5 Engineers: When did you know you wanted to be an engineer?

Welcome to our 5 Engineers section -- part of this blog and our Fun Friday newsletter, where we toss out a question and invite our audience to respond with their wittiest answers.

There’s a great post on EDN.com from the folks at Touchstone called “This engineering thing starts when you’re a kid.” In it Martin Tomasz shares how he came to engineering as a child, as early as when he was in a crib, then building electric locks for his room, and then eventually wiring his childhood home for a PA system.

Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of similar stories from folks who knew they wanted to be engineers at young ages. I’ve heard an equal amount of stories from folks who didn’t discover their calling until they were in college or working in a different industry all together. 

If you’ve found your calling, you’re in the lucky minority. Most 30, 40, 50-year olds I meet are still trying to figure it out (this is the real reason we ask kids what they want to be when they grow up – we’re looking for ideas!).

That brings us to this week’s question: When did you know you wanted to be an engineer? Were you a kid, were you in college, did you figure it out when you fixed your friends PC or when you rigged the family Christmas lights?

Share your story below. And be sure to stay tuned to this blog for more 5 Engineers questions in the weeks to come!