“Wearing your heart on your sleeve” is the tendency of someone to express their emotions openly. In most professional settings, this is not a quality that is encouraged. We are tasked with analyzing issues objectively and performing our jobs in a logical manner, applying best engineering practices within the guidelines of the codes and standards we become intimate with over the course or our careers. Still, many of us feel the passion for the work we do. Sometimes this comes out during design collaboration when important decisions are being made. Other times, our passion comes out during the construction administration phase of a job when our designs are placed under a microscope.
During design, we collect information and communicate what we need to one another to do our jobs. This commonly involves information about utilities and what types of connections various pieces of equipment need. The quality of our designs and the passion that we put into them comes from within. We owe it to ourselves to develop the skills required to put a set of construction documents together that we can be proud of. The engineer stamping the documents may set the tone for level of quality required but, if the project milestones are planned and communicated in a reasonable way, any passion during this phase should involve pride, creativity and collaboration. Sometimes, there is a feeling of frustration that we could not spend more time putting our best foot forward, but that feeling usually subsides when the project team collectively “kicks the can” down the road.