Reddit reviews Unwritten Laws of Engineering: Revised and Updated Edition

I gift this book to my interns:

Unwritten Laws of Engineering: Revised and Updated Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0791801624/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_.NCODbW2P4A2D

I rather like Unwritten Rules of Engineering. Quite short at 70 pages. While written in 1944 and for Engineers largely before CS was a profession the dynamics that happen in workplaces have not changed all that much. The negatives are fairly minor, it tends to advocate a more formal set of interactions which seem less common in some parts of the industry and that the booklet is written using he/him for the Engineer.

Some highlights

communication skills

• Simple unambiguous sentences are best
  
• know the audience you are communicating to. You would explain more in a communication with marketing vs a communication with your peers.
  
  interactions with your boss
  
  
• inform your boss of all important information or changes
  
• tasks that your boss assigns you are the most important task
  
• when you have a opportunity to choose the team you are working with evaluate the leadership. You want someone who will stimulate your growth.
  
  interpersonal interactions
  
  
• if you commit to doing something, do it
  
• if you don't know how to do it, seek help of people who do. Take notes so you don't need to ask again.
  
• if you know you are going to miss a deadline let your manager know before the deadline. work with your manager to communicate to the other parties that are expecting your work when they should expect the finished product
  
• if you represent your company to a client be mindful of what you say and what you promise

I think, well, are you getting interviews?

Your post, you just seem really down on yourself. Once you get one person to trust in you, to trust in your ability, that's what it takes to establish your career. It'll work for you once you trust in yourself and project confidence. I think one of the things, I got my start with a really small company (10 employees) and the post was on craigslist in a different state and I had no internship since I was a transfer student. I had to be adaptable. I remember after that position, I wasn't even in school and went to a different university's job fair and got an interview with the army corps as a result. If you think your cover letter isn't working, that's a fantastic way to meet recruiters face-to-face. It was kinda just trying anything and having perseverance.

Read that unwritten laws of engineering. I think it's a good thing to read about starting out. Don't think a job is below you. I'm out in the field right now struggling with transportation contractors. But it's been fantastic experience.

• The Unwritten Laws of Engineering by James G. Skakoon covering topics on "What the Beginner Needs to Learn at Once" in relation to work, supervisor, and colleagues as well as factors relating to engineering managers. A good quick read, dated but highly relevant.
  
  
• Universal Principles of Design by Lidwell, Holden, and Butler. Easy to digest, one principle per page. Some you know, some you never think about, some you didn't. Covers all sorts of different disciplines, but the principles can be applied to nearly every one.

Semi-related to the engineering mindset, this is a really excellent pamphlet/book thing originally from the 60s that contains a lot of timeless advice about being a good engineer:

"The Unwritten Laws of Engineering" by W.J. King

There's a bunch of different versions of it, but here is Amazon and a complete PDF

As much as the title bothers me, (they're literally written laws!!) when I feel frustrated by homework, professors, managers, or other sources of friction in engineering, I like to pick this up and remind myself of my place in the system.

Unwritten Laws of Engineering definitely helps you understand, and transition into, your professional role.

*edit: I guess it has engineering in the title, but there's no math! I swear.

amazon - $15

some of it

Further reading/research: (Not all of which I've gotten to read yet. Some of which may be quite tangentially relevant to the discussion at hand along with the books and sites I mentioned above. Consider this more a list of books pertaining to the history of technology, machining, metrology, some general science and good engineering texts.)

Dan Gelbart's Youtube Channel

Engineerguy's Youtube Channel

Nick Mueller's Youtube Channel

mrpete222/tubalcain's youtube channel

Tom Lipton (oxtools) Youtube Channel

Suburban Tool's Youtube Channel

NYCNC's Youtube Channel

Computer History Museum's Youtube Channel

History of Machine Tools, 1700-1910 by Steeds

Studies in the History of Machine Tools by Woodbury

A History of Machine Tools by Bradley

Tools for the Job: A History of Machine Tools to 1950 by The Science Museum

A History of Engineering Metrology by Hume

Tools and Machines by Barnard

The Testing of Machine Tools by Burley

Modern machine shop tools, their construction, operation and manipulation, including both hand and machine tools: a book of practical instruction by Humphrey & Dervoort

