Who is an Engineer?

I was a bit concerned when I saw an educational video for kids about jobs and occupation where in which it says that an Engineer is someone who builds roads and buildings. Being an Electronics engineer myself I know that this is not the right definition of an engineer, its actually the definition of a civil engineer. The definition of an engineer is a bit complected for a 4 year old to understand but is it right for us to teach them the wrong definition? 

The definition of an Engineer which I found from wikipidea is: “An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality, safety and cost.”

I am sure that most of us know that it is really very difficult for a 4 year old to understand this. So I decided to put this definition in simple terms so that my child could understand who an engineer is.I would teach her that “An engineer is someone who creates things that are essential for us in our day to day life. Most of the things that we see around us like the ceiling fan,the computer, the mobile, the washing machine,the mixer, from the medicines that we take to the airplanes and automobiles in which we travel are all designed and created by engineers."

Engineers are NOT technicians:

I am going one step ahead to explain who engineers are. Most people don't seem to understand the difference between an engineer and a technician. Being an electronics engineer I usually find people coming to me with a broken mobile to repair it!! What I want to explain in this section is that a person holding a degree in Electrical engineering cannot necessarily repair your electrical appliances!!

When considering a problem and potential solutions, an engineer has to try to find the best solution that meets the requirements and is financially feasible. Some solutions would work or are too expensive, another solution might work, but would take too long to develop. Typically a project has very specific time and money limitations, requiring an engineer to make difficult decisions. And sometimes, a project is simply impossible given the requirements and existing technology.

Engineers frequently work on teams to design a product or solution. Teams often consist of an engineering leader and a number of senior engineers and entry level engineers. In many cases, engineers from multiple disciplines work together on a project, for example an automobile requires mechanical engineers to design the engine and computer/software/electrical engineers to design the control systems and electronics. So if you call a person holding a Mechanical engineering degree to repair your broken automobile he "might" not be of any help :) .

The person who repairs all these equipments is known as a technician. In short Engineers develop/design systems while Technicians support those systems. As such, Engineering and Technology are complementary fields. Engineers need to start from a theoretical framework in order to develop/design systems while technicians need to understand how those systems work in order to support them.