealing with heat energy i.e in this field, you specialize in energy movement.
Wind engineering – Applied to physics and meteorology, structural and mechanical engineering it analyses the natural build of wind. The engineers study and predict wind movements to look at
advantages and disadvantages.
4. ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Electricity is a boon to humankind yet, nowadays we are so relied and addicted to it that without electricity or certain electrical appliances it is not possible to spend a single day. And all
of this is the gift of electrical engineering where engineers design, test and maintain electrical products and electronics. From this equipment, we produce electricity or also transform energy as per our need. The work focuses on both small objects and large objects from microchips, wiring in houses to satellites or big generators.
Electrical engineering has been in the picture since the 19th century which is a bit late than other fields of engineering. However, I won’t be wrong to say electrical engineering has excellently advanced than any other field.
13 subfields:
Computer engineering – The engineers working on new computers hardware and software.
They serve to design computer architecture and function.
Data engineering – The field of work that includes the preparation of data for further analytical purposes. Building data pipelines by collecting information from numerous resources is one prime function of the field.
Electronics engineering – The engineers playing with the electromagnetic spectrum, and use
the concepts to generate electronic devices as integrated circuits.
Hardware engineering – The major work with physical components of the computer system.
The engineers are responsible to design, produce, and test computer systems.
Information technology engineering – This field got many purposes such as organization
planning, business re-engineering, system re-engineering, and application development. ITE has an architectural approach towards the normal work ethic of engineering.
Mechatronics engineering – This field is interdisciplinary which takes part in the integration of mechanical, electronic, and electrical engineering. This field works cooperatively under combinations of robotics, electronics, computer science, and telecommunications.
Microelectronic engineering – If playing with prototypes is a career then, this is it. The whole idea of this field is planning and constructing prototypes of electronic circuits, the aim is to achieve more stable and efficient products by applying knowledge of mechanical systems, materials, and electronics.
Nanoengineering – Nano meaning small, so basically the fields deal with very small-scale materials on which the engineers work. They focus to study them briefly and develop & refine as well.
Network engineering – Understanding networks can be complicated and thus, we have designated engineers to lay a foundation of an IT system. The fields focus on planning, constructing, and managing huge networks by optimizing and set to the correct functioning as intended.
Optical engineering – Tough field to make use of optics i.e light. The engineers solve the problems by application of optics with designing and building devices to use light in a specific manner.
Power engineering – A subfield using energy and electrical engineering to generate transmission, distribute & utilize electric power. And to have more applications to generators and transformers.
Telecommunications engineering – The field is narrowed to electrical and computer engineering. The engineers help to support and enhance telecommunication systems all over the globe. Focused to work on high-speed data transmission.
Web engineering – Dealing with web-based applications, the engineers need to use principles for the development, operation, and maintenance of approaches for web-based applications.
5. INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING
Being set to the ground as an interdisciplinary field in engineering, which is a combination of manufacturing, safety, reliability, component, system, and construction engineering. Now you may question, why among all other fields why we see industrial engineering on board with the basic fields?
The answer is, this one field confides to the industrial work which has a very important role in the development of countries. It combines the ideas of engineering with the principles of the
business. As explained earlier this field objective is to manufacture and improve quality with a sense of reliability. Industrial engineering is about productivity under whatever condition you are out into, and that’s why this field demands communication and team spirit. Your goal for a day should be to practice engagement to provide safe and effective designs for facilities and
information systems.
8 subfields:
Apparel engineering – Apparel engineering is a group of fields closely associated with textile engineering which includes the production of clothes on an industrial basis, for sale to the public. The job includes the responsibility of applying efficient techniques to reduce human labor and improve quality as much as possible.
Component engineering – Component engineering is a field to ensure the availability of resources or the desired components for the production of a particular product.
Financial engineering – To put it simply, this field uses mathematical models or techniques to find a solution to the financial problems of industry.
Fire protection engineering – As defined by the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) is to analyze fire hazards, minimize the damage to the environment by proving proper designs, and ultimately protect people in any destructive fire cases. These field models offer protection against fire accidents by the applications of science and engineering concepts.
Manufacturing engineering – It is the field of construction of designs and operation of integrated systems, including robots, large industrial equipment, and computer networks.
Safety engineering – This field plays a crucial role because it covers all of the industrial fields to provide safety in case of accidents.
Supply chain engineering – The field which deals with logistics, production, and pricing. All that constitutes concern designing, planning, and operating supply chains.
Systems engineering – It is a field in-between industrial and management of engineering which includes the involvement of structural, electrical, mechanical, power, and many more engineers. The main principle is to run analysis on complex systems by designing and integrating.
CONCLUSION
Engineers and engineering fields are growing daily, matter of fact is what one does to implement the ways of engineering to preserve this world. This is a tool for advancement, and not for the demolition of humankind. We need to be aware of the fact the more we will use our earth’s resources we have to pay for it. Engineering has been focused to integrate and mould the right shape, the right way of the process. It has provided us with luxury and the same will do so in
future.
Though we can’t label one engineering field as the most important there are a couple that can be called curial for survival and a few which are in demand.
FAQs
1. Why we are talking about engineering?
Simply because engineering has taken over our lives. It has made ways to occupy us in every second of our life. Hence, there is a future with engineering. Not those other things don’t matter. But the concept of engineering has the most to do with our living and you would want to study more about it.
2. Is engineering a good career?
Yes. Of course, if you are into science and
research the field of engineering is made for such people. It has so many
applications which allow you to get into thousands of jobs. And the scale of
pay is also great even at the starting package.
3. How problem-solving comes under engineering?
To say it in one go, engineering is all
about picking new problems and seek solutions. Any engineering exercise puts
you into problem-solving to broaden the ideas of your mind, to think, and learn
fast. It is not limited to engineering; any technical field knows the
importance of problem-solving.
4. Which engineering field to choose?
It is an obvious question as the numerous engineering fields specialize in one or more. Patiently do our research about the fields you like the most. Make a list that field is into, can you do it every day? Do you enjoy being in the process of problem-solving? Take your decision by identifying what field gives you the biggest buzz.
5. What are the expectations from an engineer?
Being an engineer is a great responsibility in any field of work. The demand to become an
engineer is increasing with time, industries, researchers want more skillful people specializing in a certain field. And to learn all required skills doesn’t come in handy with the studies, you need to be dedicated to it. You should have a focused mind to be hardworking, a problem-solver, and a deep thinker.