Seven Lessons I Wish I Knew Starting Out

When I was in college, I thought engineering was about equations, CAD models, and reports. Those were the assignments in front of me, so that’s how I defined the job. Over time, I’ve come to realize that the real work of engineering is much more than that. 

As I reflect, here are seven lessons I wish I had learned earlier in my schooling or career. 

1. Engineering Is Problem Solving 

It sounds obvious, but this is often misunderstood. It’s easy to confuse the tools for the job. CAD, simulations, calculations. Those matter, but they’re just means to an end. The real work is defining the challenge, figuring out what actually matters, and charting a path forward that solves it. 

Sometimes that problem is a broken process on the floor. Sometimes it’s a tolerance stack-up that doesn’t fit. Sometimes it’s a customer who’s frustrated because what we delivered didn’t meet the need. The surface details change, but the job doesn’t. 

The best engineers I’ve worked with aren’t defined by the tools they use. They’re defined by their ability to move from “problem” to “solution.” 

How to practice it now: The next time you’re given an assignment, a project, or a lab, stop before you dive into the work. Don’t open the software. Don’t start calculating. First, write down the problem in your own words. Then, explain why it matters. If you can’t explain the problem clearly, you don’t yet have a shot at solving it in a way that matters. 

2. Everything Starts With First Principles 

Most people operate on layers of assumptions and status quo rules. That will get you by for a while. But it only works until the problem shifts, or the old playbook no longer applies. 

If you truly want to improve something (not just patch it or fix it), you have to strip it back to first principles. First principles are the truths that don’t move. Physics. Math. Logic. The things that will still be true long after the current method or tool is obsolete. If you don’t understand a situation through that lens, then your changes are guesswork and your options are limited. 

When you understand the situation at the deepest level, you give yourself the chance to solve root causes and make legitimate improvements. Without that clarity, you’re stuck treating symptoms. 

How to practice it now: The next time you’re stuck, don’t go hunting for a similar example to copy. Slow down. Ask yourself: What has to be true here? What are the governing equations, the physical realities, the logical constraints? Write down two or three of them. Then, build back up from there. It will feel slower at first, but it trains your mind to see what’s actually happening. Over time, that habit becomes the foundation for meaningful optimization and lasting improvement. 

3. Engineering Is About Judgment. With Limited Information. 

You will almost never have perfect data. You will almost never have unlimited time. If you did, there would be no decision to make. No need for your role. 

Engineering isn’t about waiting for certainty. It’s about knowing what information is essential, gathering it as best you can, and then making a call. Not a guess. A judgment. 

This is what separates the engineers who move projects forward from those who stall out. The ones who are always waiting for one more test, one more meeting, one more piece of data. Yes, it’s safer to say “I don’t know enough yet” than it is to take responsibility for a decision. But at some point, waiting becomes an excuse. And it’s lazy.  

The best engineers don’t confuse judgment with recklessness. They aren’t shooting from the hip. They’re disciplined about asking: What are the real risks here? What must I know before I move forward? And once they have enough to frame the problem, they decide and own the outcome. 

How to practice it now: On your next group project, resist the instinct to wait until you’re 100 percent sure. Force yourself to decide when you’re at 70 percent. Then test it. Afterwards, ask: Was I wrong? If so, why? What did I save by not waiting? Judgment isn’t about never missing. It’s about building the discipline to make calls under uncertainty and then refining those calls as you learn. That’s what turns incomplete information into progress. 

4. You Can’t Solve Real Problems From A Desk 

Particularly in any role that touches a physical product (design, manufacturing, process, tooling, equipment), reality lives on the production floor. 

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve tried to solve something behind a desk only to realize later that the answer was obvious once I went to see it for myself. And usually faster, too. 

Models, drawings, and simulations are all helpful. But they’re still abstractions. Operators and technicians see the process every day. They notice the small things: the way a part catches on a fixture, the sound a machine makes when it’s off, the subtle frustration in repeating the same workaround. Those details rarely make it back to the drawing. But they’re often the difference between a solution that looks right and a solution that actually works. 