Machine-Shop Tools and Methods by Leonard

A Measure of All Things: The Story of Man and Measurement by Whitelaw

Handbook of Optical Metrology: Principles and Applications by Yoshizawa

Angle of Attack: Harrison Storms and the Race to the Moon by Gray

Machine Shop Training Course Vol 1 & 2 by Jones

A Century of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, 1882-1982

Numerical Control: Making a New Technology by Reintjes

History of Strength of Materials by Timoshenko

Rust: The Longest War by Waldman

The Companion Reference Book on Dial and Test Indicators: Based on our popular website www.longislandindicator.com by Meyer

Optical Shop Testing by Malacara

Lost Moon: The Preilous Voyage of Apollo 13 by Lovell and Kruger

Kelly: More Than My Share of It All by Johnson & Smith

Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Rich & Janos

Unwritten Laws of Engineering by King

Advanced Machine Work by Smith

Accurate Tool Work by Goodrich

Optical Tooling, for Precise Manufacture and Alignment by Kissam

The Martian: A Novel by Weir

Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain by Young Budynas & Sadegh

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design by Ashby

Slide Rule: The Autobiography of an Engineer by Shute

Cosmos by Sagan

Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners and Plumbing Handbook by Smith Carol Smith wrote a number of other great books such as Engineer to Win.

Tool & Cutter Sharpening by Hall

Handbook of Machine Tool Analysis by Marinescu, Ispas & Boboc

The Intel Trinity by Malone

Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals by Thompson

A Handbook on Tool Room Grinding

Tolerance Design: A Handbook for Developing Optimal Specifications by Creveling

Inspection and Gaging by Kennedy

Precision Engineering by Evans

Procedures in Experimental Physics by Strong

Dick's Encyclopedia of Practical Receipts and Processes or How They Did it in the 1870's by Dick

Flextures: Elements of Elastic Mechanisms by Smith

Precision Engineering by Venkatesh & Izman

Metal Cutting Theory and Practice by Stephenson & Agapiou

American Lathe Builders, 1810-1910 by Cope As mentioned in the above post, Kennth Cope did a series of books on early machine tool builders. This is one of them.

Shop Theory by Henry Ford Trade Shop

Learning the lost Art of Hand Scraping: From Eight Classic Machine Shop Textbooks A small collection of articles combined in one small book. Lindsay Publications was a smallish company that would collect, reprint or combine public domain source material related to machining and sell them at reasonable prices. They retired a few years ago and sold what rights and materials they had to another company.

How Round Is Your Circle?: Where Engineering and Mathematics Meet by Bryant & Sangwin

Machining & CNC Technology by Fitzpatrick

CNC Programming Handbook by Smid

Machine Shop Practice Vol 1 & 2 by Moltrecht

The Elements of Computing Systems: Building a Modern Computer from First Principles A fantastic book with tons of free online material, labs, and courses built around it. This book could take a 6th grader interested in learning, and teach them the fundamentals from scratch to design a basic computer processor and programming a simple OS etc.

Bosch Automotive Handbook by Bosch

Trajectory Planning for Automatic Machines and Robots by Biagiotti & Melchiorri

The Finite Element Method: Its Basis and Fundamentals by Zhu, Zienkiewicz and Taylor

Practical Treatise on Milling and Milling Machines by Brown & Sharpe

Grinding Technology by Krar & Oswold

Principles of Precision Engineering by Nakazawa & Takeguchi

Foundations of Ultra-Precision Mechanism Design by Smith

I.C.S. Reference Library, Volume 50: Working Chilled Iron, Planer Work, Shaper and Slotter Work, Drilling and Boring, Milling-Machine Work, Gear Calculations, Gear Cutting

I. C. S. Reference Library, Volume 51: Grinding, Bench, Vise, and Floor Work, Erecting, Shop Hints, Toolmaking, Gauges and Gauge Making, Dies and Die Making, Jigs and Jig Making
and many more ICS books on various engineering, technical and non-technical topics.

