In a meeting of a building association’s board of trustees, the building administrator recommended purchase of a flange-type water sub-meter to monitor the loss of water from the building’s cooling towers. I suggested the engineer look at other ways to measure the water flow as the water meter would cost PhP 40,000 ($USD 666 approximately).
One trustee disagreed. He said the building needed the sub-meter immediately. A brief argument between me and the trustee ensued. The trustee said he is an engineer to which he judges a water sub-meter would be the best device to measure the water usage of the building’s cooling towers. I responded that I too am an engineer and that the building administrator could use a simple dipstick to measure the water levels of the cooling tower reservoir at different times of the day to deduce the volume of water used.
The trustee said “you are not an engineer!” I said, “I am an engineer!”
At that point, the presiding chairman shifted the discussion and asked the other trustees for their opinions. The other trustees voted in favour of the water sub-meter. I said I would not object, but I remained silent for the rest of the meeting.
The trustee who argued with me later apologised after I wrote an email to the board that I felt insulted being told I’m not an engineer.
I graduated as an industrial engineer (IE) in 1983, and I have practiced IE in my various jobs throughout my career.
IEs don’t have professional licenses in the Philippines where I work.
Many people don’t consider IEs as full-fledged engineers. It doesn’t help that many IEs themselves believe they are more managers than engineers. Some colleges have more courses in Industrial & Management Engineering than just Industrial Engineering alone.
This wasn’t the first time someone said I’m not an engineer. Some would flaunt their professional licenses as proof they are engineers versus the absence of one on my part.
I do get the need for licenses for engineers to practice professionally. Licensed structural engineers assure clients that the edifices they construct will be built to proper & updated standards. Licensed electrical engineers ensure homes will not be at high risk of electrical short-circuits. Licensed mechanical engineers make sure owners buy & install the right types of plumbing & machinery for their factories.
But even if I’m an IE who isn’t fully recognised as an engineer or a professional with a technical license or certificate, that doesn’t mean I don’t know or cannot apply some of the engineering principles I learned in school and from experience.
My engineering sense, if not common sense, told me that the building didn’t need to buy an expensive water meter to know how much water the building’s cooling towers were consuming every day. I didn’t need a license to qualify me to assert that the building administration could measure the daily water levels of the cooling tower reservoir to figure out the information needed.
Instead, my absence of a license and my college degree major was used to weaken the logic of my side of the argument.
We waste the talents, skills, and knowledge of people when we discriminate against their academic backgrounds and professional titles.
Ellery's Essays 