Designers and naval architects: to a degree

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Designers and naval architects: to a degree
Miscellaneous Musings from the Technical Director

Monday, 28-Jan-2008 by Donald MacPherson - HydroComp Technical Director

The topic of engineering licensing pops up every now and again, as does the question about the need for a formal university degree in an engineering discipline. I was recently asked what I thought about it, and frankly, I didn't have much of an answer. It seems to me that this entire discussion is about the "reasonable management of risk," both in terms of palpable, physical risk, but also of financial and societal risk. We seek to use the acquisition of a license or a degree as some sort of "seal of approval" so that non-experts can have a real way to qualify who is providing them with products and services. Great idea in concept, but I think we get a bit schizophrenic about it something. For example, a university degree or license does not guarantee expertise. Correspondingly, we also take a chance losing the vast skill set of those people who many not be formally degreed or licensed practitioners, but are highly skilled none-the-less.

To paraphrase a question I was asked - "what do naval architects with a license or degree think about a person without either building or designing small boats?" As the question came from someone serious about the practice, the assumption was that these boats would meet all of the necessary regulatory requirements, and in this case would be prototyped and tested.

Speaking only for myself, I have no problem at all with someone wanting to build, design, or sell plans for small boats. I think it comes down to "credentials," as much as formal education. I'm a graduate of a 4-year NA & ME program, but there is no way I'd ever seriously design a sailing yacht. (I'm still periodically asked to do boat design, even though it is pretty clear from the public information about HydroComp that I spend all of my time in hydrodynamics and propulsion.) I have the formal training and the sheet of paper on the wall, and I introduce students to boat design as a university instructor. In some circles, I would be considered a suitable source of yacht design services. However, I never was a serious sailor, and I do not have the experience to fully interpret the special requirements of sailing yacht design.

To put the shoe on the other foot, a portion of my work is to design or size appropriate propellers for applications. I periodically find myself justifying an engineering calculation to a client that originally got advice from a "do-it-yourselfer," or from someone who bought a book on propellers and is now an "expert." I want to be clear that I am not referring to the propeller professionals - people who make a living selling or building propellers. These are a good example of credible sources of expertise without a degree or license in naval architecture. I guess that this is the crux of the matter. Natural selection would suggest that you might get high quality products and services from those whose livelihood depends on them knowing what they are doing - even without a degree or a license.

Quite selfishly, I'm perfectly happy to let a certain part of the market be served by the "hobbyist provider". We have plenty of work doing the really tough - and usually really interesting - jobs. The simple projects sometimes do not need a 25 year veteran of the "propeller wars"...