Engineering Meditations
Let's face it: many companies TALK like "our people are our most valuable resource," but they ACT like money is more important than people or things. It therefore should come as no surprise to any engineer that those who bring the money in (the marketers) and those who parcel out the money (the finance guys) are more highly paid and valued than those who deal with people (like human resources) or those who deal with things (like engineers).There is a chance that we engineers can live with this state of affairs, if we believe that our lives are enriched by nerdly activities like taking things apart. We DO believe this, but many of us want the money and respect too. Those of us who want the money are drawn toward MBAs or entrepreneurial careers. That can be a cure for our natural tendency to be so drawn to things that we forget what dealing with people is like.
Some of us think we're smarter than everyone else because of our problem-solving skills. I think I'm plenty smart, but I realize that others have smarts and many others can do things I can't do. It is possible, though, that some of us would have an easier time doing the jobs of non-engineers than the non-engineers would have doing our jobs. (I'm serious, here. LOL) Those of us with multiple types of intelligence are sometimes sucked into management or consulting careers. Our biggest problem in that case is becoming impatient with others who don’t have such a range of skill.
So why is it we are considered geeks and nerds and are given so little respect by the world at large? Some of us think it's because we just don't know when the rest of the world is bored by the stuff we love. If we can’t see the eyes becoming glazed, then no, we won't know when to stop.
Engineers have this reputation of being unable to communicate to others. It's not always deserved, but enough people hold it that they are actually surprised to come across an engineer who is good at writing and speaking. Those engineers are sometimes drawn to consulting careers as well, or technical sales.
If we have any of these other skills at all, it separates us from the engineers who are pure number-crunchers. But... even among the "pure" engineers are some who are more analytical, and some who are more design-oriented, and some who love to test things. Those are three different types of engineer – and there may be more than that, and there are degrees of each.
Labels: engineering
posted by Ron @ 10:46 PM
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1 Comments:
"Pure Engineers are some who are more analytical, and some who are more design-oriented, and some who love to test things." I totally agree with you. Its not about getting a degree of engineering its about implementing your knowledge at your workplace.
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