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OT - More about Engineers
Engineers
People who work in the fields of science and technology are not like other people. This can be frustrating to the non-technical people who have to deal with them. The secret to coping with technology-oriented people is to understand their motivations. This chapter will teach you everything you need to know. I learned their customs and mannerisms by observing them, much the way Jane Goodall learned about the great apes, but without the hassle of grooming. Engineering is so trendy these days that everybody wants to be one. The word engineer" is greatly overused. If there's somebody in your life who you think is trying to pass as an engineer, give him this test to discern the truth. ENGINEER IDENTIFICATION TEST SOCIAL SKILLS Engineers have different objectives when it comes to social interaction. "Normal" people expect to accomplish several unrealistic things from social interaction: * Stimulating and thought-provoking conversation * Important social contacts * A feeling of connectedness with other humans In contrast to "normal" people, engineers have rational objectives for social interactions: * Get it over with as soon as possible. * Avoid getting invited to something unpleasant. * Demonstrate mental superiority and mastery of all subjects. FASCINATION WITH GADGETS To the engineer, all matter in the universe can be placed into one of two categories: 1) things that need to be fixed, and 2) things that will need to be fixed after you've had a few minutes to play with them. Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems. Normal people don't understand this concept; they believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet. No engineer looks at a television remote control without wondering what it would take to turn it into a stun gun. No engineer can take a shower without wondering if some sort of Teflon coating would make showering unnecessary. To the engineer, the world is a toy box full of sub-optimized and feature-poor toys. FASHION AND APPEARANCE Clothes are the lowest priority for an engineer, assuming the basic thresholds for temperature and decency have been satisfied. If no appendages are freezing or sticking together, and if no unmentionable body parts are swinging around in plain view, then the objective of clothing has been met. Anything else is a waste. DATING AND SOCIAL LIFE Dating is never easy for engineers. A normal person will employ various indirect and duplicitous methods to create a false impression of attractiveness. Engineers are incapable of placing appearance above function. Fortunately, engineers have an ace in the hole. They are widely recognized as superior marriage material: intelligent, dependable, employed, honest, and handy around the house. While it's true that many normal people would prefer not to date an engineer, most normal people harbor an intense desire to mate with them, thus producing engineer-like children who will have high-paying jobs long before moving out on their own. Male engineers reach their peak of sexual attractiveness later than normal men, becoming irresistible erotic dynamos in their mid thirties to late forties. Just look at these examples of sexually irresistible men in technical professions: * Bill Gates. * MacGyver. * Et Cetera. Female engineers become irresistible at the age of consent and remain that way until forever. HONESTY Engineers are always honest in matters of technology and human relationships. That's why it's a good idea to keep engineers away from customers, romantic interests, and other people who can't handle the truth. Engineers sometimes bend the truth to avoid work. They say things that sound like lies but technically are not because nobody could be expected to believe them. The complete list of engineer lies is listed below. "I won't change anything without asking you first." "I'll return your hard-to-find cable tomorrow." "I have to have new equipment to do my job." "I'm not jealous of your new computer." FRUGALITY Engineers are notoriously frugal. This is not because of cheapness or mean spirit; it is simply because every spending situation is simply a problem in optimization, that is, "How can I escape this situation while retaining the greatest amount of cash?" POWERS OF CONCENTRATION If there is one trait that best defines an engineer it is the ability to concentrate on one subject to the complete exclusion of everything else in the environment. This sometimes causes engineers to be pronounced dead prematurely. Some funeral homes in high-tech areas have started checking resumes before processing the bodies. Anybody with a degree in electrical engineering or experience in computer programming is propped up in the lounge for a few days just to see if he or she snaps out of it. RISK Engineers hate risk. They try to eliminate it whenever they can. This is understandable, given that when an engineer makes one little mistake, the media will treat it like it's a big deal or something. EXAMPLES OF BAD PRESS FOR ENGINEERS * Hindenberg. * Space Shuttle Challenger. * SPANet(tm) * Hubble space telescope. * Tacoma Narrows Bridge. * Apollo 13. * Titanic. * Ford Pinto. * Corvair. The risk/reward calculation for engineers looks something like this: RISK: Public humiliation and the death of thousands of innocent people. REWARD: A certificate of appreciation in a handsome plastic frame. Being practical people, engineers evaluate this balance of risks and rewards and decide that risk is not a good thing. The best way to avoid risk is by advising that any activity is technically impossible for reasons that are far too complicated to explain. If that approach is not sufficient to halt a project, then the engineer will fall back to a second line of defense: "It's technically possible but it will cost too much." EGO Ego-wise, two things are important to engineers: * How smart they are. * How many cool devices they own. The fastest way to get an engineer to solve a problem is to declare that the problem is un-solvable. No engineer can walk away from an un-solvable problem until it's solved. No illness or distraction is sufficient to get the engineer off the case. These types of challenges quickly become personal -- a battle between the engineer and the laws of nature. Engineers will go without food and hygiene for days to solve a problem. (Other times just because they forgot.) And when they succeed in solving the problem they will experience an ego rush that is better than sex -- and I'm including the kind of sex where other people are involved. Nothing is more threatening to the engineer than the suggestion that somebody has more technical skill. Normal people sometimes use that knowledge as a lever to extract more work from the engineer. When an engineer says that something can't be done (a code phrase that means it's not fun to do), some clever normal people have learned to glance at the engineer with a look of compassion and pity and say something along these lines: "I'll ask Bob to figure it out. He knows how to solve difficult technical problems." At that point it is a good idea for the normal person to not stand between the engineer and the problem. The engineer will set upon the problem like a starved Chihuahua on a pork chop. |
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Where did you meet my late husband? You must have known him, you described
