The creation game

摘要

People who think opportunities in engineering are narrow and boring are totally missing the point. When it comes to designing things, engineers are second only to God... Peter Williams is an engineer and proud of it. He has no truck with the modern school―the high flyers who design Formula 1 cars and jet engines, the software engineers who made Britain a world leader in computer games, and especially the engineers turned chief executives who run many of Britain's biggest companies. Williams is an engineer of the old school. As I enter his "office", the air smells of oil and metal shavings. The whole room vibrates with the deep throb of some hidden machine. In the corner is a large boiler with its cowling removed and its shiny innards exposed, and sticking out from beneath are two legs. I cough nervously, and eventually Williams pulls himself out to reveal a well built man whose face glistens with oil and sweat. He shakes my hand with a powerful grip. Now this is a real engineer.