Question

1.	(a) Explain eight reasons why Engineers should follow their professional ethic code? (b) A technician engineer is an engineer who has completed a 3 year engineering studies from the tertiary institution mostly polytechnics. What are their importance to nation building and Give reasons why you are of the view that most of our Universities should be converted to Technical and Vocational institutions? (c) Everybody needs soft skills training, explain the soft skills training you have had and how has it change your life?
	(d) In your own perspective, how would the world look like without Engineers? Discuss seven (7) key areas. (e) No topic in Engineering ethics is more controversial than whistle – blowing. With your own case study, explain “Whistleblowing? (f) Technical training teaches the skills needed to design, develop, implement, maintain, support or operate a particular technology or related application, product or service. Explain three major points why you think training is necessary for you as a degree graduate and explain two reasons when you are untrained what happens to you?

Answer 1

a) It is very important for engineers to follow a certain professional code of ethics. Some reasons are given below

a) Integrity and Honesty - An important reason to have a code of ethics for professional engineers is it sets a standard for professional behavior. The standard of professional behavior provides the people who you work with and for a foundation of trust that you are going to operate in the project’s and public’s best interest.

b) Safety: A professional code helps to ensure what we design, build meets the minimum safety standards in that field of engineering.The things we help design, build, and maintain could result in a loss of life if we put profits, personal advancement, or anything else in front of people. A very good example is that when go the road to collect traffic counts, the professional code requires you to wear a dress which has a certain minimum level of luminiscence, so that other cars can see that you are standing on the road side.

c) When certain actions seem wrong: The code of Ethic can also offer guidance for an engineer if he has become aware of any practises in his day to day work that do not live up to the company's ethical standards and policies.  

d) Regulatory Issues: Regulatory issues are also legal issues but have more to do with processes and procedures than actually breaking the law. In very large engineering bids, these are always accompanied by legal contracts the professional code of ethics helps the bid preparer understand how to frame the contract document, so that their company is able to understand and risks and legal issues in the entire project.

e) Legal Issues: At a minimum, ethical behavior entails following the law. Many engineering conflicts between companies boil down to legal issues. While engineers don't feel the need to be aware of following the law, it is important that the code of ethics addresses it. For example if a company is forcing employers to work overtime without paying them, then a code of ethics helps them undertand that there are certain laws and guildelines about overtime

f) Actions against misconduct or professional negligence: Quite ofent in engineering projects, if a certain design fails or if the contractor has used a different amount of a substance or a different type of a substance from what was previously agreed, then one party can be in a position to claim any penalty from the other. The professional code of ethics (through its workplace and penalty guidelines) can help outline clearly what penalties are applicable in such instances

g) Transparency: Professional code of ethics is a standard document applicable to all engineers, and thus each professional engineer is clearly aware of the dos and donts both for himself and all other engineers in his professional.

h) Accountability : A professional engineer who has passed the PE exam, gains that extra responsiblity of being completely accountable for any engineering drawing that he signs off on. So if anything goes wrong, he can be held accountable. On the good side, anyone reviewing the drawing and seeing that it has been signed off by a PE feels confident that the drawing is correct.

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b) Polytechnic education plays a vital role in human resource development of a country by creating skilled manpower, enhancing industrial productivity and improving the quality of life. Technical Education covers courses and programs in engineering, architecture, town planning technology, management, pharmacy and applied arts and crafts, hotel management and catering technology.

A polytechnic engineer has got the basic engineering knowledge and understands how his work be it autocad drafting or drawing buliding plans helps an Engineer to display how the buiding looks. However polytechnic engineers never have the official engineering degree as mainstream engineers. This is why it is important to integrate all polytechnic universities into technical and vocational institutions.

Designated Engineers have always performed the role of backbone of a Nation and contributed a lion's share in its development. The purpose of engineering is to innovate, design, create and maintain products, system and equipment for the benefit and well being of humans. So by converting polytechnic universities to technical insttitutions, engineers and polytechnic engineers can work hand in hand and mutually benefit from each other.

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c) Everybody indeed does need soft skills training. The soft skills training which we typically get in our career are

a) communication skills

b) Leadership skills

c)Influencing skills

d)Interpersonal skills

e) Personal skills

f) Creativity skills

In my career as part of workforce training I had a chance to attend a training on leadership skills. The different types of leaders are they more micro managing or do they stay back and let their team do the work and only intervene when it is required. This softskill helped me immensely when i started managing multiple teams on diferent projects, because I had to deal with different individuals, and some of them preferred to be given their space. So i was able to slowly understand who needs more attention and where ane when my leadership was required and when it was not.

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a)) A world without engineers is difficult to believe. Some of the key things which come to mind are

b) No cities and no landscapes- without engineers we wont be able to design, and build cities and infrastructure

c) No innovations to create new ideas - engineers bring innovation, they come up with new ideas and out of the box thoughts.

d) No challenges to come up with a solution. - engineers breakdown complex problems to come up solutions.

e) No push to continously come up with solutions which improve on your previous solution - technology is always trying to create new gadgets, better solutions, without engineering we wont be donig this

f) No one to inspire - Engineers inspire the future generation with their innovative work

g) No way to travel - Without engineers there would be no cars and vehicles or transport modes, so you wouldnt be able to travel

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e) Whistle blowing happens when a person who informs on a person or organization regarded as engaging in an unlawful or immoral activity.

For example suppose in an office, every day I have been working late due to a project commitment, and I notice that a group of employees steals 25 sheets of paper daily from the printer and takes it home. This is something that the company cannot find out on its own. But as an honest worker, it is my responsibility to tell management that i feel this is a clear case of theft of office property. So in this case I am a whistle blower.

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f) A s a degree graduate, the three main types of training you need are

a) Technical Training

b) Soft skills training

c) Interpersonal skills training

Untrained graduates sometimes have difficulty making small presentations to their supervisor at work. Also they have got the degree coursework but have never faced industry challanges to deliver projects within time crunches. So a bit of trainig can help them.

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