Thinking outside the gear box – engineers and creativity.

I recently started working full time. It is the first time I’ve ever worked as an “engineer” and I’ve made some interesting revelations.

1) STEM (that is science, technology, engineering and mathematics) has some pretty obvious differences to the Arts. 2) The similarities are quite striking, provided you can dig through all of technical know-how first.

Everyone knows the concept of left and right brain functions, the logical and rational versus the creative and emotive. But are they really that different? Look, I’m no expert when it comes to biology or the complex inner workings of the human body but I’ve seen the creative spirit manifest in new and interesting ways and it is fascinating!

In a world where people strive to meet technological milestones and science is the leading requirement for university degrees, people tend to overlook the creative aspect of STEM. But it is there, glaringly obvious each time your team comes together for a brainstorming session or when you hit a roadblock in your work and scramble for a solution. Some would even say that engineering is the manifestation of creativity in the “real world”. The engineer’s bread and butter is innovation and often people shun it for the sake of logic and reasoning. The engineer serves to improve our lives, give it meaning or make it easier and is that not what artists do too? How is making a robot that can help you do your work and creating a piece of music that motivates people any different from each other? Too long have people argued over science and art, but are they really that different?