Probably like many, my life ambitions shifted and changed dramatically whilst growing up, from originally wanting to be a doctor, it went to wanting to become an inventor to a tennis player to an engineer. Initially, I was attracted by what excited me and interested me, careers that I thought were cool, however as I grew older, a successful career became more and more orientated around gaining status and wealth.
Why wouldn’t it? Apart from all the celebrity culture, my very teachers would tell me that you better work hard or you will end up like that guy on the street. In all honesty, there is truth here, there is definitely importance in working hard to provide for our families and ourselves, exerting effort to put ourselves in a better postion.
When wealth is our objective, naturally, we begin to want more than we need, for luxuries and so on, which is a part of our instincts and totally healthy. However, the problem with gaining as much wealth as possible being the only objective is that it often leads to people adopting the “get rich or die trying” methodology. This involves people taking all means necessary even, if it be at expense to others and wider society or even themselves individually. For example, people who are not able to succeed in a respectable profession will seek other means of obtaining wealth and will hustle, steal and cheat to get there. We see this manifesting on epidemic levels not only in London, but around the world. This happens at both the lowest and highest levels of society from the cheating and scamming of corporate elites to crime on the street.
To give another example, both the headteacher of my primary and secondary school were suspended or removed for financial irregularities and theft. I could see that even those who had managed to become what was thought to be successful, a headteacher of a school or even a famous sports star were still involved in corrupt practices and were evidently, not content themselves. I thought this as certainly not a problem with their profession in and of itself but actually perhaps the reasoning and intentions behind their choice and pursuit. Perhaps, it was for wealth and status without a real enjoyment of the field or there was no greater objective to achieve within their fields that connected with our own wider purpose.
Consequently, there is a clear need for the presence of other objectives and criteria to take into consideration, including maintaining principles, working to improve the society around us and something that we enjoy and can engage in sustainably.
One of the primary reasons I chose engineering was that I could see the tangible effects the field has made and continues to make to the infrastructure of society and I was really excited to have the opportunity to be apart of this.
Another one of the main reasons why I chose engineering, as opposed to other fields which also have such a pivotal role in society such as medicine, was my strong interest in maths. Apart from the satisfaction of solving a difficult maths problem after exerting a lot of effort, I feel there is an intrinsic part of me that simply enjoys playing with numbers and solving mathematical problems. My interest in the sciences spread from here, as I would love to apply maths to help solve scientific problems, whilst looking at the world around me. It is not long after that when engineering became a key interest – many generic definitions of engineering are quite clear that it is the practical application of maths and sciences to solve problems to improve society.
Although, I am still not set in stone that I will become an x and y specific specialised engineer, I feel it more important to maintain a set of principles that align with our wider purpose which also allows us to adopt a more general path for the future. In the future, I would like to maintain three objectives which are to work in a field which has a positive effect on the world around me, keeps within moral principles and also work in a position that I enjoy. So far, I hope that my current undergraduate study of engineering is the start of this journey.
Danial Farooq's blog 