There are so many tasks in this world that most people are simply not qualified to do. Because of this, it's important to know who to hire and how to tell that such a person is actually qualified. One of the biggest times when this becomes important is when you hire an engineer. Engineers are crucial for a ton of different tasks, including all kinds of design work and analysis. Whether you're looking for a freelancer or a full-time employee, making sure the engineer you hire is a genuine professional is paramount. The following are some great tips for hiring an engineer who walks the walk. You can include these questions in the application to weed out the poor quality candidates.

Ask About Their Favorite Background Project

Engineers are a lot like other professionals in that they have done some kind of work in the past. Even the least ambitious engineer has some undergraduate projects that they have worked on in the past. Most of the time, these projects require a lot of thought and plenty of creativity, which are activities most engineers love engaging in. If your potential engineer hasn't got a favorite background project in their past, they either lack experience or have very little interest in their supposed profession.

Ask Them How to Find the Area of a Coke Can

This is a very basic geometry problem that any engineer should be able to answer with hardly any thought. It's nothing more than finding the area of a cylinder, which a sharp high school student can answer. If your potential "engineer" can't answer this one easily, move on immediately. Do not accept any engineer who cannot perform simple calculations of this nature, regardless of what they say or what they've done. Anyone can produce a fake transcript, but knowledge is crucial.

Ask Them What Kind of CAD Software They're Most Familiar With

Certifications are important, but ultimately the maximum use of an engineer comes from the software he's most familiar with. Many engineers practice with two or three of the major CAD programs, so there's a reasonable amount of selection possible. A great follow-up question to ask is why this is the best CAD program. This will tell you a lot about your engineer candidate's personality, and whether he simply picked a program that's easier or actually thought out which program works best for his preferred uses.