Professionals who care
MICHAEL YOUNG
Michael Young is a trainer, coach and contracts engineer in the HVAC industry. He graduated from the
University of the Witwatersrand in the field of Mechanical Engineering (B.Sc Mech Eng) in 2008 and
qualified as a Professional Engineer (Pr.Eng) in 2013. Michael is passionate about promoting knowledge
and helping other young engineers grow within the industry through his training workshops and
coaching sessions.
ECSA OUTCOMES ARE
ALL RELATED TO BUSINESS
By Michael Young
Many of us within the industry are at different stages in our lives. For
some of us, we are just entering the industry, while for others we have
many years of work experience.
S
trangely enough, despite our various years of experience, we
all share one thing in common. We all wish to progress in life
and ultimately become better. For some of us, becoming better
may be opening a business, while for others it’s about obtaining
recognition and helping to grow the organisation that we work for
so that we can become a company asset.
To do this, we can seek an additional qualification, a
qualification that is internationally recognised and one that states
that you are a credible, competent and trustworthy individual.
The accreditation we seek is to become professionally registered
with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). To obtain
such recognition, we need to undergo the training process of
three years and accomplish 11 unique outcomes.
Now we have all been there. We log onto the ECSA website,
read the competency standard forms and say, “Okay, so all we
need to do is log our work experience and accomplish these 11
outcomes and then we are set to go.” Right?
Well, this is only half correct. Everyone who wants to
become ECSA registered knows they have to accomplish these
outcomes, but did you ever consider why these outcomes are so
important? I know, it seems like ECSA have set these outcomes
to make life difficult but if you look at things from a different
perspective, you will realise that the ECSA 11 outcomes are
actually related to business.
So, let me elaborate. The first three outcomes tackle problem-
solving and the application of advanced knowledge.
• Outcome 1 is to investigate a problem; while
• Outcome 2 is to develop a solution to solve the problem; and
• Outcome 3 is to apply advanced knowledge to help you
identify the problem and develop the solution.
74
RACA Journal I January 2020
So, this sounds very trivial but if we change our perspective
and look at it in terms of business, we are developing the core
skill that forms the foundation of every business.
Businesses exist because they provide products or services
that solve problems. The bigger the problem that we solve, the
more money the company makes.
Let’s take the simple cellphone as an example. We
developed the cellphone so that we would be able to speak
with anyone at any given time. Initially, speaking on the phone
was too expensive, so we developed SMS. SMS was limited
to words, so we developed social media apps. Typing took too
long so we developed voice and video recordings.
As the technology started to evolve, so did the problems as
well as the associated solutions. This is what ECSA is teaching
us, they are teaching us to apply what we have learnt from
tertiary education and apply this knowledge so we can clearly
see the root cause of a problem and develop a solution.
So, remember, it’s more important to know why we are
doing something rather than just see it as another mundane
task.
Next month’s article shows how ECSA outcomes 4 to 6 help
to build the foundation for the operation of a business.
Wishing you a successful month ahead and chat soon.
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