Lots of us are engineers
- Thread starter SkykingC310
- Start date
flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
I'm a "transportation engineer." 
And a wanna-be EE, going back either in fall or spring to finish my last year (just as soon as I quit blowing all my $$ on flying and save some of it for tuition, ya know...)
One of my biggest pet peeves is garbage men who call themselves "sanitation engineers," janitors who call themselves "maintenance engineers," and the like. For the most part, unless you either drive a train or you've suffered through all of the Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, Statics, Dynamics, Thermodynamics, Materials, Heat Transfer, etc. then you shouldn't be calling yourself an engineer.
Heck, I *have* suffered through all of the above and still don't call myself an engineer - I'm not done yet, and I'm not designing or testing or doing anything else that makes use of the above knowledge. It has certainly changed the way I think, though. It's made me a better driver (yes, I do think about friction equations and center of gravity and lots of other stuff like that while driving) and a better pilot as well (too much engineering-related stuff that can be used in flying to mention in one message!).
Kath: Out of all of the classes I mentioned above, Physics was my favorite.
I would think engineers would mostly like physics, as it's often the first time you can do real-world applications of calculus in school and solve real-world problems. I'd think that an engineering student who doesn't like Physics probably isn't going to like engineering that much either!
And a wanna-be EE, going back either in fall or spring to finish my last year (just as soon as I quit blowing all my $$ on flying and save some of it for tuition, ya know...)One of my biggest pet peeves is garbage men who call themselves "sanitation engineers," janitors who call themselves "maintenance engineers," and the like. For the most part, unless you either drive a train or you've suffered through all of the Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, Statics, Dynamics, Thermodynamics, Materials, Heat Transfer, etc. then you shouldn't be calling yourself an engineer.
Heck, I *have* suffered through all of the above and still don't call myself an engineer - I'm not done yet, and I'm not designing or testing or doing anything else that makes use of the above knowledge. It has certainly changed the way I think, though. It's made me a better driver (yes, I do think about friction equations and center of gravity and lots of other stuff like that while driving) and a better pilot as well (too much engineering-related stuff that can be used in flying to mention in one message!).
Kath: Out of all of the classes I mentioned above, Physics was my favorite.
I would think engineers would mostly like physics, as it's often the first time you can do real-world applications of calculus in school and solve real-world problems. I'd think that an engineering student who doesn't like Physics probably isn't going to like engineering that much either!
TMetzinger
Final Approach
Well to me "engineering" is using scientific (i.e. derived and tested) methods and practices to solve problems. I suffered through all the subjects above, but as an engineer with an IT practice I don't use many of the formulae I learned in college. I surely do use the practices and mental disciplines that I learned however.
I've always considered the difference between an engineer and a technician is that a technician can apply proven techniques to problems and solve them. An engineer can develop new techniques to solve new problems, and do so in an organized fashion, not at random, and can document his methods for future technicians to utilize.
I've always considered the difference between an engineer and a technician is that a technician can apply proven techniques to problems and solve them. An engineer can develop new techniques to solve new problems, and do so in an organized fashion, not at random, and can document his methods for future technicians to utilize.