Many times during my college career I have heard the phrase “Engineers aren’t creative.” It is assumed that we engineers are purely left-brained thinkers because our work requires an analytical, logical approach.
However, based on my experience as an Aggie engineering student, I beg to differ. I think that engineers have incredible capacities for creativity, in school, work and personal life. In school, for instance, coming up with a line by line computer code to solve a problem requires immense creativity. Not one programmer will come up with exactly the same approach and coding style as another. Even with design projects and group work, all the engineers on the team have their own unique ideas when solving a problem. Then the magic really happens when these ideas are synthesized. In the real world, it takes true creativity for engineers to come up with solutions to solve the world’s problems. It amazes me to hear about the things that students have come up with at various design challenges that A&M offers such as Aggies Invent — a multi-day event for engineering students to come up with a solution to problems across a variety of topics such as virtual reality or energy. All of that requires creativity and more.
I know many engineers who enjoy spending their time outside of classes practicing musical instruments, engaging in theater arts, photography, art, and much more. Some things I enjoy include photography and music. I got into photography two years ago during my summer internship and would always take photos of my friends. It was then when I realized I enjoyed portrait photography. Now I have set up a photography side hobby and through that I have been able to take graduation photos, family photos, portraits, and couple photos. With music, I started playing piano and violin when I was very young; during high school, my best friend and I learned to play the acoustic guitar. There are even opportunities to practice instruments at A&M. In various buildings around campus, there are music practice rooms available for students to use. On many occasions, I have used the piano rooms on campus and met up with another engineering student to play. This past year I joined the Texas A&M Thespian Society, a theatre arts society, and a large group of the students are STEM majors. Many of my engineering classmates are avid musicians, artists, singers, and designers, and based on that perspective, it is difficult to confidently state that engineers are not creative.
There are many student organizations at Texas A&M for you to choose from. Find your place to get involved and find the perfect fit for you.
