I love it how the teachers I had always claimed they were getting me ready for the "Real World". I love all the dynamics problems I had where I could "neglect air resistance", or the thermodynamic problems I had where I could "neglect change in ambient air temperature and pressure". Last time I checked, there was air resistance in the "real world", but he is the teacher with all kinds of letters after his name (with no "real world" experience since he went straight into teaching after his PhD) so I better believe him!

As far as engineers being "tools", there is a lot riding on their reputation, job, etc. Some have to be to make sure it is done the right way with no corner cutting etc., because if something happens, it could easily come back to bite them. Just remember, there are "tools" in every profession out there, not just engineering.

 

I work with a lot of engineers on a daily basis (we build oil well drilling rigs and equipment) and I can say that we are pretty lucky in that we have a good bunch. We do have one though that is completely lost and comes up with some of the dumbest ideas I have ever seen. One day the guy is in my boss's office and we are all talking about something he wants to try and my boss is dead against the idea. He isn't happy and he says to my boss, "You know, I have two master's degrees" to which my boss replied "What's the matter, the first one didn't take?".

I fell out of my chair.

 

Common sense isn't too common with many of them when it applies to real life and this includes solving a problem on the job site where a simple solution would work best. Yup even engineers can design a bridge that will colapse not alone those that supervised its construction.

 

OK, I give up. What the hell is discorrespondence? Especially in this context.

 

I think it means "cornfuzled".

 

At work we had a program where teachers from different professions could come work during the summer to see what the real world applications were. Since some had never actually worked in the real world they found that what they taught and what was actually used was different. I think that they ought to have to work at least a few years on a job so that they have a better idea what they are suppose to be teaching.
Also I love it when we get guys that program for our parts we make. Somehow even though they haven't ever machined a part in their life they know better than us how to run it and when we ask for changes they change what they want instead. The good ones are usually the ones that were on a machine for a few years and could talk and understand what problems there can be.

 

So you meet your new neighbor, and then smack him around. Then you come on FTE and brag about it. So who's the tool here?

 

Some of the nicest people I know are engineers, and some of the biggest A Holes I know aren't. JMO

 

I don't think we're really talking about engineers being A-holes. Just that most of them have no common sense and are braindead when it comes to real-life problem solving. Which is why I'm working an internship, trying to get some real experience, and not learn everything I know from a book.

 

I'm an engineer and I work with a lot of non-engineering field staff. It's taken me a while, but I've finally figured out that I need to listen to those guys before I listen to a textbook.

Maybe I just happen to know a lot of engineers, but for me, most of the biggest tools around are engineers.

 

Spoken like an engineer!

Makomaker's new neighbor was being the "tool" by trying to dictate how makomaker should build his house. Then trying to throw his weight around saying he was a city engineer. Big deal. I would have done the same thing if some idiot came onto my property and bothered my workers like they own the place.


On a side note. I work with engineers all day. Some can have common sense...some wouldn't know the meaning if you burnt it into their forehead. Why...because you didnt show them the meaning out of a textbook!

 

A good engineer, became an engineer because he has an inquisitive nature and wants to under stand how things work. That is probably why I became an engineer, I was tinkering with things since I was old enough to use a butter knife to turn screws, or it might have been those car keys in the wall socket that did it.

My school specialized in teaching me to think like an engineer, not how to do real work. The assumption was that once we graduated we would learn how to be a real engineer with experience. My degree isn't even BSEE, it is BSE since we were all around engineers not limited to one field.

Lucky for me I had "work experience" all my life and formal experience as a tech during highschool and college. I was discouraged about all the theory my U was giving me and was ready to quit, but the dean of engineering talked me out of it with the talk about "thinking like an engineer". Siad if I wanted to design toasters I should go to that other school.

So maybe I became a tool, maybe not. But us senior guys did have a heck of a good time with the newbies who only understood the book, but not the real world. Plenty of fun goofs, and more than a few done by me.

I think the difference between a tool and a real engineer is what experience he has either before school or after. That is what teaches you what really works and humbles most of us.

I kind of miss doing real engineering now. I think it was way more fun than most of what I do. Oh well, the younger generation has to take up the slack.

Jim Henderson

 

It's not really done to walk onto any job site and start taking up the workers time unless you are involved. If you are a nighbour, or just a passer-by, you can stand on the property line and wait. If the foreman isn't busy, he'll wander over eventually and chat with you. If he doesn't, just keep moving on.

 

Point taken.

 

I don't think it's just engineers that behave that way. Anybody who does that is a jerk, whether they are an engineer or not. Like having a know-it-all at Best Buy come up and start telling you how to wire your house and using big words that he read in a magazine somewhere but using them in the completely wrong way!

Dave