him perfectly. Lucille "Bonnie" wrote in message . .. Engineers People who work in the fields of science and technology are not like other people. This can be frustrating to the non-technical people who have to deal with them. The secret to coping with technology-oriented people is to understand their motivations. This chapter will teach you everything you need to know. I learned their customs and mannerisms by observing them, much the way Jane Goodall learned about the great apes, but without the hassle of grooming. Engineering is so trendy these days that everybody wants to be one. The word engineer" is greatly overused. If there's somebody in your life who you think is trying to pass as an engineer, give him this test to discern the truth. ENGINEER IDENTIFICATION TEST SOCIAL SKILLS Engineers have different objectives when it comes to social interaction. "Normal" people expect to accomplish several unrealistic things from social interaction: * Stimulating and thought-provoking conversation * Important social contacts * A feeling of connectedness with other humans In contrast to "normal" people, engineers have rational objectives for social interactions: * Get it over with as soon as possible. * Avoid getting invited to something unpleasant. * Demonstrate mental superiority and mastery of all subjects. FASCINATION WITH GADGETS To the engineer, all matter in the universe can be placed into one of two categories: 1) things that need to be fixed, and 2) things that will need to be fixed after you've had a few minutes to play with them. Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems. Normal people don't understand this concept; they believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet. No engineer looks at a television remote control without wondering what it would take to turn it into a stun gun. No engineer can take a shower without wondering if some sort of Teflon coating would make showering unnecessary. To the engineer, the world is a toy box full of sub-optimized and feature-poor toys. FASHION AND APPEARANCE Clothes are the lowest priority for an engineer, assuming the basic thresholds for temperature and decency have been satisfied. If no appendages are freezing or sticking together, and if no unmentionable body parts are swinging around in plain view, then the objective of clothing has been met. Anything else is a waste. DATING AND SOCIAL LIFE Dating is never easy for engineers. A normal person will employ various indirect and duplicitous methods to create a false impression of attractiveness. Engineers are incapable of placing appearance above function. Fortunately, engineers have an ace in the hole. They are widely recognized as superior marriage material: intelligent, dependable, employed, honest, and handy around the house. While it's true that many normal people would prefer not to date an engineer, most normal people harbor an intense desire to mate with them, thus producing engineer-like children who will have high-paying jobs long before moving out on their own. Male engineers reach their peak of sexual attractiveness later than normal men, becoming irresistible erotic dynamos in their mid thirties to late forties. Just look at these examples of sexually irresistible men in technical professions: * Bill Gates. * MacGyver. * Et Cetera. Female engineers become irresistible at the age of consent and remain that way until forever. HONESTY Engineers are always honest in matters of technology and human relationships. That's why it's a good idea to keep engineers away from customers, romantic interests, and other people who can't handle the truth. Engineers sometimes bend the truth to avoid work. They say things that sound like lies but technically are not because nobody could be expected to believe them. The complete list of engineer lies is listed below. "I won't change anything without asking you first." "I'll return your hard-to-find cable tomorrow." "I have to have new equipment to do my job." "I'm not jealous of your new computer." FRUGALITY Engineers are notoriously frugal. This is not because of cheapness or mean spirit; it is simply because every spending situation is simply a problem in optimization, that is, "How can I escape this situation while retaining the greatest amount of cash?" POWERS OF CONCENTRATION If there is one trait that best defines an engineer it is the ability to concentrate on one subject to the complete exclusion of everything else in the environment. This sometimes causes engineers to be pronounced dead prematurely. Some funeral homes in high-tech areas have started checking resumes before processing the bodies. Anybody with a degree in electrical engineering or experience in computer programming is propped up in the lounge for a few days just to see if he or she snaps out of it. RISK Engineers hate risk. They try to eliminate it whenever they can. This is understandable, given that when an engineer makes one little mistake, the media will treat it like it's a big deal or something. EXAMPLES OF BAD PRESS FOR ENGINEERS * Hindenberg. * Space Shuttle Challenger. * SPANet(tm) * Hubble space telescope. * Tacoma Narrows Bridge. * Apollo 13. * Titanic. * Ford Pinto. * Corvair. The risk/reward calculation for engineers looks something like this: RISK: Public humiliation and the death of thousands of innocent people. REWARD: A certificate of appreciation in a handsome plastic frame. Being practical people, engineers evaluate this balance of risks and rewards and decide that risk is not a good thing. The best way to avoid risk is by advising that any activity is technically impossible for reasons that are far too complicated to explain. If that approach is not sufficient to halt a project, then the engineer will fall back to a second line of defense: "It's technically possible but it will cost too much." EGO Ego-wise, two things are important to engineers: * How smart they are. * How many cool devices they own. The fastest way to get an engineer to solve a problem is to declare that the problem is un-solvable. No engineer can walk away from an un-solvable problem until it's solved. No illness or distraction is sufficient to get the engineer off the case. These types of challenges quickly become personal -- a battle between the engineer and the laws of nature. Engineers will go without food and hygiene for days to solve a problem. (Other times just because they forgot.) And when they succeed in solving the problem they will experience an ego rush that is better than sex -- and I'm including the kind of sex where other people are involved. Nothing is more threatening to the engineer than the suggestion that somebody has more technical skill. Normal people sometimes use that knowledge as a lever to extract more work from the engineer. When an engineer says that something can't be done (a code phrase that means it's not fun to do), some clever normal people have learned to glance at the engineer with a look of compassion and pity and say something along these lines: "I'll ask Bob to figure it out. He knows how to solve difficult technical problems." At that point it is a good idea for the normal person to not stand between the engineer and the problem. The engineer will set upon the problem like a starved Chihuahua on a pork chop. |
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ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, how true, how very true. On Fri, 01 Aug 2003 23:29:18 GMT, "Bonnie" wrote: Engineers People who work in the fields of science and technology are not like other people. This can be frustrating to the non-technical people who have to deal with them. The secret to coping with technology-oriented people is to understand their motivations. This chapter will teach you everything you need to know. I learned their customs and mannerisms by observing them, much the way Jane Goodall learned about the great apes, but without the hassle of grooming. Engineering is so trendy these days that everybody wants to be one. The word engineer" is greatly overused. If there's somebody in your life who you think is trying to pass as an engineer, give him this test to discern the truth. ENGINEER IDENTIFICATION TEST SOCIAL SKILLS Engineers have different objectives when it comes to social interaction. "Normal" people expect to accomplish several unrealistic things from social interaction: * Stimulating and thought-provoking conversation * Important social contacts * A feeling of connectedness with other humans In contrast to "normal" people, engineers have rational objectives for social interactions: * Get it over with as soon as possible. * Avoid getting invited to something unpleasant. * Demonstrate mental superiority and mastery of all subjects. FASCINATION WITH GADGETS To the engineer, all matter in the universe can be placed into one of two categories: 1) things that need to be fixed, and 2) things that will need to be fixed after you've had a few minutes to play with them. Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems. Normal people don't understand this concept; they believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet. No engineer looks at a television remote control without wondering what it would take to turn it into a stun gun. No engineer can take a shower without wondering if some sort of Teflon coating would make showering unnecessary. To the engineer, the world is a toy box full of sub-optimized and feature-poor toys. FASHION AND APPEARANCE Clothes are the lowest priority for an engineer, assuming the basic thresholds for temperature and decency have been satisfied. If no appendages are freezing or sticking together, and if no unmentionable body parts are swinging around in plain view, then the objective of clothing has been met. Anything else is a waste. DATING AND SOCIAL LIFE Dating is never easy for engineers. A normal person will employ various indirect and duplicitous methods to create a false impression of attractiveness. Engineers are incapable of placing appearance above function. Fortunately, engineers have an ace in the hole. They are widely recognized as superior marriage material: intelligent, dependable, employed, honest, and handy around the house. While it's true that many normal people would prefer not to date an engineer, most normal people harbor an intense desire to mate with them, thus producing engineer-like children who will have high-paying jobs long before moving out on their own. Male engineers reach their peak of sexual attractiveness later than normal men, becoming irresistible erotic dynamos in their mid thirties to late forties. Just look at these examples of sexually irresistible men in technical professions: * Bill Gates. * MacGyver. * Et Cetera. Female engineers become irresistible at the age of consent and remain that way until forever. HONESTY Engineers are always honest in matters of technology and human relationships. That's why it's a good idea to keep engineers away from customers, romantic interests, and other people who can't handle the truth. Engineers sometimes bend the truth to avoid work. They say things that sound like lies but technically are not because nobody could be expected to believe them. The complete list of engineer lies is listed below. "I won't change anything without asking you first." "I'll return your hard-to-find cable tomorrow." "I have to have new equipment to do my job." "I'm not jealous of your new computer." FRUGALITY Engineers are notoriously frugal. This is not because of cheapness or mean spirit; it is simply because every spending situation is simply a problem in optimization, that is, "How can I escape this situation while retaining the greatest amount of cash?" POWERS OF CONCENTRATION If there is one trait that best defines an engineer it is the ability to concentrate on one subject to the complete exclusion of everything else in the environment. This sometimes causes engineers to be pronounced dead prematurely. Some funeral homes in high-tech areas have started checking resumes before processing the bodies. Anybody with a degree in electrical engineering or experience in computer programming is propped up in the lounge for a few days just to see if he or she snaps out of it. RISK Engineers hate risk. They try to eliminate it whenever they can. This is understandable, given that when an engineer makes one little mistake, the media will treat it like it's a big deal or something. EXAMPLES OF BAD PRESS FOR ENGINEERS * Hindenberg. * Space Shuttle Challenger. * SPANet(tm) * Hubble space telescope. * Tacoma Narrows Bridge. * Apollo 13. * Titanic. * Ford Pinto. * Corvair. The risk/reward calculation for engineers looks something like this: RISK: Public humiliation and the death of thousands of innocent people. REWARD: A certificate of appreciation in a handsome plastic frame. Being practical people, engineers evaluate this balance of risks and rewards and decide that risk is not a good thing. The best way to avoid risk is by advising that any activity is technically impossible for reasons that are far too complicated to explain. If that approach is not sufficient to halt a project, then the engineer will fall back to a second line of defense: "It's technically possible but it will cost too much." EGO Ego-wise, two things are important to engineers: * How smart they are. * How many cool devices they own. The fastest way to get an engineer to solve a problem is to declare that the problem is un-solvable. No engineer can walk away from an un-solvable problem until it's solved. No illness or distraction is sufficient to get the engineer off the case. These types of challenges quickly become personal -- a battle between the engineer and the laws of nature. Engineers will go without food and hygiene for days to solve a problem. (Other times just because they forgot.) And when they succeed in solving the problem they will experience an ego rush that is better than sex -- and I'm including the kind of sex where other people are involved. Nothing is more threatening to the engineer than the suggestion that somebody has more technical skill. Normal people sometimes use that knowledge as a lever to extract more work from the engineer. When an engineer says that something can't be done (a code phrase that means it's not fun to do), some clever normal people have learned to glance at the engineer with a look of compassion and pity and say something along these lines: "I'll ask Bob to figure it out. He knows how to solve difficult technical problems." At that point it is a good idea for the normal person to not stand between the engineer and the problem. The engineer will set upon the problem like a starved Chihuahua on a pork chop. |
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DH just read it with me and agrees with it all!! Excellent.
Addie "Bonnie" wrote in message . .. Engineers People who work in the fields of science and technology are not like other people. This can be frustrating to the non-technical people who have to deal with them. The secret to coping with technology-oriented people is to understand their motivations. This chapter will teach you everything you need to know. I learned their customs and mannerisms by observing them, much the way Jane Goodall learned about the great apes, but without the hassle of grooming. Engineering is so trendy these days that everybody wants to be one. The word engineer" is greatly overused. If there's somebody in your life who you think is trying to pass as an engineer, give him this test to discern the truth. ENGINEER IDENTIFICATION TEST SOCIAL SKILLS Engineers have different objectives when it comes to social interaction. "Normal" people expect to accomplish several unrealistic things from social interaction: * Stimulating and thought-provoking conversation * Important social contacts * A feeling of connectedness with other humans In contrast to "normal" people, engineers have rational objectives for social interactions: * Get it over with as soon as possible. * Avoid getting invited to something unpleasant. * Demonstrate mental superiority and mastery of all subjects. FASCINATION WITH GADGETS To the engineer, all matter in the universe can be placed into one of two categories: 1) things that need to be fixed, and 2) things that will need to be fixed after you've had a few minutes to play with them. Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems. Normal people don't understand this concept; they believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet. No engineer looks at a television remote control without wondering what it would take to turn it into a stun gun. No engineer can take a shower without wondering if some sort of Teflon coating would make showering unnecessary. To the engineer, the world is a toy box full of sub-optimized and feature-poor toys. FASHION AND APPEARANCE Clothes are the lowest priority for an engineer, assuming the basic thresholds for temperature and decency have been satisfied. If no appendages are freezing or sticking together, and if no unmentionable body parts are swinging around in plain view, then the objective of clothing has been met. Anything else is a waste. DATING AND SOCIAL LIFE Dating is never easy for engineers. A normal person will employ various indirect and duplicitous methods to create a false impression of attractiveness. Engineers are incapable of placing appearance above function. Fortunately, engineers have an ace in the hole. They are widely recognized as superior marriage material: intelligent, dependable, employed, honest, and handy around the house. While it's true that many normal people would prefer not to date an engineer, most normal people harbor an intense desire to mate with them, thus producing engineer-like children who will have high-paying jobs long before moving out on their own. Male engineers reach their peak of sexual attractiveness later than normal men, becoming irresistible erotic dynamos in their mid thirties to late forties. Just look at these examples of sexually irresistible men in technical professions: * Bill Gates. * MacGyver. * Et Cetera. Female engineers become irresistible at the age of consent and remain that way until forever. HONESTY Engineers are always honest in matters of technology and human relationships. That's why it's a good idea to keep engineers away from customers, romantic interests, and other people who can't handle the truth. Engineers sometimes bend the truth to avoid work. They say things that sound like lies but technically are not because nobody could be expected to believe them. The complete list of engineer lies is listed below. "I won't change anything without asking you first." "I'll return your hard-to-find cable tomorrow." "I have to have new equipment to do my job." "I'm not jealous of your new computer." FRUGALITY Engineers are notoriously frugal. This is not because of cheapness or mean spirit; it is simply because every spending situation is simply a problem in optimization, that is, "How can I escape this situation while retaining the greatest amount of cash?" POWERS OF CONCENTRATION If there is one trait that best defines an engineer it is the ability to concentrate on one subject to the complete exclusion of everything else in the environment. This sometimes causes engineers to be pronounced dead prematurely. Some funeral homes in high-tech areas have started checking resumes before processing the bodies. Anybody with a degree in electrical engineering or experience in computer programming is propped up in the lounge for a few days just to see if he or she snaps out of it. RISK Engineers hate risk. They try to eliminate it whenever they can. This is understandable, given that when an engineer makes one little mistake, the media will treat it like it's a big deal or something. EXAMPLES OF BAD PRESS FOR ENGINEERS * Hindenberg. * Space Shuttle Challenger. * SPANet(tm) * Hubble space telescope. * Tacoma Narrows Bridge. * Apollo 13. * Titanic. * Ford Pinto. * Corvair. The risk/reward calculation for engineers looks something like this: RISK: Public humiliation and the death of thousands of innocent people. REWARD: A certificate of appreciation in a handsome plastic frame. Being practical people, engineers evaluate this balance of risks and rewards and decide that risk is not a good thing. The best way to avoid risk is by advising that any activity is technically impossible for reasons that are far too complicated to explain. If that approach is not sufficient to halt a project, then the engineer will fall back to a second line of defense: "It's technically possible but it will cost too much." EGO Ego-wise, two things are important to engineers: * How smart they are. * How many cool devices they own. The fastest way to get an engineer to solve a problem is to declare that the problem is un-solvable. No engineer can walk away from an un-solvable problem until it's solved. No illness or distraction is sufficient to get the engineer off the case. These types of challenges quickly become personal -- a battle between the engineer and the laws of nature. Engineers will go without food and hygiene for days to solve a problem. (Other times just because they forgot.) And when they succeed in solving the problem they will experience an ego rush that is better than sex -- and I'm including the kind of sex where other people are involved. Nothing is more threatening to the engineer than the suggestion that somebody has more technical skill. Normal people sometimes use that knowledge as a lever to extract more work from the engineer. When an engineer says that something can't be done (a code phrase that means it's not fun to do), some clever normal people have learned to glance at the engineer with a look of compassion and pity and say something along these lines: "I'll ask Bob to figure it out. He knows how to solve difficult technical problems." At that point it is a good idea for the normal person to not stand between the engineer and the problem. The engineer will set upon the problem like a starved Chihuahua on a pork chop. |
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My mother married an engineer the second time around, and she told me that
engineers make excellent husbands, because "they always want to know how things work...if you know what I mean." She can be naughty when it's least expected! Katrina L. |
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On 8/1/03 7:29 PM,"Bonnie" posted:
Engineers People who work in the fields of science and technology are not like other people. This can be frustrating to the non-technical people who have to deal with them. The secret to coping with technology-oriented people is to understand their motivations. This chapter will teach you everything you need to know. I learned their customs and mannerisms by observing them, much the way Jane Goodall learned about the great apes, but without the hassle of grooming. Engineering is so trendy these days that everybody wants to be one. The word engineer" is greatly overused. If there's somebody in your life who you think is trying to pass as an engineer, give him this test to discern the truth. I can't decide how to respond to this. Thing is, as an engineer, I kind of resent other people making fun of us. So, while some of this is close, with the expected use of hyperbole, some of it is kind of mean - like the disaster stuff. FWIW - "real" engineers make fun of people who have kind of psuedo-engineer degrees - like management engineering, or sometimes systems engineering. The trend the last 10 years for "system engineers" now to be folks who know how to run a computer network - but don't have in general the baseline education that is required for traditional, hard-core engineering degrees. What used to be considered a "systems engineer" was someone with technical skills and expertize in a variety of disciplines, and thus could actually oversee an entire multidisciplinary system. Engineering is hardly trendy - but getting a tag without the education is. I remember at undergrad graduation the business majors were seated across the aisle from the engineering college grads. And they were being rude, making some kind of cracks. Eventually, the engineering grads all started chanting "get a real job" . It made the point, and was pretty funny. ENGINEER IDENTIFICATION TEST SOCIAL SKILLS Engineers have different objectives when it comes to social interaction. "Normal" people expect to accomplish several unrealistic things from social interaction: * Stimulating and thought-provoking conversation * Important social contacts * A feeling of connectedness with other humans In contrast to "normal" people, engineers have rational objectives for social interactions: * Get it over with as soon as possible. * Avoid getting invited to something unpleasant. * Demonstrate mental superiority and mastery of all subjects. This may be the true thing - working at a lab full of research engineers, who are well socialized in comparison with the research physicists - at least the engineers could actually make something work - or fix it when it broke - I really saw this. My female friend who is a EE & I would call our workplace "revenge of the Kingdom of the Nerds" . So we got to go to lots of conferences, give briefings all over the place because we had social skills. That said, we also knew and made friends with a lot of guys who were just fine - they just happened to be science smart - like us - and had fun social skills FASCINATION WITH GADGETS To the engineer, all matter in the universe can be placed into one of two categories: 1) things that need to be fixed, and 2) things that will need to be fixed after you've had a few minutes to play with them. Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems. Normal people don't understand this concept; they believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet. HAH - non-engineers buy cars with lots of creature features - like air vents that move back and forth automatically. Engineers look at things like that and say "too many moving parts" - it'll break. No engineer looks at a television remote control without wondering what it would take to turn it into a stun gun. No engineer can take a shower without wondering if some sort of Teflon coating would make showering unnecessary. To the engineer, the world is a toy box full of sub-optimized and feature-poor toys. I don't know a lot of smelly engineers. But I do know a lot of poorly dressed ones. FASHION AND APPEARANCE Clothes are the lowest priority for an engineer, assuming the basic thresholds for temperature and decency have been satisfied. If no appendages are freezing or sticking together, and if no unmentionable body parts are swinging around in plain view, then the objective of clothing has been met. Anything else is a waste. Sadly, a truism for some. I remember being urged to go on a mercy date with a guy in undergrad school. And then I saw him - with collared sweater on backwards, calculator hanging from belt, and the polyester pants - in the corridor outside the engineering library. I almost spit, I was trying hard not to choke, as my pals and I stopped him & told him to turn his sweater around. After he moved on, I then proceeded to punch the 2 guys that were with me and tell them no way, no how. But, I did do the one mercy date. It was mortifying. Polyester houndstooth checked pants, black shoes of some sort, and one of those shirts worn in South FL, Cuba, Puerto Rico - that have kind of a design down each side, and are worn out, by old men playing dice or cards in Little Havana. And I can hardly bear to think about the hair do- his mom cut it I think - looked like a combover on a guy with all his hair. Worst part of this - I drove, picked him up - I'm wearing some normal jeans, nice silk blouse, maybe clogs. We go to a restaurant and run right into 2 profs from the Ops Research dept. Problem is I'm an undergrad RA in that dept, and have been dating a grad stud (who was out of town that weekend). We get seated, I see the profs I know looking at me, and I have to go over there and say "don't ask, please don't say anything - I'll explain on Monday". After said date - thank g-d the calculator didn't come out - I actually told this guy that I hated to be shallow, but if he wanted to hang out with my friends, and go out in public he really needed to get his image together. Like get some clothes that college students, not 65 yr old guys wore, and a real haircut, and so forth. OTOH, my engineer gang were kind of the rowdies. We bought a boat from the Oceanographic school - for $500, and made it work. Redid the tranny, fixed the engine, and notoriously were cutting out of afternoon class to go diving. DATING AND SOCIAL LIFE Dating is never easy for engineers. A normal person will employ various indirect and duplicitous methods to create a false impression of attractiveness. Engineers are incapable of placing appearance above function. Fortunately, engineers have an ace in the hole. They are widely recognized as superior marriage material: intelligent, dependable, employed, honest, and handy around the house. While it's true that many normal people would prefer not to date an engineer, most normal people harbor an intense desire to mate with them, thus producing engineer-like children who will have high-paying jobs long before moving out on their own. This is soooooo true for the men. Some woman will want them, pocket protector and all, and straighten out their wardrobe, and deal with the lack of social skills - or teach them some. OTOH, for the women, we had to have social skills, because the reverse just doesn't hold true - LOL Male engineers reach their peak of sexual attractiveness later than normal men, becoming irresistible erotic dynamos in their mid thirties to late forties. Just look at these examples of sexually irresistible men in technical professions: * Bill Gates. YUCK. Bill Gates is the evil one. * MacGyver. Very good choice. Female engineers become irresistible at the age of consent and remain that way until forever. HONESTY Engineers are always honest in matters of technology and human relationships. That's why it's a good idea to keep engineers away from customers, romantic interests, and other people who can't handle the truth. This is what makes work sometimes hard - when the political management doesn't really want to know. Engineers sometimes bend the truth to avoid work. They say things that sound like lies but technically are not because nobody could be expected to believe them. The complete list of engineer lies is listed below. "I won't change anything without asking you first." "I'll return your hard-to-find cable tomorrow." "I have to have new equipment to do my job." Hey - this is always true. "I'm not jealous of your new computer." LOL - computer wars. We used to go shopping in the storerooms at work - what fun. The secretary only went for boring stuff. We'd get excited, take the dept account card down and find all kinds of neat paper, and technical pencils. Nothing like a new set of french curves, or triangles FRUGALITY Engineers are notoriously frugal. This is not because of cheapness or mean spirit; it is simply because every spending situation is simply a problem in optimization, that is, "How can I escape this situation while retaining the greatest amount of cash?" You totally forget that they will spend inordinately large amounts of money on fine stereo equipment. The engineers always either have no stereo stuff, or totally amazing stereo gear. Trust me - I know - I have had 3 serious relationships - with engineers, and some completely awesome stereo stuff. My X-DH had us going crazy buying the gear. And the stupid in-between marriage - well, we had to change the layout of the family room to accommodate his tower speakers. He had crappy furniture - but $1000 each towers. Now, my sweet, wonderful, DH - we of course have surround sound, with towers, and lots of extra speakers, and fancy receiver, etc. He had this before he met me - trend-setting. But, I do know several who aren't cheap, but you have to convince them of why the more expensive thing is better than the cheaper thing. Oh, and real engineers don't skimp on their computers. We're not buying the little common PCs. No way. 'nuff said. POWERS OF CONCENTRATION If there is one trait that best defines an engineer it is the ability to concentrate on one subject to the complete exclusion of everything else in the environment. This sometimes causes engineers to be pronounced dead prematurely. Some funeral homes in high-tech areas have started checking resumes before processing the bodies. Anybody with a degree in electrical engineering or experience in computer programming is propped up in the lounge for a few days just to see if he or she snaps out of it. Aha - I knew you were picking on the nerdiest engineers. They're just stuck in an infinite do loop. RISK Engineers hate risk. They try to eliminate it whenever they can. This is understandable, given that when an engineer makes one little mistake, the media will treat it like it's a big deal or something. EXAMPLES OF BAD PRESS FOR ENGINEERS And you know, no one is harder on the stupid engineers or the careless ones, than the rest of us. Personally, I can't even begin to include in a humor thing tragedies where people lost their lives. So, I'm snipping those. And in point of fact, some of these tragedies weren't engineer mistakes, but instead cases where someone in management insisted that "it would be okay" or would save money, or gain fame. As in the case with the Titanic. And some of them were truly awful mistakes, or bad combinations of circumstances. I've had the awful experience of an inexperienced project leader (military guy) who supposedly had an engineering undergrad degree - from 10 yrs earlier - letting a good old boy technician say "hey, we can move that with this piece of equipment. No need to wait for the crane, you're in a hurry" And the nice young Capt let the smart, want to help old techs do what they were sure would