Introspection

[MaddSkillz]

I think I'm overly cynical but it's not my fault. The world did it to me.

If you think you're elitist, I think you're delusional (which makes me an elitist) so I think I'm suffering from the same problem as you are. LOL

 

[dennishoddy]

I am an engineer by trade, so you may draw your sterotypes from that.

I'm a technician that has to work with engineers...
Favorite tech saying:
"Arguing with an engineer is like wrassling with a pig in a mud pit.
Eventually you realize they like it"

 

[carleb]

The fact that you are even thinking about these things shows you are light years ahead of many engineers.

If it has potential to have lasting, far reaching consequences, correct everything and be willing to be proven wrong - if it's any of your business. If it's just stupid being stupid then let it pass. The question is which is which?

I think I better bow out of this deal for fear of being negatively defined by the very conversation itself.

Good luck. Sounds like you are just evaluating who you are and that's not a bad thing.

 

[Larry Morgan]

I grew up in a family that usually rags on engineers. They know all the engineer jokes, all the quips, and have all the cute stories about how an engineer overcomplicated something, didn't have common sense, or something to that end.

Then I became one.

Yes, the know-it-all types are out there. You can spot them because they'll be the ones working the hardest to convince everyone how much they know. The rest are using what they know and making it work for them.

To me, it's a great feeling to be around other engineers, and be able to make an argument based on facts, data, models, etc, and not have a retort come back to me whose equivalent value in the conversation boils down to "Nu-uh!". It's a sharp contrast and a breath of fresh air compared to the conversations that are the norm.

And so it is the way of true engineering. There is no "just because". There had better be a logical and substantial argument after the "because". Without that, it's just opinion. This is one of the things I like most about engineering.

 

[saddlebum]

no offense to rhodesbe cause i like him,but after 26 years in the hvac industry ,engineers became know as the guys that design things that won't work in the real world.
like the M.E. on the hampton inn we did in BA that got indignant because i told him that the 74'6" long run of duct he designed wouldn't fit in a building 69'10" long. he said yes it will because he drew it that way.lol

 

[Peace_Maker]

I never understood the elitism among engineers. The conductor is the one in charge.

 

[NikatKimber]

no offense to rhodesbe cause i like him,but after 26 years in the hvac industry ,engineers became know as the guys that design things that won't work in the real world.
like the M.E. on the hampton inn we did in BA that got indignant because i told him that the 74'6" long run of duct he designed wouldn't fit in a building 69'10" long. he said yes it will because he drew it that way.lol

Wow...

Yes, there certainly are incompetent engineers out there. Like any profession.

 

[RidgeHunter]

like the M.E. on the hampton inn we did in BA that got indignant because i told him that the 74'6" long run of duct he designed wouldn't fit in a building 69'10" long. he said yes it will because he drew it that way.lol

Easy fix, he just has to issue a revised drawing with the building 75' long.

Most of the engineers I've worked with have a great deal of common sense actually (most of them have worked other positions). They are all very intelligent, even the goofy ones. Every once in a while you get one like the story I told though. His was a smart cat, but he couldn't see the problem with remarking 2 parts and shipping 4 of the same instead of 2 of each. It was surreal. He just couldn't see it. They would be correct to the drawing, right? Well, yes. But there is still a problem.

The personality thing is not them being elitist, it's just how many of them are. Many smart people have poor "people" skills. They don't do it intentionally.

 

[BluRaySS]

I've always fancied myself as a rather smart-a$$ed, obscure, eliteist type in the way I relate to others. I am an engineer by trade, so you may draw your sterotypes from that.

Anytime someone says something blatantly stupid, I feel compelled to point out in some harsh way their stupidity. I often hold back and hushup, but the compulsion is there. I always feel like I'm correcting some global wrong by doing so, and that it is some noble duty that I have.

In any case, I have begun to realize that the people I admire most in life are completely void of this smarmyness that I exhibit daily. I'm not sure I feel guilty at all about the way things are now, but this recent observation is too distinct to ignore.

What gives? Am I going through menopause?

We need to start a club!

 

[dennishoddy]

The personality thing is not them being elitist, it's just how many of them are. Many smart people have poor "people" skills. They don't do it intentionally.

Boy, is that a mouthfull. 99.99% of engineers are just like us, good people, but OMG, I had to work with one for several years that had the people skills of a moron. In my opinion, he should have been ajudicated as a moron.
Yeah, there are people like that in every profession, but this guy was a piece of crap.
One of the Smartest guys I've ever been around, but totally arrogant, and had the deep pockets to continue in that direction. I was embarrassed to be in his company most of the time in meetings, etc.