Poll:How many of us are Engineers?

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrayHare This topic is a variant of the Myers-Briggs poll: lots of INTJs here, lots of INTJs are engineers. A separate observation: of married couples here, surprisingly often the men are the younger of the two. I suspect it's a higher % than the general public.

Certain skills and discipline are required to successfully plan and accomplish an early retirement. While these skills and discipline are not exclusive to engineers, they are also part of an engineering background.

F. is a few years younger than I am. I guess this more or less evens out our life expectancies.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Quote:

A separate observation: of married couples here, surprisingly often the men are the younger of the two. I suspect it's a higher % than the general public.

I do not know about the general public, but I am a little younger than she is.
Not a lot, but a little.
A Little. ONLY A LITTLE.
o.k. three months. wanna fight?

[Amethyst]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 T I think it's just a stereotype. There is some truth to it, but I've met people in many disciplines who can't write. ERD50

I agree it's a stereotype, but why would the stereotyped people, themselves, keep reminding everyone about it? It's almost as if they are proud of it. Maybe some of them can't use software to do differential calculus either, but I don't hear them announcing it to the world.

I just don't see why writing would be the source of such disdain.

Amethyst

[travelover]

Does driving a diesel locomotive count?

[eytonxav]

Let me fix the first choice:

I am are an engineer

EE, but only worked as one for a year or so before moving into a business role

[ls99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by arky I hope there is no ill will lurking behind these posts.

Nope, none at all. Just my lifetime experience.

OTOH I found Physicists of various stripes to be a great bunch. Like Edward Teller, Richard Feynman, Roger Bilham.

Early on did not consider if I had the brain power to become a Physicist, now at 64 am not interested in finding out.

By the way in my initial quote of Obgyn forgot to add +1. Sorry about that.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Quote:

Quote: Originally Posted by arky I hope there is no ill will lurking behind these posts. Nope, none at all. Just my lifetime experience. OTOH I found Physicists of various stripes to be a great bunch. Like Edward Teller, Richard Feynman, Roger Bilham. Early on did not consider if I had the brain power to become a Physicist, now at 64 am not interested in finding out. By the way in my initial quote of Obgyn forgot to add +1. Sorry about that.

LOL! Feynman was a national treasure. I enjoyed just reading about him. I am honored to be in the same species as him.

[redduck]

I am not an engineer. And, after that girl in geometry class borrowed my protractor and wouldn't return it, I decided the universe was gently telling me something about...well, I'm still not quite sure what it might have been telling me.

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIREd Female students outnumbered male students in my engineering school (back in Europe). Plenty of smart and good looking women.

My experience in the US was the opposite in terms of male:female.

I got accepted to four engineering schools, and narrowed it down to a final two. When I noticed that one of them (Georgia Tech) had a male:female ratio of 39:1 (no idea if it's still that lopsided) vs my other choice about 2:1 - it was a no brainer. Never did tell my Dad the real reason I eliminated Georgia Tech, and I was happy with my choice...

[KingB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amethyst For my part, I've never understood why engineers love to proclaim that "engineers can't write." Do all engineers hold this view, or just the many I've worked with and managed? It's not as if anyone expects them to produce poetry on the job or something. Business writing is a learned skill based on disciplined, organized thinking. Engineers appreciate disciplined, orderly thinking, so why would they disdain writing? Amethyst

One hard part of a project is the documentation. Some engineers would rather go to the next project than do the documentation. But, projects are not considered complete until documentation is completed.

Retired EE here.

[Alan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau Alan, I concur. One very cute girl. Er, uh, Alan, is she seated in the picture?

Thanks, and yes, she was seated in the picture

We actually met at work, at the company who sponsored us through college, 6 months at uni, 6 months at work. When we returned to work the local newspaper did an article on us, and the photographer decided that it would be better if she stood on a box. (I'm a foot taller at 6'1")

[Amethyst]

Hm. So the solution is to pretend to be horrible at documentation, hoping it will get fobbed off onto non-engineers to mess up take care of. Meanwhile, the engineer is over in the next cubicle, happily tearing things apart and putting them back together digging into the next set of user requirements. I think you are on to something.

Amethyst

Quote:

Originally Posted by KingB One hard part of a project is the documentation. Some engineers would rather go to the next project than do the documentation. But, projects are not considered complete until documentation is completed. Retired EE here.

[MBAustin]

I'm technically not an engineer as my computer science degree was in the arts & sciences college rather than engineering college. But DH is a MechE and DS is a junior majoring in MechE, so I must think engineers are hot!

[Alan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KingB One hard part of a project is the documentation. Some engineers would rather go to the next project than do the documentation. But, projects are not considered complete until documentation is completed. Retired EE here.

Ah yes, the art of working on a project staying being schedule until the very last minute when you work all hours in week and make the deadline in the nick of time.

Not only does it impress the boss but it gets you out doing the documentation and onto the next project in the pipeline.

Documentation is what Technical Writers are good at, and we wouldn't want to deprive them of a job.

[Alan]

For those who haven't seen it, here is a funny, short clip, from the Dilbert video called The Knack.

I love it when the mother asks the Doctor if he will live a normal life and the Doctor replies, "No, he'll be an engineer", causing the mother to burst into tears.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlJsPa6UwcM

[MichaelB]

Hilarious, and so true.

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan For those who haven't seen it, here is a funny, short clip, from the Dilbert video called The Knack. I love it when the mother asks the Doctor if he will live a normal life and the Doctor replies, "No, he'll be an engineer", causing the mother to burst into

That's a classic that all Engineers need to see. I had not seen it in a while, thanks for reminding me, I enjoyed it again.

[H2ODude]

I started out wanting to be an MD but decided it wasn't my thing about one month into gross anatomy and related courses. But it makes sense when you consider that my father was a chem-e and his father an ee. I returned to school and got a BSCE and MS in Environmental Engineering. The family predisposition was borne out when both my son and daughter became chem-e's, she a a PhD.

IIRC there were NO women in my engineering classes in early 70's; now it seems the majority of young engineers are women.

[clifp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by H2ODude I started out wanting to be an MD but decided it wasn't my thing about one month into gross anatomy and related courses. But it makes sense when you consider that my father was a chem-e and his father an ee. I returned to school and got a BSCE and MS in Environmental Engineering. The family predisposition was borne out when both my son and daughter became chem-e's, she a a PhD. IIRC there were NO women in my engineering classes in early 70's; now it seems the majority of young engineers are women.

I remember roughly 10% girls in my computer science class and lesser percentage in the EE classes. My perception also is that there are more than their used to be. I think that is mostly because every major tech company has some program from promoting women in engineer. However when I do I bit a googling I see lots of headlines like this.

Women Engineering Graduates at 15-Year Low

Quote:

The number of male engineering graduates rose by 11% from 2004 to 2009, while the number of female engineering graduates actually fell by 5.2% over the same period, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. In 2009, the percentage of undergraduate degrees from engineering schools that went to women hit 17.8%, a 15-year low, according to the American Society of Engineering Education.

So I have to conclude that despite lots of efforts to get more woman into engineer it just isn't happening.

[grasshopper]

Someone once called me a Sanitary engineer. I am usually the driver/engineer on the fire apparatus.