Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[arnoldt]

Dear Teachers:
I�m confused by these 2 words: Engineering and Technologies and sincerely hope that you can help me as following:
1. Does Engineering = Technologies?
2. If they are not the same, then can Technologies covers up for Engineering? Or should Engineering covers up for Technologies?
3. When I�m introducing myself to others as that I�m working in the Engineering job, does it include from designing to mass-production/manufacturing? Or it just simply means that I�m only doing the designing kind of work, not including the manufacturing? And same question to Technologies?
4. Does Engineering only refer to the industry of machine or mechanism; or it can also cover up to the high tech of electronic? And how about the Technologies, does it only refer to the high tech of electronic or can it also cover up anything as also including the machinery?
5. If these 2 words are not the same and represent very differently; but in fact I�m really working from designing/engineering to production and from plastic, machinery to electronic, then can I just simply say I�m doing Engineering Technologies? Or does this sound better: I�m doing Technologies Engineering? Or should I put an �and� in-between, like I�m doing Engineering & Technologies? And does it matter which word should be came in first, like should it be I�m doing Engineering & Technologies or I�m doing Technologies & Engineering, will them sound differently?

So could you please kindly help me as above, and thanks a lot for your help in advance.

[ctillman]

Hello,

I was an electrical engineer for 13 years, now I'm a computer programmer.

1. Does Engineering = Technologies?

No, Tcchnology is much more general than Engineering.

2. If they are not the same, then can Technologies covers up for Engineering? Or should Engineering covers up for Technologies?

They are separate concepts. Try looking each one up in a dictionary, and see if you can tell the difference. But engineering is the discipline which figures out how to make practical use of a technology.

3. When I�m introducing myself to others as that I�m working in the Engineering job, does it include from designing to mass-production/manufacturing? Or it just simply means that I�m only doing the designing kind of work, not including the manufacturing? And same question to Technologies?

There are at least two brad classifications of engineering. There are design engineers and manufacturing engineers, each specializing in a particular part of production. There are also quality engineers, software engineers, ciivil engineers ... the list is quite long.

4. Does Engineering only refer to the industry of machine or mechanism; or it can also cover up to the high tech of electronic? And how about the Technologies, does it only refer to the high tech of electronic or can it also cover up anything as also including the machinery?

Mechanical engineers work with mechanical machinery, and electronics engineers work with electronics.

5. If these 2 words are not the same and represent very differently; but in fact I�m really working from designing/engineering to production and from plastic, machinery to electronic, then can I just simply say I�m doing Engineering Technologies? Or does this sound better: I�m doing Technologies Engineering? Or should I put an �and� in-between, like I�m doing Engineering & Technologies? And does it matter which word should be came in first, like should it be I�m doing Engineering & Technologies or I�m doing Technologies & Engineering, will them sound differently?

Engineering technologies would be those technologies specifically used in the engineering profession. There are many other technologies, for example the technology of interior design, or the technology of air conditioning repair.

You would probably never say Technologies Engineering. But any of the other 3 constructions are OK. For my money, though, if you're in Engineering I would just drop the Technologies part and stick with "I'm in Engineering". It's more understandable that way.

Chris