Essay on Engineering v/s Engineering Technology: Understanding the Difference

Engineering is viewed as being science-oriented which stresses on mathematics, engineering design, science and developments in various engineering research competencies. Besides, engineering technology is known to stress applications in engineering design, science, laboratory research competencies, and being practice-oriented. In the United States, many graduating students face difficulties in differentiating between engineering and engineering technology since they view engineering as a career. It is vital to elaborate on the meaning these terms since the overlap definitions confuse students. Engineering technology and engineering are professional fields which lead to successful careers. Students should assess their interests, abilities and individual objectives before getting into engineering technology and engineering. Since most graduating students enrol in engineering courses without realizing other alternatives which they can be successful, this paper will elaborate on the difference between engineering, innovation and engineering technology.

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The engineering technology and engineering students fit within the fields of technical and engineering careers. Many individuals claim that engineering technology education is a path to engineering careers emphasizing on the applications of technologies. Also, other individuals' states that engineering technology education prepares students to support the roles of real engineers (Ronald, 2012). These claims led to the development of Baccalaureate engineering technology programs which emphasized on theoretical and scientific aspects of engineering studies. The engineering programs led to the restoration of paths to the engineering careers which retained various applications of in the curriculum. Past engineering technologies were developed to educate technicians who were not associated with engineering schools. The engineers who had appropriate skills in both engineering and engineering technology had demand with professional and technical careers. The problem in the establishment of baccalaureate programs led to the adoption of engineering technology in colleges and technical schools. Therefore, issues in baccalaureate engineering technology and baccalaureate engineering led to the inability of students to differentiate the meaning of engineering and engineering technology.

Consequently, according to Pittsburg State University, engineering technology is part of a technology field which requires different applications of engineering and scientific knowledge and the techniques combined with technical skills that support engineering activities. Engineering technologist tends to implement designs present in the field of engineering. The program of engineering technology emphasizes applying the knowledge and practices in finding solutions to particular problems. Through the application of skills possessed by technologists, society can meet their current needs. Students who need to specialize in engineering technology take four years but those without the basic science and math courses take a longer duration. Therefore, after students graduate from colleges, they are referred to as engineering technologists, but in the industry, they are termed as engineers.

On the other hand, an engineer is an innovator who can use the knowledge of natural and engineering sciences, mathematics and engineering practices and principles to develop new products and systems. Engineers tend to consider ethical, economic, social and environmental issues when introducing new systems in the society. The program objectives in engineering are to offer the required knowledge in manufacturing and designing the state of art systems and products that are needed in meeting the needs of a society (Pittsburg State University). This act helps engineers in emphasizing on the development of methods of analysis and provision of solutions for the open-ended design issues. The graduates from different engineering schools become registered through documentation and examination of experiences. Therefore, after graduating most engineers move to the management positions, thus promoting development in the society.

Academicians and accreditors define engineering and engineering technology differently from the industry. Engineering programs consists of engineering design courses and fundamentals, thus being built on the foundation of science and mathematics courses. Also, accreditors indicate engineering programs focuses on the conceptual skills which help in improving the new systems and products. Also, academicians state that engineering technology programs tend to focus on applications, thus offering students with the introductory science and mathematics courses. Graduates are also provided with the qualitative introduction courses to engineering fundamentals. Therefore, the engineering and engineering technology programs offer their students with detailed knowledge which allows them to acts as designers.

In the industries, the spectrum of engineering jobs and their functions of engineers ranges from researching, testing and evaluations. Engineers in industries research on the safe nuclear power which cannot harm the environment through pollutions. Also, engineering programs in industries tend to develop new products and materials and later test and evaluate their effectiveness. Engineering technology in industries has the responsibility of distributing, conducting technical analysis, construction, production and manufacturing. Engineering technologists determine the process, methods, automation and tools to be used in the production sector. Also, they act as representatives in customer training and product installation. This responsibility helps the industry to ensure their clients are conversant with the services they access from the industry.

Therefore, reviewing the articles has helped me to differentiate between engineering and engineering technology. I have gained knowledge of the roles of engineering technologists and engineers in industries. The information present in the articles has allowed me to gain a diverse understanding of engineering technology programs which will help me in improving my studies. Most information in the articles is associated with the thing I study in my major. The study implies that both engineering and engineering technology are related since most students and graduates tend to do similar things.

References

Pittsburg State University. Engineering and Engineering Technology-a Comparison. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/TREVOR/Downloads/met%202.pdf

Ronald, E. (2012). Engineering Technologists Are Engineers. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/TREVOR/Downloads/met%201.pdf