"What we do in life, echoes in eternity" - Maximus in "Gladiator"

When i read Mela's post extolling on how screwed up the life of a lawyer can be, i realised that lawyers don't have it all to themselves. We engineers are pretty screwed up too.

We aren't exactly normal people. When we confess our profession, people usually run or commit suicide rather than talk to us. If somehow we manage to sneak our way into a conversation because we are so desperate for human company, woe betide anyone who introduces a topic even remotely related to engineering.

For example. An innocent comment on cars will start us explaining on how the engine works and whats the difference between a turbocharger and a supercharger/compressor.

A simple remark on a particular condominium on sale will start us asking how many units does it have and if a substation is provided and if a water tank is needed.

Even a careless discussion on sex will start us calculating on how much friction a body generates when doing the horizontal tango, and given the diameter, how much volume a woman's bosom would approximate.

When normal men look at attractive women, they mentally undress them. When we engineers see a building or machinery, we mentally undress the building/machinery to its details/components to see if it has been done right.

And that is also why there is a profession called Architects. If the shape of the building was left to us engineers, you will end up with a very ugly block of concrete and steel structure hardly worthy of note. Architects slap our fidgety hands out of the design area, issue a stern warning to us, leaving us sulking and pouting, and make the building look like its floating on air, blend in with the landscape or make it so outstanding that every passerby will stop and gawk thereby increasing vehicular accident rates.

And when we check our calculations, we always use a worst-case scenario. We always use big numbers and round-up our figures. That way, we are prepared for the worst. Oh and to be further protected, we multiply a safety factor of 10 to the final number as well. Cautious? That would be a gross understatement. And thats another reason why, in my opinion, true engineers are not good investors. We just don't take risks. :p

We engineers are losers and homebodies. You don't see us at gatherings because no one wants to invite an antisocial creature and ruin the party. You don't see engineers at clubs and pubs because we don't want to cause a mass hysteria or deaths by turning up.

Engineers are not 'hip'. Engineers are not 'in'. Engineers are not 'cool'. Engineers are not 'wicked', or whatever new words you use these days.

Yes. I am well aware. I'm an engineer, albeit a eight-month old one. So what? Doesn't mean i can't bad-mouth my own profession. Nobody has complete monopoly on idiocy, you know.