work. And one of those technicians was crushed to death - taking hours to die, while his buddy drove the piece of equipment - to move what they didn't want to wait for. A classic and horrible instance of someone supposedly an "engineer" who didn't have quite the experience or knowledge to make an applied decision, calculation in the field - which would have clearly shown that what the "good ole' boys" wanted to do to be helpful wouldn't work. All this to save a couple of hours, and a little money. I cannot possibly tell you how genuinely angry and upset I was. I had guys from the other HQ division coming to talk to me about it. I was the tech permanent staff in a group full of guys rotating in and out. The person who let this happen was from the "theory" group for whom my division actually performed experimental work. And the weenie from the field agency that was there wasn't a good enough engineer - and just let the customer and himself be talked into this by the techs. My director, and the director of the group whose experiment this was came into my office and said "if you were there, this wouldn't have happened" . Great. True. But, I'm tough, and know how to do math and basic physics in my head. * Tacoma Narrows Bridge. A lot learned from this. It's a classic example of harmonic resonance problems - and the most fun thing every undergrad engineering student gets to see in some survey class. * Titanic. Blame this on the money people - wanting fame, and not wanting to listen to the naval architect. The risk/reward calculation for engineers looks something like this: RISK: Public humiliation and the death of thousands of innocent people. REWARD: A certificate of appreciation in a handsome plastic frame. Being practical people, engineers evaluate this balance of risks and rewards and decide that risk is not a good thing. The best way to avoid risk is by advising that any activity is technically impossible for reasons that are far too complicated to explain. Most good engineers like doing things that push the risk envelope. It's fun. Just you have to recognize the financial reward will go to the PR guy. If that approach is not sufficient to halt a project, then the engineer will fall back to a second line of defense: "It's technically possible but it will cost too much." Actually, the reality is when something suggested by some technically ignorant management weenie is too risky, won't really work - the only way to get out of it is by saying it'll cost bajillions. EGO Ego-wise, two things are important to engineers: * How smart they are. * How many cool devices they own. See stereo above. The fastest way to get an engineer to solve a problem is to declare that the problem is un-solvable. No engineer can walk away from an un-solvable problem until it's solved. No illness or distraction is sufficient to get the engineer off the case. These types of challenges quickly become personal -- a battle between the engineer and the laws of nature. Engineers will go without food and hygiene for days to solve a problem. (Other times just because they forgot.) And when they succeed in solving the problem they will experience an ego rush that is better than sex -- and I'm including the kind of sex where other people are involved. LOL - this is really more about computer geeks than engineers. One of the reasons I refused to become a code jockey. I had to do a bunch of code writing in grad school, and periodically would warn my officemates to try and get me when I'd been zoned out in the VAX room for too long. Periodically someone would rap on the door, or send in some pizza. Awful. I try to avoid that syndrome. It's the same thing that keeps computer gamers hooked for hours, or stitchers just stitchin' away to finish that last little bit. Nothing is more threatening to the engineer than the suggestion that somebody has more technical skill. Normal people sometimes use that knowledge as a lever to extract more work from the engineer. When an engineer says that something can't be done (a code phrase that means it's not fun to do), some clever normal people have learned to glance at the engineer with a look of compassion and pity and say something along these lines: "I'll ask Bob to figure it out. He knows how to solve difficult technical problems." At that point it is a good idea for the normal person to not stand between the engineer and the problem. The engineer will set upon the problem like a starved Chihuahua on a pork chop. Well, for the *smart* engineers - we know when we're being manipulated by the technically challenged. I like to tell people - try reading the directions. Especially if they're written in geek-speak. LOL. Ellice - who only resembles part of this |
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Oh my. I think I remember this---freshmen year at UTK...ChE..try being the
only female in a room full of guys ( I was feeling a bit like shark bait). Never wore any of my trendy clothes to class and became a sorority girl with a French degree....that I don't use. LOL. Dated some engineering majors, talk about animal house. For someone who couldn't do Statics, I could still read a schematic. -- Angel My family are the golden threads running through the tapestry of my life. My friends are the silver threads running through the tapestry of my life. The gold and silver in my tapestry show happiness, love, sadness, togetherness. And most important of all love. "Ellice" wrote in message ... On 8/1/03 7:29 PM,"Bonnie" posted: Engineers People who work in the fields of science and technology are not like other people. This can be frustrating to the non-technical people who have to deal with them. The secret to coping with technology-oriented people is to understand their motivations. This chapter will teach you everything you need to know. I learned their customs and mannerisms by observing them, much the way Jane Goodall learned about the great apes, but without the hassle of grooming. Engineering is so trendy these days that everybody wants to be one. The word engineer" is greatly overused. If there's somebody in your life who you think is trying to pass as an engineer, give him this test to discern the truth. I can't decide how to respond to this. Thing is, as an engineer, I kind of resent other people making fun of us. So, while some of this is close, with the expected use of hyperbole, some of it is kind of mean - like the disaster stuff. FWIW - "real" engineers make fun of people who have kind of psuedo-engineer degrees - like management engineering, or sometimes systems engineering. The trend the last 10 years for "system engineers" now to be folks who know how to run a computer network - but don't have in general the baseline education that is required for traditional, hard-core engineering degrees. What used to be considered a "systems engineer" was someone with technical skills and expertize in a variety of disciplines, and thus could actually oversee an entire multidisciplinary system. Engineering is hardly trendy - but getting a tag without the education is. I remember at undergrad graduation the business majors were seated across the aisle from the engineering college grads. And they were being rude, making some kind of cracks. Eventually, the engineering grads all started chanting "get a real job" . It made the point, and was pretty funny. ENGINEER IDENTIFICATION TEST SOCIAL SKILLS Engineers have different objectives when it comes to social interaction. "Normal" people expect to accomplish several unrealistic things from social interaction: * Stimulating and thought-provoking conversation * Important social contacts * A feeling of connectedness with other humans In contrast to "normal" people, engineers have rational objectives for social interactions: * Get it over with as soon as possible. * Avoid getting invited to something unpleasant. * Demonstrate mental superiority and mastery of all subjects. This may be the true thing - working at a lab full of research engineers, who are well socialized in comparison with the research physicists - at least the engineers could actually make something work - or fix it when it broke - I really saw this. My female friend who is a EE & I would call our workplace "revenge of the Kingdom of the Nerds" . So we got to go to lots of conferences, give briefings all over the place because we had social skills. That said, we also knew and made friends with a lot of guys who were just fine - they just happened to be science smart - like us - and had fun social skills FASCINATION WITH GADGETS To the engineer, all matter in the universe can be placed into one of two categories: 1) things that need to be fixed, and 2) things that will need to be fixed after you've had a few minutes to play with them. Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems. Normal people don't understand this concept; they believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet. HAH - non-engineers buy cars with lots of creature features - like air vents that move back and forth automatically. Engineers look at things like that and say "too many moving parts" - it'll break. No engineer looks at a television remote control without wondering what it would take to turn it into a stun gun. No engineer can take a shower without wondering if some sort of Teflon coating would make showering unnecessary. To the engineer, the world is a toy box full of sub-optimized and feature-poor toys. I don't know a lot of smelly engineers. But I do know a lot of poorly dressed ones. FASHION AND APPEARANCE Clothes are the lowest priority for an engineer, assuming the basic thresholds for temperature and decency have been satisfied. If no appendages are freezing or sticking together, and if no unmentionable body parts are swinging around in plain view, then the objective of clothing has been met. Anything else is a waste. Sadly, a truism for some. I remember being urged to go on a mercy date with a guy in undergrad school. And then I saw him - with collared sweater on backwards, calculator hanging from belt, and the polyester pants - in the corridor outside the engineering library. I almost spit, I was trying hard not to choke, as my pals and I stopped him & told him to turn his sweater around. After he moved on, I then proceeded to punch the 2 guys that were with me and tell them no way, no how. But, I did do the one mercy date. It was mortifying. Polyester houndstooth checked pants, black shoes of some sort, and one of those shirts worn in South FL, Cuba, Puerto Rico - that have kind of a design down each side, and are worn out, by old men playing dice or cards in Little Havana. And I can hardly bear to think about the hair do- his mom cut it I think - looked like a combover on a guy with all his hair. Worst part of this - I drove, picked him up - I'm wearing some normal jeans, nice silk blouse, maybe clogs. We go to a restaurant and run right into 2 profs from the Ops Research dept. Problem is I'm an undergrad RA in that dept, and have been dating a grad stud (who was out of town that weekend). We get seated, I see the profs I know looking at me, and I have to go over there and say "don't ask, please don't say anything - I'll explain on Monday". After said date - thank g-d the calculator didn't come out - I actually told this guy that I hated to be shallow, but if he wanted to hang out with my friends, and go out in public he really needed to get his image together. Like get some clothes that college students, not 65 yr old guys wore, and a real haircut, and so forth. OTOH, my engineer gang were kind of the rowdies. We bought a boat from the Oceanographic school - for $500, and made it work. Redid the tranny, fixed the engine, and notoriously were cutting out of afternoon class to go diving. DATING AND SOCIAL LIFE Dating is never easy for engineers. A normal person will employ various indirect and duplicitous methods to create a false impression of attractiveness. Engineers are incapable of placing appearance above function. Fortunately, engineers have an ace in the hole. They are widely recognized as superior marriage material: intelligent, dependable, employed, honest, and handy around the house. While it's true that many normal people would prefer not to date an engineer, most normal people harbor an intense desire to mate with them, thus producing engineer-like children who will have high-paying jobs long before moving out on their own. This is soooooo true for the men. Some woman will want them, pocket protector and all, and straighten out their wardrobe, and deal with the lack of social skills - or teach them some. OTOH, for the women, we had to have social skills, because the reverse just doesn't hold true - LOL Male engineers reach their peak of sexual attractiveness later than normal men, becoming irresistible erotic dynamos in their mid thirties to late forties. Just look at these examples of sexually irresistible men in technical professions: * Bill Gates. YUCK. Bill Gates is the evil one. * MacGyver. Very good choice. Female engineers become irresistible at the age of consent and remain that way until forever. HONESTY Engineers are always honest in matters of technology and human relationships. That's why it's a good idea to keep engineers away from customers, romantic interests, and other people who can't handle the truth. This is what makes work sometimes hard - when the political management doesn't really want to know. Engineers sometimes bend the truth to avoid work. They say things that sound like lies but technically are not because nobody could be expected to believe them. The complete list of engineer lies is listed below. "I won't change anything without asking you first." "I'll return your hard-to-find cable tomorrow." "I have to have new equipment to do my job." Hey - this is always true. "I'm not jealous of your new computer." LOL - computer wars. We used to go shopping in the storerooms at work - what fun. The secretary only went for boring stuff. We'd get excited, take the dept account card down and find all kinds of neat paper, and technical pencils. Nothing like a new set of french curves, or triangles FRUGALITY Engineers are notoriously frugal. This is not because of cheapness or mean spirit; it is simply because every spending situation is simply a problem in optimization, that is, "How can I escape this situation while retaining the greatest amount of cash?" You totally forget that they will spend inordinately large amounts of money on fine stereo equipment. The engineers always either have no stereo stuff, or totally amazing stereo gear. Trust me - I know - I have had 3 serious relationships - with engineers, and some completely awesome stereo stuff. My X-DH had us going crazy buying the gear. And the stupid in-between marriage - well, we had to change the layout of the family room to accommodate his tower speakers. He had crappy furniture - but $1000 each towers. Now, my sweet, wonderful, DH - we of course have surround sound, with towers, and lots of extra speakers, and fancy receiver, etc. He had this before he met me - trend-setting. But, I do know several who aren't cheap, but you have to convince them of why the more expensive thing is better than the cheaper thing. Oh, and real engineers don't skimp on their computers. We're not buying the little common PCs. No way. 'nuff said. POWERS OF CONCENTRATION If there is one trait that best defines an engineer it is the ability to concentrate on one subject to the complete exclusion of everything else in the environment. This sometimes causes engineers to be pronounced dead prematurely. Some funeral homes in high-tech areas have started checking resumes before processing the bodies. Anybody with a degree in electrical engineering or experience in computer programming is propped up in the lounge for a few days just to see if he or she snaps out of it. Aha - I knew you were picking on the nerdiest engineers. They're just stuck in an infinite do loop. RISK Engineers hate risk. They try to eliminate it whenever they can. This is understandable, given that when an engineer makes one little mistake, the media will treat it like it's a big deal or something. EXAMPLES OF BAD PRESS FOR ENGINEERS And you know, no one is harder on the stupid engineers or the careless ones, than the rest of us. Personally, I can't even begin to include in a humor thing tragedies where people lost their lives. So, I'm snipping those. And in point of fact, some of these tragedies weren't engineer mistakes, but instead cases where someone in management insisted that "it would be okay" or would save money, or