Why are engineers so arrogant?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven't found engineers to be overly arrogant. Doctors, especially surgeons - yikes.

+1 -- FWIW -- I'm the mom of 2 budding engineers (now in college) whose grandfather -- my dad -- is a surgeon

and, BTW, at the university my kids attend, there are lots of socially adept engineering profs and students, both male and female -- they're geeks, but not nerds, and actually, quite a few of them are athletic, outdoorsy types

[Anonymous]

"There is an old joke about an engineer, a priest, and a doctor enjoying a round of golf. Ahead of them is a group playing so slowly and inexpertly that in frustration the three ask the greenkeeper for an explanation. “That’s a group of blind firefighters,” they are told. “They lost their sight saving our clubhouse last year, so we let them play for free.”

The priest says, “I will say a prayer for them tonight.”

The doctor says, “Let me ask my ophthalmologist colleagues if anything can be done for them.”

And the engineer says, “Why can’t they play at night?”

The greenkeeper explains the behavior of the firefighters. The priest empathizes; the doctor offers care. All three address the social context of the situation: the fact that the firefighters’ disability has inadvertently created conflict on the golf course. Only the engineer tries to solve the problem."

-- "The Engineer's Lament" by Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker, May 4, 2015

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't found engineers to be overly arrogant. Doctors, especially surgeons - yikes.

+1 -- FWIW -- I'm the mom of 2 budding engineers (now in college) whose grandfather -- my dad -- is a surgeon

and, BTW, at the university my kids attend, there are lots of socially adept engineering profs and students, both male and female -- they're geeks, but not nerds, and actually, quite a few of them are athletic, outdoorsy types

Ha! They mustn't attend MIT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't found engineers to be overly arrogant. Doctors, especially surgeons - yikes.

+1 -- FWIW -- I'm the mom of 2 budding engineers (now in college) whose grandfather -- my dad -- is a surgeon

and, BTW, at the university my kids attend, there are lots of socially adept engineering profs and students, both male and female -- they're geeks, but not nerds, and actually, quite a few of them are athletic, outdoorsy types

Agreed. I work with a lot of doctors and holy crap! Painfully arrogant, so many of them.

Engineers, not so much. But I have a bias, since my husband's a very geeky engineer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From


Average IQ Profession
130 Physics
129 Mathematics
128.5 Computer Science
128 Economics
127.5 Chemical engineering
127 Material Science
126 Electrical Engineering
125.5 Mechanical Engineering
125 Philosophy
124 Chemistry
123 Earth Sciences
122 Industrial Engineering
122 Civil Engineering
121.5 Biology

All of the top smarts professions (except for philosophy) are science/math/engineering (econ is all math).

Where is aerospace? You know, the whole rocket science joke thing? Are we too far off the top of the chart?
Poor civil engineers and their concrete...

(Yes, gal engineer here too)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't found engineers to be overly arrogant. Doctors, especially surgeons - yikes.

+1 -- FWIW -- I'm the mom of 2 budding engineers (now in college) whose grandfather -- my dad -- is a surgeon

and, BTW, at the university my kids attend, there are lots of socially adept engineering profs and students, both male and female -- they're geeks, but not nerds, and actually, quite a few of them are athletic, outdoorsy types

Agreed. I work with a lot of doctors and holy crap! Painfully arrogant, so many of them.

Engineers, not so much. But I have a bias, since my husband's a very geeky engineer.

The difference is that we (engineers) don't get paid a damned thing and doctors do.
Working 8 years, masters degree, 70 hour weeks - salary is less than a teacher and certainly no OT, no bonus of any kind and no summers off.
Busted my ass in school too.
It's not like anyone realizes what you do either, even if it's a matter of national importance.
Engineers can be arrogant but often just to each other (which is a pain) but to others? Not sure I notice that
but maybe the arrogance comes in place of a decent wage.
(And if you don't like your wage - some guy/gal from India will do your work for cheap until he gets deported)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't found engineers to be overly arrogant. Doctors, especially surgeons - yikes.

+1 -- FWIW -- I'm the mom of 2 budding engineers (now in college) whose grandfather -- my dad -- is a surgeon

and, BTW, at the university my kids attend, there are lots of socially adept engineering profs and students, both male and female -- they're geeks, but not nerds, and actually, quite a few of them are athletic, outdoorsy types

Agreed. I work with a lot of doctors and holy crap! Painfully arrogant, so many of them.

Engineers, not so much. But I have a bias, since my husband's a very geeky engineer.

The difference is that we (engineers) don't get paid a damned thing and doctors do.
Working 8 years, masters degree, 70 hour weeks - salary is less than a teacher and certainly no OT, no bonus of any kind and no summers off.
Busted my ass in school too.
It's not like anyone realizes what you do either, even if it's a matter of national importance.
Engineers can be arrogant but often just to each other (which is a pain) but to others? Not sure I notice that
but maybe the arrogance comes in place of a decent wage.
(And if you don't like your wage - some guy/gal from India will do your work for cheap until he gets deported)

I have to disagree. I am a scientist (not an engineer, but the salaries are similar in my field vs. EE). I make more -- much more than any public school teacher. We hire people with MS's at about 75K -80K, and PhD's at about 100K. I am making closer to 200K.

That is decent money.

[Anonymous]

PP here. I will add, I make more than my father ever did. He is a physician (now retired).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Scientists who changed the world: 0

Liberal arts-y people who changed the world:

This is a list of 100 people who have changed the world. This list is not a judgement about who is ‘best’.

