Typical Engineer Story

Courtesy of Ram-Tech Construction Inc “Taichi” terminology was a norm word used by Malaysian as the act of shifting the blame / responsibilities to other individual or parties. Construction industry comprises of many teams from different fields. Some may have already known or works together while others are just total strangers. I would like to emphasize the four (4) primary players, the Architects, Civil & Structural Engineers, Quantity Surveyors and the Contractors. Architect will lead the team players and acts as the front line towards the respective clients. For design and build contracts, the contractors will be the pay master and appoint their own teams while the conventional contracts process appoint the team players separately. Good coordination is a must for the client to achieve their target and cost. Now, how would the “Taichi” fits into the picture? When one issue crop up and jeopardize the time frame and cost, all team players will scramble to issue thei

Image Courtesy of life975.com I still remember the very first day that I had reported to duty as Design Engineer in a small Engineering Consulting Firm. My superior simply handed over a sketched structural key plan and instructed me to perform the structural analysis and design. I did as he requested. Well, as many of the typical fresh graduate traits, I design strictly as what I had learned in the university. However, the nagging feeling of uncertainty struck me. Although I manage to design according to the codes, I am still unsure if the design was workable or not on site. Then, I refer my work to my superior. Mind you, he has more than 15 years of experience in structural engineering. Only two (2) things he looks at, the load and the sizing / reinforcement of the beams and columns. Within a minute his verdicts was: my design is not workable based on his "judgement" . I was instructed to review my design. So, how to develop the so-called engineering judgement

On April 18, 2015, The Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) held the 56th Annual Dinner at Sime Darby Convention Centre in Kuala Lumpur. The prime interest would be on the keynote on "Liberalisation of Engineering Services - The Wings For Engineers to Soar" by IEM President Dato' Ir. Lim Chow Hock. So, what is it in the keynote speech that would benefit us, the typical engineer :). Will liberalisation bring forth more invaluable opportunities or will it open the floodgate of foreign engineers to our small market? Some small players already spooked by the liberalisation of engineering services as they fear it will crowd the market and perhaps leave them out of business. To be fair, such perceived fears are understandable since the local players trying to protect their business and the influx of foreign engineering services may start of the bloody competition war. On the bright side, the local engineering firms also have the golden opportunities to export th