Solving problems through shared knowledge

Throughout a long career, even the most knowledgeable engineer will be stumped by some technical challenges. The Web offers a way for engineers to help each other avoid these roadblocks on the way to technological nirvana—engineering forums.

Among the leaders in the engineering forum pack is www.eng-tips.com. With roughly 130,000 members and 16,000 queries posted per month, eng-tips.com helps engineers gain a fresh perspective about the many realms of engineering.

Dave Lundell, system/test engineer at Beacon Power Corp. (Wilmington, MA), has been using eng-tips.com to learn more about technologies with which he has only limited experience. "I have recently been using it to get familiar with the field of photovoltaics," says Lundell. "Looking at questions that other people have posted allows me to gain insight into topics or technologies that I have thought about, but never really pursued."

"A common philosophy among engineers is to learn, to do, and to teach. Forums allow engineers to carry out this philosophy, making them more confident in their profession," says Dave Murphy, president of eng-tips.com.

The best feature of eng-tips.com may be yet to come, says Murphy. "The site is changing all the time, but one major change is the ability for members to set up their own discussion forums based on their particular field of expertise or other criteria." By setting up your own discussion forum, you become the moderator of that forum. Eng-tips.com currently offers only public forums where queries are posted for all to see. In the future, forum moderators will be able to make their discussion groups private, where only specified members are allowed access.

This type of forum customization will allow engineers who use eng-tips.com to become even more efficient, adds Murphy. "Different people use forums for many different reasons, allowing them to perform their jobs more quickly, which in turn is saving them money."