How to practice it now: If you’re working, don’t chain yourself to a CAD screen. Go walk the line. Stand with an operator. Ask them what slows them down, or what frustrates them about the design. If you’re in school, spend extra time in the lab during testing. Don’t just collect data points. Watch the system behave. Listen for the small mismatches between the model and the reality. Train yourself to see through the eyes of the people closest to the work. That habit will change the way you design. It’s what separates engineers who solve problems on paper from engineers who solve problems in the real world. 

5. Learn The System, Not Just The Task 

Every role is part of a larger system. And systems can’t be optimized by squeezing each piece in isolation. True improvement only happens when you step back and see how the whole thing fits together. 

That means understanding how your work connects. How design choices ripple into manufacturing, quality, and cost. How packaging affects not just your operators, but the customer unpacking it on the other end. How sales commitments shape hiring needs and even cultural pressure inside the plant. 

System thinkers don’t just patch the symptom in front of them. They look downstream. They ask what new problems might be created by the fix. They connect dots others don’t even notice. And that’s what makes them so valuable. They prevent fires before they start. 

How to practice it now: On your next project, don’t stop once you’ve handed off your piece. Ask: Who touches this next? What do they need from it? Try sketching a simple map of how your work flows through the system. It won’t be perfect, but that’s not the point. The act of mapping forces you to zoom out. And once you learn to zoom out, you’ll start to see ripple effects that most people ignore. That’s where judgment and real impact begin. 

6. Ownership Is A Choice, Not A Title 

Leadership doesn’t start when someone gives you a title. It starts the moment you decide to carry weight that others won’t. It’s the moment you choose ownership.  

Ownership means seeing a problem and taking responsibility for solving it, even when it’s not in your job description. It’s always easier to stop where the org chart says your responsibility ends. To say, “That’s not mine.” But the people who choose ownership anyway are the ones who grow into leaders long before the title shows up. They’re the ones who make the greatest impact because the work moves forward when they step in. 

Titles come later. Ownership always comes first. 

How to practice it now: On your next team assignment, look for the piece nobody is touching. Pick it up and own it. Don’t wait for permission. Don’t wait for someone else to assign it. Just move it forward. Not as a martyr, but as a teammate who wants the group to succeed. If you repeat that choice long enough, people will start trusting you with more weight. That’s how leadership actually begins. 

7. Hard Problems Are The Point 

As mentioned, engineering is problem solving, which means the real growth, the real impact, and the real fulfillment comes from tackling the problems that matter most. 

Not the easy ones. Not the glamorous ones. The problems that actually move the organization forward. 

And more often than not, those are the hard problems. The ones everyone else avoids. The ones that look messy, uncertain, or frustrating. Early in your career, those should be the ones that draw you in because learning is the job. Every tough problem you step into builds judgment, skill, and resilience. Each one stretches your capacity to tackle bigger problems the next time. 

That’s how you grow into an engineer who can handle complexity. Not by repeating what you already know, but by being stretched again and again. 

How to practice it now: Don’t avoid the hard professor, the tough class, or the messy project. Don’t turn down the work assignment that looks overwhelming. Lean into it. When you feel frustrated, that’s usually a sign you’re at the edge of growth. Stay with it. That edge is where you build the capability you’ll rely on later. 

Start Building These Habits

You don’t have to master these lessons today. But you can start practicing them now, in small ways. On your projects. In your internships. Even in how you handle your coursework. 

Over time, these are some of the habits that separate people who are good from those who are great. Not because they’re flashy, but because they matter. And because most people won’t do them. Start building these habits now, and you’ll grow into an engineer who doesn’t just complete assignments but actually shapes solutions.  

Which of these lessons are you most eager to apply? 

Send me an email or let me know in the comments.

Brandon Bartneck, VP of Engineering | Brandon.Bartneck@pjws.com