What inspired you, as a kid, to become an engineer?

Budding engineers can ofter be found everywhere. Even if they dont work in that industry....

My favorite site for these bits is http://thereifixedit.com/ where some great contraptions can be seen to do every day jobs.

I kind of stumbled into it as a means to an end. I had tooled around with Meccano and educational electronics kits (the ones with yards of wire stuck into little springs!) but I was more interested in the science side than engineering. Then at some point in my teens I became interested in electronic music so I wanted to build my own synthesiser. That was the hook. There were three things that inspired me to persevere with it:

(1) Seeing Kraftwerk on Tomorrow's World. These guys made their own instruments, they made great music with them, and they had electronic drums that they played with steel brushes!

(2) A photo of an EMS Synthi AKS in How It Works magazine. Pure techno-porn.

(3) 110 Waveform Generator Projects by R. M. Marston. A book full of interesting circuits, really well explained. Gave me my introduction to the world of op-amps, 4000 series CMOS chips and the lovely XR2206.

I never actually finished the synth, but the process of designing it taught me an awful lot, not least that I had an intuitive grasp of how electronic circuits worked.

"Did you ever end up making the synthesiser?"

No. I got as far as 2 VCOs, 2 VCAs and a keyboard. I kept changing my mind about the design and incorporating my new-found knowledge into it as I went along. In its last design incarnation it was a 6-voice digitally controlled polysynth.

Now that retro analog sounds are so sought-after I considered designing an analog synth and getting it manufactured, but there are other companies doing that already.

I was, and still am, a Sci-Fi nut/geek/freak - whatever - I'll answer to all of them so that probably helped!  Dad made sure I had Lego and a trainset as well as dolls, so equal opportunity toys filled the house.

However, the two main influences were my parents themselves.

My Dad was an Elecrical Distribution Engineer with Seeboard (South East Electricity Board, now EDF), and he would sometimes take me out with him to work when he was out in the field at a fault.  I was always treated very well by the foreman and the jointers and the tree-fellers - but I could see that Dad was the one with the authority and the responsibility, and they all respected and listened to him - powerful stuff to a young teenager!

My Mum was a Draughtsman for a ducting company, and although not at the same level as Dad, she went to engineering college in her youth with just an Arithmetics O-level.  She had to study O-Level Maths at the same time as doing her OND in Engineering - and she was the only woman in her class.  Once she got her qualifications, she struggled to find a technician's job, because "It would create the wrong atmosphere on the shop floor", having a woman in a group of men.  If this was a career worth fighting for back then, there must be something to it...

Once I showed an inclination towards Metalwork and Woodwork instead of Home Ec and Needlework, Mum and Dad both made sure on open days at the school that my choice would be respected come options time.  And when it came to choose a degree, with my strengths being in both Maths and Physics, engineering was the obvious choice.

Short story long, sorry - but I've never regretted it, I've almost always found the work interesting and changing enough to keep me happy and occupied!

Wendy

I have to admit I watch a lot of sci-fi and I think it is great how people were inspired to become engineers... ;-)

Here is some more inspiration for why it is important to have engineers designing solutions and applications which make our lives easier....

www.ti.com/thanks