gain fame. As in the case with the Titanic. And some of them were truly awful mistakes, or bad combinations of circumstances. I've had the awful experience of an inexperienced project leader (military guy) who supposedly had an engineering undergrad degree - from 10 yrs earlier - letting a good old boy technician say "hey, we can move that with this piece of equipment. No need to wait for the crane, you're in a hurry" And the nice young Capt let the smart, want to help old techs do what they were sure would work. And one of those technicians was crushed to death - taking hours to die, while his buddy drove the piece of equipment - to move what they didn't want to wait for. A classic and horrible instance of someone supposedly an "engineer" who didn't have quite the experience or knowledge to make an applied decision, calculation in the field - which would have clearly shown that what the "good ole' boys" wanted to do to be helpful wouldn't work. All this to save a couple of hours, and a little money. I cannot possibly tell you how genuinely angry and upset I was. I had guys from the other HQ division coming to talk to me about it. I was the tech permanent staff in a group full of guys rotating in and out. The person who let this happen was from the "theory" group for whom my division actually performed experimental work. And the weenie from the field agency that was there wasn't a good enough engineer - and just let the customer and himself be talked into this by the techs. My director, and the director of the group whose experiment this was came into my office and said "if you were there, this wouldn't have happened" . Great. True. But, I'm tough, and know how to do math and basic physics in my head. * Tacoma Narrows Bridge. A lot learned from this. It's a classic example of harmonic resonance problems - and the most fun thing every undergrad engineering student gets to see in some survey class. * Titanic. Blame this on the money people - wanting fame, and not wanting to listen to the naval architect. The risk/reward calculation for engineers looks something like this: RISK: Public humiliation and the death of thousands of innocent people. REWARD: A certificate of appreciation in a handsome plastic frame. Being practical people, engineers evaluate this balance of risks and rewards and decide that risk is not a good thing. The best way to avoid risk is by advising that any activity is technically impossible for reasons that are far too complicated to explain. Most good engineers like doing things that push the risk envelope. It's fun. Just you have to recognize the financial reward will go to the PR guy. If that approach is not sufficient to halt a project, then the engineer will fall back to a second line of defense: "It's technically possible but it will cost too much." Actually, the reality is when something suggested by some technically ignorant management weenie is too risky, won't really work - the only way to get out of it is by saying it'll cost bajillions. EGO Ego-wise, two things are important to engineers: * How smart they are. * How many cool devices they own. See stereo above. The fastest way to get an engineer to solve a problem is to declare that the problem is un-solvable. No engineer can walk away from an un-solvable problem until it's solved. No illness or distraction is sufficient to get the engineer off the case. These types of challenges quickly become personal -- a battle between the engineer and the laws of nature. Engineers will go without food and hygiene for days to solve a problem. (Other times just because they forgot.) And when they succeed in solving the problem they will experience an ego rush that is better than sex -- and I'm including the kind of sex where other people are involved. LOL - this is really more about computer geeks than engineers. One of the reasons I refused to become a code jockey. I had to do a bunch of code writing in grad school, and periodically would warn my officemates to try and get me when I'd been zoned out in the VAX room for too long. Periodically someone would rap on the door, or send in some pizza. Awful. I try to avoid that syndrome. It's the same thing that keeps computer gamers hooked for hours, or stitchers just stitchin' away to finish that last little bit. Nothing is more threatening to the engineer than the suggestion that somebody has more technical skill. Normal people sometimes use that knowledge as a lever to extract more work from the engineer. When an engineer says that something can't be done (a code phrase that means it's not fun to do), some clever normal people have learned to glance at the engineer with a look of compassion and pity and say something along these lines: "I'll ask Bob to figure it out. He knows how to solve difficult technical problems." At that point it is a good idea for the normal person to not stand between the engineer and the problem. The engineer will set upon the problem like a starved Chihuahua on a pork chop. Well, for the *smart* engineers - we know when we're being manipulated by the technically challenged. I like to tell people - try reading the directions. Especially if they're written in geek-speak. LOL. Ellice - who only resembles part of this |
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Bonnie wrote:
No engineer looks at a television remote control without wondering what it would take to turn it into a stun gun. No engineer can take a shower without wondering if some sort of Teflon coating would make showering unnecessary. To the engineer, the world is a toy box full of sub-optimized and feature-poor toys. I wonder if some sort of Teflon coating in the shower would make cleaning the shower unnecessary. Taking a shower is a pleasurable sensory experience; cleaning the shower is not. -- Brenda Lewis WIP: J. Himsworth "I Shall Not Want" xs J & P Coats "Dancing Snoopy" latchhook |
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Ellice wrote:
I can't decide how to respond to this. Thing is, as an engineer, I kind of resent other people making fun of us. So, while some of this is close, with the expected use of hyperbole, some of it is kind of mean - like the disaster stuff. snip My sisters are both civil engineers. One founded her own traffic engineering company and is doing quite well. The other works in evaluating projects for their environmental consequences. Both are great engineers with a much better fashion and social sense than I have as a computer science professor. While I've known engineers and scientists who fit these jokes wonderfully, I've seen far more engineers and scientists who are fascinating individuals. Yes, they/we look at the world a bit differently, but the world needs a wide variety of people. I'm posting in this thread to remind everyone of the subtle effects of such stereotyping in jokes. There are far too few women going into engineering and the sciences. Girls in middle school and earlier hear these jokes or subtle snippets of them and get discouraged from continuing math and science study. Many pre-teen and teen girls want to be like everyone else or at least not the object of ridicule. The message they get is that being an engineer is nerdy and undesirable. Some of them decide to do it anyway. But others take another path. There have been studies of computer classes in high schools where the guys think they know the material well and the girls think that they don't know it very well at all. But in reality, they know it about equally. So the guys continue on and the girls get discouraged. And our university computer science classes have maybe 3-4 women and 20-some men. The jokes certainly aren't the only problem, but they are a reflection of society's stereotypes. Yes, I forwarded the first set of jokes to my family. But I work against those stereotypes with my kids and other young people. Singing Peggy Seeger's "I'm Gonna be an Engineer": Flying Folk Army's version of the song (3.8MB takes a while to load): http://www.flyingfolk.ca/audio/engineer.mp3 -- Beth Katz |
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hahahahahahaha
Right on ! I have got me one of those at home !!! bdiane |
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Waaay OT - engineer humor | Joan Erickson | Needlework | 1 | August 1st 03 05:46 PM |