Which boxes are empty?

This story was told by one speaker during the 2003 Oath Taking of new agricultural engineers. Unfortunately I forgot the name of that speaker.

A soap manufacturing company was having problem regarding empty soap boxes that were dispatched out of the facility. The empty boxes that passed through the manufacturing line occured frequently that it alarmed the company management. They then invited engineers and inventors to find solution to this problem.

An electrical engineer came and presented a technologically advanced scanning device. The device was designed to see through the boxes and thereby determine whether a box is empty or not. The members of the board were amazed by the technology and were even more amazed when the engineer presented the price of the device. Too expensive!!!

Next, a mechanical engineer came and presented a weighing scale which could be installed at some point in the conveyor lines. Much simpler! Empty boxes should weigh less, however, considering the modifications required for the conveyor lines in order to install the equipment, the cost is still too expensive overall.

Finally, an agricultural engineer came in... and to the committee's amazement, he brought in nothing at all. All he did was demonstrate to the committee how light empty soap boxes can be blown away using an electric fan.

The Difference Between a Scientist and an Engineer

I once heard this story during a lecture of a great agricultural engineer who obviously was my idol way back in college. Here it goes:

During a convention, an engineer and a scientist, who actually was a mathematician, were a having a small talk along the corridor. They then a noticed a beautiful lady on the opposite side of the corridor. Being the typical gentlemen that most engineers are, the engineer asked the scientist: "If you are standing exactly 2 meters away from that lady, how many steps do you need to take in order for your lips to touch the lips of that lady on the condition that every step you take is exactly one-half the distance of the step that you have previously made?"

The scientists took a few a seconds thinking and then answered: "Impossible! That is ASSYMPTOTIC, on that condition, you can only get nearer and nearer to that lady but you can never touch her!"

The engineer, who was actually an agricultural engineer, grinned and said: "Oh! Three steps! All I need is three steps and the EXPANSION DUE TO HEAT BUILD UP will cover the remaining distance."

Let's walk the talk

Okay, this so-called "BS Agricultural Engineering" course has ruined many engineering dreams, or at least, hinders career growth. Now what?

A few days ago I received an e-mail from one of the few readers of this blog. It says 'enough for the negative publicity about agricultural engineering'. What is important now is to know what to do. Hundreds of high school graduates will then be lured into this trap, fresh BSAE graduates are now spending considerable amount of money for their licensure exam this month, and even more old graduates, licensed on non-licensed, are now struggling for job that could at least gain them independence from parents and relatives. I have been trying to think of some options to address this issue. Here is a list of what I came up with:

1. Abolish Agricultural Engineering from all colleges and universities in the Philippines. This sounds like a summary execution but this is only an option.

2. Name change. I have worked with quite a number of engineers for 5 years and yet I have not met one who could understand thermodynamics and heat transfer better than agricultural engineers do. I have met electrical engineers who are good in engineering economics but, in general, not as good as agricultural engineers. I also suppose only agricultural engineers can explain "humidity" to a layman farmer. If you say you are an agricultural engineer, would anyone believe that you understand all these things?

3. Agricultural engineers should be allowed to take the licensure exams of other engineering degrees. This would be similar to the case of BS Agricultural Chemistry. Ag Chem is a 5-year course but their licensure exam is that of BS Chem, a 4-year course. For ag engs, maybe those who specialize in irrigation and drainage engineering or agricultural structures should be allowed to take the CE licensure exam, probably with the requirements of some additonal courses. For machinery majors, maybe a few more courses to make them eligible for the ME licensure exam, and so on and so forth. The results would be agricultural engineers with CE or ME license or licensed CE specialized in irrigation and drainage engineering or agricultural structures. Perhaps an ME specialized in agricultural machinery or processing. Just my wild thoughts.

4. Curriculum change. Maybe we should bring back the days when agricultural engineering was just one of the majors in BS Agriculture. Maybe the curriculum change could make the lives of agricultural engineering students reasonably easier. They should have better career chances as agriculturists rather than "improvised engineers".

These are only my wild thoughts. I know that there brainy and/or more experienced people out there who have better ideas. I would appreciate it very much if you could post your thoughts as comments or replies to this blog.

5 years into the career trap

I am beginning to view agricultural engineering as a career trap; five years for the good ones, 6 on the average, while up to 10 years for the most devoted ones. :). Most students who took/are taking this degree are usually those who want to help this so-called agricultural country, improve the lives of our ever-poorest farmers, and are usually been exposed to the countryside environment at least once in their life. They are the ones who believe that farmers are still the backbone of the country, though not anymore it seems. They are the most adventurous and creative ones.

I remember when I was still a student I imagine myself driving an air conditioned and fully digital tractor with GPS tracking system. Sometimes even tilling a field with a remote controlled tractor or operating a fully automated piggery or livestock farm. Well, all these now belong to the IT guys, but I will have that in another story.

Where are we now? Stucked in the rut! Unemployed, discouraged workers giving up hope looking for job, new graduates in call centers, taking up other courses, machine operators working abroad, and many other sad stories. The most prestigious, I think, are those who have gone into teaching and research jobs. There are very few who are into engineering, though non-agricultural, but are paid way below their conterparts from other engineering fields.

Serving the country? Not realistic! One can not serve other people on an empty stomach. In my case, maybe I will practice agricultural engineering as a hobby later on, not as an income generating career.

I have worked with engineers from other fields, and, in my judgment, our advantage in terms of the use of engineering principles and knowledge is very much apparent. My problem is that I am trapped. Right now, my goal is to get off this career trap; maybe change my title, just the title.