People who changed the world

christ1. Jesus Christ (c.5BC – 30AD) Spiritual Teacher, central figure of Christianity.

2. Thomas JeffersonJefferson (1743 – 1826) 3rd President of US. Principle author of Declaration of Independence

3. Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev(1931 – ) Leader of Soviet Union. Oversaw transition from Communism in Eastern Europe.

4. Lord Buddha buddha (c 563 – 483 BC) Spiritual Teacher and founder of Buddhism.

5. Winston Churchill Churchill(1874 – 1965) Prime Minister of Great Britain during Second World War.

6. William Shakespeare Shakespeare(1564- 1616) English poet and playwright.

Muhammad_Salat7. Muhammad – (570 – 632) Prophet of Islam

8. Martin Luther King christ (1929 – 1968) Non-violent civil rights leader.

9. Abraham Lincoln Lincoln (1809 – 1865) President of US during civil war, helped end slavery.

mandela10. Nelson Mandela (1918 – 2013) Anti-apartheid leader. First President of democratic South Africa in 1994.

Looks like you have a lot of time on your hands, LA major. Not time to make the fries yet?

And did #1 actually exist? Let's see some documentation/proof.

Yeah, who brings Jesus to a STEM fight?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't mean to be arrogant. We are just used to dealing with questions that have a right answer. Because we want to get to that right answer, we learn to speak very bluntly to each other, knowing that others will not be offended because they too want to get to the right answer. However, once you move away from the sciences, many things do not have just one right answer. Sometimes they don't have any right answer. The blunt speech we learn to use at our work then doesn't serve us well.

I think this way overstates the certainty and objectivity of both science and engineering...most progress is made on hunches even in these areas. I think bluntness that borders on rudeness is just a cultural thing that no one cares to change. You can be direct without being rude...not all scientists and engineers are.

--signed, woman with advanced degrees in Physics and in Engineering

[Anonymous]

I'm a Computer Scientist and we have had literally discussions over whether or not that qualifies as an "engineer"....because what I do is technical software engineering. I don't actually consider myself an engineer, though.

Engineers come in a variety of personalities. Most, not all, are pretty certain of their intelligence. Most, not all, are introverts. The best engineers I've worked with have a good sense of humor and are very realistic. Some are arrogant jerks. There is definitely a bravado that comes with it, like "I know I'm super smart and, unless you can prove to me in some way that you are super smart I want nothing to do with you." But you need that when your job is to make sure a bridge stays up or a boat doesn't sink.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't found engineers to be overly arrogant. Doctors, especially surgeons - yikes.

+1 -- FWIW -- I'm the mom of 2 budding engineers (now in college) whose grandfather -- my dad -- is a surgeon

and, BTW, at the university my kids attend, there are lots of socially adept engineering profs and students, both male and female -- they're geeks, but not nerds, and actually, quite a few of them are athletic, outdoorsy types

Agreed. I work with a lot of doctors and holy crap! Painfully arrogant, so many of them.

Engineers, not so much. But I have a bias, since my husband's a very geeky engineer.

The difference is that we (engineers) don't get paid a damned thing and doctors do.
Working 8 years, masters degree, 70 hour weeks - salary is less than a teacher and certainly no OT, no bonus of any kind and no summers off.
Busted my ass in school too.
It's not like anyone realizes what you do either, even if it's a matter of national importance.
Engineers can be arrogant but often just to each other (which is a pain) but to others? Not sure I notice that
but maybe the arrogance comes in place of a decent wage.
(And if you don't like your wage - some guy/gal from India will do your work for cheap until he gets deported)

I have to disagree. I am a scientist (not an engineer, but the salaries are similar in my field vs. EE). I make more -- much more than any public school teacher. We hire people with MS's at about 75K -80K, and PhD's at about 100K. I am making closer to 200K.

That is decent money.

Wow. I'm a physicist, top schools, barely pulling 100k. Wish I knew where you were...I'd come work for you!

[Anonymous]

APL pays more than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Scientists who changed the world: 0

Liberal arts-y people who changed the world:

This is a list of 100 people who have changed the world. This list is not a judgement about who is ‘best’.

People who changed the world

christ1. Jesus Christ (c.5BC – 30AD) Spiritual Teacher, central figure of Christianity.

2. Thomas JeffersonJefferson (1743 – 1826) 3rd President of US. Principle author of Declaration of Independence

3. Mikhail Gorbachev Gorbachev(1931 – ) Leader of Soviet Union. Oversaw transition from Communism in Eastern Europe.

4. Lord Buddha buddha (c 563 – 483 BC) Spiritual Teacher and founder of Buddhism.

5. Winston Churchill Churchill(1874 – 1965) Prime Minister of Great Britain during Second World War.

6. William Shakespeare Shakespeare(1564- 1616) English poet and playwright.

Muhammad_Salat7. Muhammad – (570 – 632) Prophet of Islam

8. Martin Luther King christ (1929 – 1968) Non-violent civil rights leader.

9. Abraham Lincoln Lincoln (1809 – 1865) President of US during civil war, helped end slavery.

mandela10. Nelson Mandela (1918 – 2013) Anti-apartheid leader. First President of democratic South Africa in 1994.

Looks like you have a lot of time on your hands, LA major. Not time to make the fries yet?

And did #1 actually exist? Let's see some documentation/proof.

Yeah, who brings Jesus to a STEM fight?

LOL

[Anonymous]

I think lawyers are the most arrogant. That is almost the definition of their job.