American Machinists' Handbook and Dictionary of Shop Terms: A Reference Book of Machine-Shop and Drawing-Room Data, Methods and Definitions, Seventh Edition by Colvin & Stanley

Modern Metal Cutting: A Practical Handbook by Sandvik

Mechanical Behavior of Materials by Dowling

Engineering Design by Dieter and Schmidt

[Creative Design of Products and Systems by Saeed]()

English and American Tool Builders by Roe

Machine Design by Norton

Control Systems by Nise

That doesn't include some random books I've found when traveling and visiting used book stores. :)

I’d like to recommend “Unwritten laws of engineering”. Great little book detailing workplace dynamics, accountability, and how to be an integral part of an engineering department. Here’s the amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Unwritten-Laws-Engineering-Revised-Updated/dp/0791801624?crid=1MCO22MGNU72H&keywords=unwritten+laws+of+engineering&qid=1536126994&sprefix=unwritten+&sr=8-1&ref=mp_s_a_1_1

Este es muy bueno. Unwritten laws of engineering

Unwritten Laws of Engineering: Revised and Updated Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0791801624/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_iEXYub12PRS8Y

A must have in my opinion

Have you read this yet? If not, it's time: https://smile.amazon.com/Unwritten-Laws-Engineering-Revised-Updated/dp/0791801624?sa-no-redirect=1

This book is what I get every one of our engineering interns - https://www.amazon.com/Unwritten-Laws-Engineering-Revised-Updated/dp/0791801624

Skunkworks is great. Super good insight into the growth of a career and how an engineer thinks.


https://www.amazon.com/Unwritten-Laws-Engineering-Revised-Updated/dp/0791801624/ref=mp_s_a_1_fkmrnull_1?crid=3VPKBNEXYOHHK&keywords=unwritten+rules+of+engineering&qid=1555021569&s=gateway&sprefix=unwritten+r&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

Here's this book. I hear it's good. Haven't read it myself

The Unwritten Laws of Engineering https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0791801624/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_HjgvybVGQCMBJ

Excerpted/summarised from Unwritten Laws of Engineering (worth a read in any case - it's good stuff). Mostly obvious, but enough managers screw some or all of these up that it's always worth reposting...

Pick your favourite 5.

For Engineering Supervisors

• Every executive must know what's going on in his bailiwick.
  
• Do not try to do it all yourself.
  
• Put first things first, in applying yourself to your job.
  
• Cultivate the habit of boiling matters down to their simplest terms.
  
• Do not get excited in engineering emergencies keep your feet on the ground.
  
• Engineering meetings should not be too large or too small.
  
• Cultivate the habit of making brisk, clean-cut decisions.
  
• Do not overlook the value of suitable preparation before announcing a major decision or policy.
  
• Plan your work, then work your plan.
  
• Be careful to freeze a new design when the development has progressed far enough.
  Constantly review developments and other activities to make certain that actual benefits are commensurate with costs in money, time and manpower.
  
• Make it a rule to require, and submit, regular periodic progress reports, as well as final reports on completed projects.
  
• Do not have too many people reporting directly to one person.
  
• Assign definite responsibilities.
  
• If you haven't enough legal authority assume as much as you need.
  
• Do not create bottlenecks.
  
  What Every Supervisor Owes His Workers
  
  
• Promote the personal and professional interests of your people on all occasions.
  
• Do not hang onto a person too selfishly when he is offered a better opportunity elsewhere.
  
• Do not short-circuit or override someone if you can possibly avoid it.
  
• You owe it to your workers to keep them properly informed.
  
• Do not criticize one of your people in front of others, especially his/her own subordinates.
  
• Show an interest in what your people are doing.
  
• Never miss a chance to commend or reward a person for a job well done.
  
• Always accept full responsibility for your group and the individuals in it.
  
• Do all that you can to see that each of your people gets all of the salary that he/she is entitled to.
  
• Include interested individuals in introductions, luncheons, etc., when entertaining visitors.
  
• Do all that you can to protect the personal interests of your people and their families, especially
  when they are in trouble.

There's a great book written about this very topic

https://www.amazon.com/Unwritten-Laws-Engineering-Revised-Updated/dp/0791801624/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484838190&sr=8-1&keywords=unwritten+rules+of+engineering

An oldie but a goodie.