Engineers are not cool

[kranky]

Growing up, you get this vision of an engineer being this glamourous proffession where you solve all the world's problems and design fancy new gadgets. It's totally not like that and it's dissapointing.

How can you say that's how it will be for you? You haven't even started your career yet.

We just did some work with an engineering company. We needed a machine to bend some material, with an automatic feed, and the material had to be a certain temperature to bend right and then cool quickly so it would regain its rigidity. No such machine existed. They sent an engineer, we explained what we wanted, said we had no idea how to do it, and the engineer designed the whole thing. It works great. He completely developed the thing from the ground up. I was impressed.

One thing engineers have in their favor is there are innumerable problems which need solutions that only engineers can provide. My brother-in-law worked in Kenya for a while and used an irrigation system that some engineer developed for maximum conservation of water. It quadrupled the crop yield, and that make a real difference in peoples' lives.

Don't be discouraged.

 

[brikis98]

just do what we all do, watch office space, laugh, cry, and then get wasted.

 

[oznerol]

Originally posted by: kranky

Growing up, you get this vision of an engineer being this glamourous proffession where you solve all the world's problems and design fancy new gadgets. It's totally not like that and it's dissapointing.

How can you say that's how it will be for you? You haven't even started your career yet.

We just did some work with an engineering company. We needed a machine to bend some material, with an automatic feed, and the material had to be a certain temperature to bend right and then cool quickly so it would regain its rigidity. No such machine existed. They sent an engineer, we explained what we wanted, said we had no idea how to do it, and the engineer designed the whole thing. It works great. He completely developed the thing from the ground up. I was impressed.

One thing engineers have in their favor is there are innumerable problems which need solutions that only engineers can provide. My brother-in-law worked in Kenya for a while and used an irrigation system that some engineer developed for maximum conservation of water. It quadrupled the crop yield, and that make a real difference in peoples' lives.

Don't be discouraged.

:beer:

Originally posted by: brikis98
just do what we all do, watch office space, laugh, cry, and then get wasted.

:beer::beer::beer::beer::beer:

 

[Omegachi]

its profession like ours that created the world as we see now. don't tell me engineers are not cool just because you are drowning in the down side of it.

 

[xeno2060]

Engineers of anykind can take the simplest of problems, and totally Fvck it up.

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: AtlantaBob

Originally posted by: loki8481

Engineering students are, in fact, elitist assholes.

:thumbsup:

I always hated having to walk through that section of the building when I was on my way to advanced bio classes that I was taking for fun and entertainment.

Indeed.

Loki, somehow I get the feeling that you were a humanities/lib arts person? Or would I be confusing you with Descarts? The two of you sharing that avatar is confusing sometimes.

yeah, I dual-majored in English Lit / Sociology.

I knew this one really great bio professor, though, who let me audit a couple of the advanced courses he taught (300+) just because I thought they were insanely interesting. thus my assosiation with the science and engineering department at my college

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: loki8481

Engineering students are, in fact, elitist assholes.

:thumbsup:

I always hated having to walk through that section of the building when I was on my way to advanced bio classes that I was taking for fun and entertainment.

:thumbsdown: No, most people are just stupid...
Tas.

 

[akubi]

Originally posted by: loki8481

Originally posted by: AtlantaBob

Originally posted by: loki8481

Engineering students are, in fact, elitist assholes.

:thumbsup:

I always hated having to walk through that section of the building when I was on my way to advanced bio classes that I was taking for fun and entertainment.

Indeed.

Loki, somehow I get the feeling that you were a humanities/lib arts person? Or would I be confusing you with Descarts? The two of you sharing that avatar is confusing sometimes.

yeah, I dual-majored in English Lit / Sociology.

I knew this one really great bio professor, though, who let me audit a couple of the advanced courses he taught (300+) just because I thought they were insanely interesting. thus my assosiation with the science and engineering department at my college

what kind of jobs do people with english degrees get? genuinely curious

 

[miniMUNCH]

I am a chemical engineer...I was my class valedictorian (@ Cal Poly Pomona, albeit...so it is not much to write home about).

I partied like my plane was going down in college.

I had a great job as maintenace engineer making 80k+ a year, where all I did was design control system and processes, buy components, build and install it myself, and test and comission it...fun stuff.

Now I'm in grad school because I decided that a Ph.D. would be fun and would open up more possibilities.

So (to the OP) maybe you just need a change of venue or maybe you are just a dork (j/k about the dork part).

