People are drawn to engineering for a lot of different reasons, which is one of the brilliant things about the profession. You won’t gain much about hearing about other people’s cool projects. The important part is to reduce down to your core drivers and find an area that will scratch that itch.
To say “I like doing design” or “I like project management” (some people are masochists) is far too general. You need to really dig and probe as to why, in the most fundamental sense, you enjoy some jobs/days/tasks and not others. Then build back up to find an area that feeds that. For example:
- You had a very interesting meeting with a lot of smart people that got you charged up --> discussed a technical problem --> a chance to be creative and bounce ideas off people --> being creative
- Being creative --> non-prescriptive technical problems --> design/consulting
- I really didn’t like doing all that drafting --> I had nothing physical to show for my work --> I like leaving my mark
- Leaving your mark --> physical accomplishments --> construction/commissioning
- A customer called me today to ask advice on a problem they were having. I got off the phone feeling great --> having the answers to technical problems --> being the “go-to” guy
- Being the “go-to” guy --> develop into a technical expert --> R&D
Another trick is to, from time-to-time, pull away from concentrating on your day-to-day tasks and look at the bigger picture. Personally, my day-to-day tasks can get fairly repetitive with the odd very interesting problem that comes up. If I stay focused on that, I can get a little disgruntled. However, if I take a high level view of my job and focus on what it is I’m doing, in a broad sense, and the results of my efforts, I’m extremely proud and happy to be doing what I’m doing (I work for a utility on helping industrial customers reduce their energy consumption through equipment/process changes).
I believe it helps to look at your work as a part of a larger goal. If that goal speaks to you, then take pride in the fact that your work is an important step in accomplishing that. If that goal doesn’t speak to you and neither does the day-to-day, then maybe it’s time to find a new position (see above). Make sure that you clearly look at the job description, ask a lot of questions about the position during interviews and critique those against your interests and dislikes.
I strongly recommend being as much of a reductionalist as possible with your interest. You’ll find that things that you thought were important to you aren’t and vise-versa. This will help not just in your career but with all facets of life. Best of luck in finding what drives you!
