On becoming an engineer part II: Staying power: Part II advises that you become a firmly anchored professional. Be a good technician, but don't become one. Above all, apply the engineering method

Once you have an engineering job, your lifetime task of remaining an engineer starts. In this second of three articles about your transition from the classroom to the “real world,” I suggest that you learn how to be a good technician, but that you carefully avoid actually becoming one, that you use the “engineering method,” and that you keep yourself well-equipped with good tools.