Dilbert_X wrote:
unnamednewbie13 wrote:
What's funny is that engineers consider themselves at the pinnacle of blue collar profession
Not really no.
Fine, you're an exception. Plenty of engineers who think they know better than all the scurrying little laborers and contractors because of a few pieces of paper that say so, yet I've seen people out-argue them on materials and blueprints without even the benefit of a degree. I'm not going to discount the value of a college educated engineer based on these cases and anecdotes, but a lot of engineering face has been saved by other people's experience, and lawsuits likely avoided.
But blue collar contractors (particularly experienced veterans of their field) use engineers as the butt of many jokes: pencil pushers who have never so much as bought a bag of cement from Lowe's trying to micromanage a job site. As much if not more derision for them as for "librul arts." There's even some legitimacy for the disdain.
There is no blue collar contractor on earth who wouldn't rather be an engineer and doesn't have a chip on his shoulder as a result.
Obviously there are mediocre engineers here and there, there are certainly mediocre contractors who ignore the specifications because they think they know better and ruin projects as a result.
The people who say "I've been doing this job for XX years and I know how to do it" rarely enjoy "You've been doing it wrong for XX years", managing that is always fun.
Wanting a bigger paycheck != respect. An engineer who actually knows what they're doing and doesn't hinder a job is a great asset. But a gas line isn't isn't 8 feet from where it actually is just because an engineer's old plans on his clipboard says so, or he has the paper turned upside down.
Contractors tell other contractors they're wrong all the time. Sometimes it's not even a matter of being wrong, but just getting them to conform to a company's different work practices. Or people doing things in different ways that are both valid. But if you're wrong, you're wrong. Some take it well, some not.
Some of the people high up in these fields can be fonts of knowledge and esoteric technique. Collaboration is important.
unnamednewbie13 wrote:
I think we've been over this plenty of times. Writers create stuff, editors create stuff, artists create stuff. Weighing the merit behind a good novel or scientific journal, and a floating bridge or some throwaway IC design for a dead-end niche item that will be outmoded in two years: pointless.
The issue really is the level of responsibility and risk and consequences of failure - the "arts crowd" take none.
There's a modicum of risk involved when writing documentation where an error made could get someone hurt or killed, or damage property, or create liability. Beyond technical writing, ideas are powerful things that have led to bloody revolution and catastrophe in the past. Risk isn't just confined to designing seatbelts or being an EMT.
Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2021-06-22 05:40:23)