Go to grad school...it's fun, after your done with course then you can party like your plane is going down, and it will open up more oportunities in life after you are done.

 

[sonz70]

Originally posted by: miniMUNCH
I am a chemical engineer...I was my class valedictorian (@ Cal Poly Pomona, albeit...so it is not much to write home about).

I partied like my plane was going down in college.

I had a great job as maintenace engineer making 80k+ a year, where all I did was design control system and processes, buy components, build and install it myself, and test and comission it...fun stuff.

Now I'm in grad school because I decided that a Ph.D. would be fun and would open up more possibilities.

So (to the OP) maybe you just need a change of venue or maybe you are just a dork (j/k about the dork part).

Go to grad school...it's fun, after your done with course then you can party like your plane is going down, and it will open up more oportunities in life after you are done.

QFT

 

[Dedpuhl]

EE's are the supernerds of the Engineering circuit. Every EE i've met has been a little "off." All the ones I know act as you have described. The rest of us are completely different (from my experience).

Civil Engineering is exactly what I thought it'd be: a lot of work for an ok salary.

 

[GreatBarracuda]

Originally posted by: noob in a box

Originally posted by: Heisenberg
Well of course they're not cool. Everyone know physicists are way smarter and better looking.

stfun00b! you can't even find your electrons if i tell you how fast they are going

Or if you tell him where they are, he can't tell you how fast they are going!

 

[mercanucaribe]

Originally posted by: miniMUNCH
I am a chemical engineer...I was my class valedictorian (@ Cal Poly Pomona, albeit...so it is not much to write home about).

I partied like my plane was going down in college.

I had a great job as maintenace engineer making 80k+ a year, where all I did was design control system and processes, buy components, build and install it myself, and test and comission it...fun stuff.

Now I'm in grad school because I decided that a Ph.D. would be fun and would open up more possibilities.

So (to the OP) maybe you just need a change of venue or maybe you are just a dork (j/k about the dork part).

Go to grad school...it's fun, after your done with course then you can party like your plane is going down, and it will open up more oportunities in life after you are done.

I'm not sure I trust an engineer who uses the expression "like the plane is going down" so much...

And I'm glad I'm a geographer!

 

[radioouman]

I hate being an engineer.

 

[Martin]

sounds like you had sh!tty jobs at sh!tty companies.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: noob in a box

oh yeah, we are eletist, and with good reason

If you're going to be elitist, at least learn how to spell it.

 

[91TTZ]

Engineers are workers. They're still at the bottom of the heap. That's why there's no money in it. Even though it's difficult work that requires brains, you're still working for someone else.

In business, you don't make a lot of money doing someone else's work. You make money by having people work for you. Start your own engineering company, have engineers work for you, then take most of the profit and feed the workers enough peanuts that they'll stay. That's how you make money in engineering, or anything else for that matter. Be the tyrant!

 

[EmperorIQ]

Originally posted by: kranky

Growing up, you get this vision of an engineer being this glamourous proffession where you solve all the world's problems and design fancy new gadgets. It's totally not like that and it's dissapointing.

How can you say that's how it will be for you? You haven't even started your career yet.

We just did some work with an engineering company. We needed a machine to bend some material, with an automatic feed, and the material had to be a certain temperature to bend right and then cool quickly so it would regain its rigidity. No such machine existed. They sent an engineer, we explained what we wanted, said we had no idea how to do it, and the engineer designed the whole thing. It works great. He completely developed the thing from the ground up. I was impressed.

One thing engineers have in their favor is there are innumerable problems which need solutions that only engineers can provide. My brother-in-law worked in Kenya for a while and used an irrigation system that some engineer developed for maximum conservation of water. It quadrupled the crop yield, and that make a real difference in peoples' lives.

Don't be discouraged.

I dont' think the guy is discouraged, OP sounds like he is actually into engineer, but he's just saying how it sucks that engineers as a whole are unappreciated. Look at NASA, whenever a shuttle crashes its always "OMFG THEY SUCK" on tv, about every 15 minutes you'll hear a new update on the investigation. Now that they recently have a successful shuttle launch, not as much media attention on this, why? Why isn't there a deep investigation on how things went right?

Nowadays, engineering isn't as much appreciated as it was back in the 50s. I'm not old enough to know, but this is what my professor told me, and I trust his opinion.

What most people should get out of engineering is the fact that they are developing/solving problems that will benefit the world in general, in the future. It does suck that we engineers don't get as much appraisals, but that's life man. Do what you love and what you want. If you're a good enough engineer you WILL become a manager, who doesn't want to? I konw that I would want to get an MBA.

