Doing so opens doors to other views and alternative ways to think. If nothing else, it allows me to be more fun to hang out with. I now realize how much of a role I, as an engineer, play in today's society. Until now, I have always thought of an engineer as someone who does computations all day in their little cubicle. Little did I realize that engineers are a window into a country's culture, history and society in general.
Modern engineering is a result of past experiences and events.
I realized that engineering encompasses may more fields than just math and science. I also didn't realize that engineering was more than just number crunching, that in fact, sometimes the most important part was figuring out what the problem is to begin with. F inally, and most importantly to me, I learned a very important lesson that many engineers take years to fully comprehend. Engineers must take into account and put into their designs other aspects than the usual engineering areas. I used to think that because I have traveled and seen different places in the world, that I had a good basis for understanding all people of the world.