3 Reasons Why I Love Being an Industrial Engineer.

When I was in high school and thinking about my future, I told my mother that I was considering becoming an accountant. She looked at me and asked why. She thought it was a "male job". I said I didn't know; that maybe because I was good at math. After seeing her reaction and also thinking to become a math teacher like her, I went to school and asked the social worker if she had a book on potential fields to study.

My school was a poor public school. The only thing she was able to find for me was a catalog from the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez that had a description of all the fields and programs they offered at that time. She suggested taking a look at the engineering program. Up until that point, it had never occurred to me that I could become an engineer.

As I started reading about all the different engineering fields, two of them caught my attention, mechanical and industrial engineering. I had always liked assembling and dismantling things. The idea of working with machines and equipment was appealing to me. However, there was something about the description of industrial engineering and its relation to human factors, work systems, equipment and people that resonated in my head.

After pondering and thinking, I decided to go for that field. I love engineering so much that I have put together a list of things that I believe are the highlights of being an engineer:

1. You can see how  "nothing" becomes "something"- if you are a "results-oriented" person like me, then engineering will provide you a gratifying experience. The process of creating something out of an idea, a dream, or a concept is indescribable. I always get excited when a client or a colleague has a vision and through brainstorming, planning, and hard work, we make that vision become a reality.  
2. You can change "lives" - when I graduated, I started working on the medical devices manufacturing industry. Every day when I was at work,  I thought about how my job and the job of my employees could save a life. Especially when I was in charge of products used for surgeries in babies and infants. The same feeling I had when I was working for the government as owner's representative on one of the largest water distribution projects in Puerto Rico. There was a class lawsuit where some communities sued the government because they had no access to potable water. The scope consisted of small construction projects to build a series of water tanks, pumping stations, and pipeline installations to bring potable water to those communities. Dealing with multiple contractors and community complaints was not fun; however, once the project was completed, seeing grown people cry over getting potable water was priceless. 
3. You can work at anything - most of us who studied engineering are introverts. We usually limit ourselves and think we can only do one type of job. I am grateful that life has put people before me that have allowed me to work in many different fields such as public works, construction, marketing, and business development.  I approached each one of those jobs with an engineering mentality. I always thought of the vision first, the planning, scheduling, and what the end-result should be. When I left the manufacturing industry, which is a "customer-centric" industry, I started working for the government. I looked at the community as if they were our customers and I instilled that mentality on my employees. We had people coming to our office because they could not believe that we were working with work-orders and fill-rates. Yes, the same work-order system and fill rates rationale that I had used in manufacturing. If it works, why change it.

I believe in engineering, and this field of study has opened many doors for me. It has made me explore life, understand people, change people's quality of life, experiencing challenges, thinking out of the box, inventing, and creating. It has made me push myself, solve problems, look at a situation and wondering what else can be done.  I encourage you to read more about it. Perhaps you will find it as interesting as I do.