1 Why Professionals Associate

The education and training of an engineer are intended to provide the individual with a kit of intellectual tools for use in industry. This kit normally facilitates solutions of discrete technical problems. Engineering practice, however, usually involves far more than the solution of discrete technical problems. It has, as its prime focus, provision of a service to society, and as the engineer begins to climb the professional and corporate ladders, there is an ever increasing need to develop an understanding of this society and of the elements which constitute the working environment.

Very early in his professional career the engineer begins to come face to face with a number of problems for which his toolkit is woefully inadequate. The toolkit therefore invariably has to be updated throughout his career with management and technical tools both general and specific in areas such as administration, finance, industrial relations, communications, professional ethics and political science.

How then can these tools be acquired? They are acquired
- through continuing education,
- by meeting and discussing with peers,
- by ethical practice, firstly while being mentored and thereafter by mentoring,
- by writing to attract comment and reading to provide same, so that there is continuing exchange between peers.

All of these facilities are provided to different degrees by APETT and the expansion of its service to its members will always depend on the level of involvement and participation of each individual member. This involvement in the Association's business provides an excellent opportunity for individual members to grow and to contribute while providing facilities for others to do the same.

Professional contact, and the opportunity it provides for informing on the work being done in industry, as well as on some of the solutions being provided by individuals, will become increasingly important as the branches of engineering become more interrelated.

In some respects, we in this region are fortunate when compared with our counterparts in the developed countries. In those countries with a longer tradition of engineering associateship, the associations formed around individual engineering disciplines, and are now being hurriedly integrated.

We, on the other hand, have from the beginning always had an umbrella body for all disciplines, providing easier association across the branches of the science, and a well-balanced platform for providing services to the rest of the society. This service is provided in many ways: through representation at the policy-making level for public sector enterprises, on committees focusing on matters of general public concern, and in the learned society activities of seminars and publications.

Finally, in recommending the benefits of associating, one must note that as the engineering community continues to deepen its efforts to regulate itself, the development path from graduate to professional engineer will assume greater importance. The individual taking this path will increasingly require the support of his peers.

Let us associate and provide it.