 

[EyeMWing]

Originally posted by: akubi
what kind of jobs do people with english degrees get? genuinely curious

My ex's mother was an english major - she's a secretary now.

Essentially, english majors have three choices -
Teach english in schools
Teach english in college, thus making more english majors
Menial, pointless work.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: ducci
I'll be an EE senior this year, I've gone through some internships, been exposed to the field, and have come to the disillusioning conclusion that engineers are not cool.

As a kid who loved breaking things to see how they work, or playing with legos, or exceling in math and science, people always said things like, "Oh, you were born to be an engineer." Oh, you like messing with new gadgets? You must want to be an engineer.

Growing up, you get this vision of an engineer being this glamourous proffession where you solve all the world's problems and design fancy new gadgets. It's totally not like that and it's dissapointing.

Engineering students are, in fact, elitist assholes. I would know as I am one of them. It's mainly out of jealousy seeing all of the liberal arts majors take 10 hours of classes a semester and party all the time. This is understandable. And yes, I am speaking for all engineering students. They are all like this one way or another.

The fact of the matter is, engineering isn't glamourous, it isn't spectacular, and it isn't as high-paying as many people believe. Management gets paid far more than engineers. Granted, a bunch of management were at one point engineers, but they typically have an MBA, plus it's slightly disheartening that this is what people want to work up to.

I write this because I've noticed a great deal of engineers on this board, both students and professionals, and they always have some smug remark to say when it comes to what they're studying or what they do.

And to clarify, I still relatively enjoy what I do (and I do it well), so the "you shouldn't be an engineer" garbage isn't valid. It's just that what I am currently doing, and what I have seen others do is not the same as what I envisioned when I decided to become an engineer.

Maybe it's not only engineering. Is this the same with other proffessions as well? I'd like to know.

my dad's an engineer and makes 130k/year.. i'd say that's pretty damn good! while all the journalism and commucations majors have it easy in college, you'll be laughing when your starting salary is 55k and theirs are well below that

 

[Jawo]

So is that why many engineering students transfer to the business school by the end of sophmore year.... (business student)

 

[oznerol]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Engineers are workers. They're still at the bottom of the heap. That's why there's no money in it. Even though it's difficult work that requires brains, you're still working for someone else.

In business, you don't make a lot of money doing someone else's work. You make money by having people work for you. Start your own engineering company, have engineers work for you, then take most of the profit and feed the workers enough peanuts that they'll stay. That's how you make money in engineering, or anything else for that matter. Be the tyrant!

This is entirely true, and I fully intend on doing so.

However, it does not change the fact that being an engineer is still quite disappointing. I wanted to play and design new toys or build massive structures flexing my creative muscle.

Nowadays a rare few engineers get to be creative, and even less get to design cool gadgets. And those who do are generally more than just engineers - ie, Masters and PhDs.

 

[Acanthus]

A masters or Phd in engineering makes all the difference in the world.

Want a job at a company everyones heard of? You arent getting in with BSEE unless you have 15 years experience and invented something spectacular in your basement.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: EmperorIQ


Nowadays, engineering isn't as much appreciated as it was back in the 50s. I'm not old enough to know, but this is what my professor told me, and I trust his opinion.

I think the engineers were much more capable back then. Even though there is more information at people's disposal now, I think that some people just don't think logically, even if they do become an engineer. A person with a great engineer-type mind will be a much better engineer than a person without that type of mind and just got in it for the money.

I think it takes a certain kind of mind- you either have it or you don't. My dad is a machinist and he worked with an engineer. That guy was a moron. He couldn't fix anything or figure out how it worked. He used to bring his car, bikes, anything into work to get it fixed. You'd think an engineer would be able to figure out how things work, but apparently this guy lacked that ability. He must have proved to his school that he could recite the information that they taught him so he earned a degree, but when the subject strayed from the examples he was taught he got lost. Not a very logically minded person.

A machinist like my dad isn't an engineer, but in practice they engineer things all the time. My dad's made many things that require some type of engineering ability. He just likes using his skills as a machinist and apply creativity to produce solutions for problems he has.

 

[oznerol]

Originally posted by: Jawo
So is that why many engineering students transfer to the business school by the end of sophmore year.... (business student)

No, that is not why. The reason is because engineering gets hard at the end of sophmore year. The ones who leave are the ones who can't hack it.

Funny how all the engineering rejects flock to management.

Bah, don't even get me started on business school, just thinking about it pisses me off.