The Worst Reason

“That’s the absolute worst reason!”

First day of Engineering 101 at Arizona State University and the professor asks us to introduce ourselves and say why we decided to study engineering. We hear several versions of:

·       I like to take things apart and my parents said I’d make a good engineer.

·       I’m good at math and science and my teachers said I’d enjoy engineering.

·       My dad’s an engineer and it was kind of expected of me.

Then it’s my turn and I say, “Because I heard engineers make a lot of money,” and the professor shouts, “That’s the absolute worst reason! You won’t last one semester, Mr. McAnally.”

He was wrong on both counts. It may not be a great reason, but it provided plenty of motivation for me to get my Bachelor of Science in Engineering and my first year out of school I felt wealthy for the first time in my life.

Those other reasons were good, too. The ones who liked to take things apart were mostly dismayed by two years of math and science, but the ones who stuck it out made excellent engineers. The math and science whizzes got through the first two years fine but sometimes floundered when they encountered the practical engineering problems of the junior year.

The attrition rate was high that first year and into the second. Rigorous coursework and seeing our friends in other majors frolic while we studied made engineering seem like a dubious choice at times. For those of us who persisted, the payoff in job satisfaction (including excellent pay) was well worth it.

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