I can’t get this handle off. Pass me the hacksaw, will you?

Here's a trick question: How many working mechanical engineers are there in Singapore?

More to the point: How many design mechanical engineers are there in Singapore?

Engineering is not a job which pays well. Engineering is not a job which brings you fame either. You go into engineering, not because of the fame or fortune. You go into engineering because you have an interest in engineering.

And in the materialistic society of Singapore, if a job doesn't pay well, then its not worth working for. That is why our country is filled with business people, executive people, IT people, media people, financial people, accounting people, law people and doctor people. But few, if any, engineers.

How many students have studied and graduated with a engineering degree but are currently in a non-engineering job?

As for the engineers in Singapore, how many are not in the manufacturing sector? How many engineers are not in the sales sector? How many engineers are not in the electronics industry? How many engineers are not in the petrochemical industry?

More to the point: How many engineers are in the renewable energy industry? How many mechanical engineers are designers? How many engineers are in the M&E industry?

The engineering design knowledge base in Singapore is sorely lacking. More than that: its pitiful. How many mechanical engineers can claim to have design something in full, put it into production and watch it work successfully?

There was once an outcry about the lack of innovation and creativity in our country. That is simply the result of not having enough designers. Innovation and creativity are not subjects which can be taught in school, learned from the book or explained by a lecturer.

Art, yes. But not innovation and creativity.

Innovation and creativity comes from within. It comes from a need because of ambition or constraints, so engineers have to think out of the box. There is no point in being innovative or creative when it doesn't work. There is no point in being innovative or creative when there is alternative simple working solution.

Case in point: The Mercedes Benz 300 SL Gullwing was the first car to have gullwing doors. Not because the engineers wanted to be innovative or creative. It was because of the constraints they faced.



"Now, because of the way it was built, the door sills on the SL were very high and yet the roof was very low. That meant that there wasn't much room for the doors.

The solution came from engineers simply being practical, but it gave this car the most famous frontal silhouette in motoring history."
- James May in "Top Gear" Season Five Episode Five