My wife and I recently bought our first dog. She’s a Goldendoodle we named Massey, as in Massey Ferguson tractors. My Agricultural Engineering readers can consider that a nod in their direction ;-)

In any case, this purchase was something that happened a little bit out of the blue. Don’t get me wrong – my wife and I had talked about buying a dog for ages. The opportunity to do so, however, just kind of came out of the blue.

Now that we’ve had her for a couple weeks, I’ve had a chance to learn some lessons from the family quadruped. The more I thought about it, the more I realized these lessons can be applied to any working engineer.

4 Engineering Lessons From My Puppy

1. Take the plunge! Good things happen. Like I said before, my wife and I talked about this for ages. We knew what kind of dog we wanted. We had worked out who would come home at lunch to let her out. We had investigated obedience training. We had talked this thing to death, then finally an opportunity came up to buy our pup. It was scary as hell when we did, because all of a sudden our fun ideas became real. And you know what? Turns out everything is working out OK. Life is different to be sure, and we’re still not 100% settled into a new routine, but it’s good.

I like to think of opportunities for engineers as being similar. If you just jump into something, it tends to work out well. Just do it!

2. It’s never as bad as it seems. So, it turns out that taking care of a pup is a heck of a lot of work. From starting my day at 5AM to take her out, to giving up my lunch breaks to drive home and feed her, waking up throughout the night when she wines to go out… the list goes on. Now, that may all seem like a pretty bad time, but it’s not, really. Once you get into the swing of things, it’s just the way you start to operate.

Tasks at work can be the same way. You avoid reviewing a test report because it’s 158 pages long and it looks so boring. You postpone getting started on a big project you’ve been assigned because you don’t know where to start. If you just sink your teeth into though, you’ll be done before you know it, and it’s almost never as bad as it seems at the outset. The anticipation of something is often for more exciting or far more daunting than it should be in reality – keep that in mind.

3. Working can be fun. I’m serious! You can have fun getting things done if you so chose. Do I inherently love waking up at 5AM to take my dog out? Nope. That said, every time I do it, I realize that my dog is responding better and better to commands and we’re getting into the swing of things. I make a game of getting her to sit so I can put her leash on her. I celebrate the victories of her peeing outside instead of in my kitchen. Getting things done can be fun if you can keep perspective on what constitutes progress.

Engineering is the same way. Sure, reviewing a schematic for the fourth time can be dry. But – if you can think of the work you do in the context of the greater picture – in my case, I’m helping build a train – that means doing the mundane all of a sudden becomes important, and that can make the work actually pretty fun.  For those that doubt that work can be fun, look up the Seattle Pike Place Fish Co. I dare you.

4. It moves fast – enjoy the now while looking forward to the future. It occurred to me that our young pup is growing by about 2 lbs a week. That’s a lot of kibble. Within the span a a few months, Massey definitely won’t be a pup anymore. As much work as it is to train a puppy, and as much as I’m excited for her to stop chewing the legs my kitchen chairs, I’m letting myself really enjoy this phase of her life, She’ll be a puppy for less than a year. Gotta make the most of it!

Your career is the same way. It’s really easy to keep your sights set on what lies ahead, and that’s a good thing. What’s harder is to appreciate the here and now. Being present in any given moment in time is an incredible skill. Harness it, and practice it.

Closing Thoughts

What lessons would you like to share with your engineering colleagues? Let us know in the comments section below!

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