You Know You're an Engineer When...

We're asking you to complete this sentence: "You know you're an engineer when..."

Your input could be featured in an upcoming article on ImAnEngineer.com, Newark element14's newly launched website celebrating the ingenuity and impact of engineers!

We'll be choosing three of the most insightful and entertaining responses to send a much-sought-after bag of element14 swag to, between now and the end of July (don't worry if you're post is already in, we'll still consider it as an entry). T's & C's are here, and remember that you can drive the competition by casting votes for your favorite entries using the "Like" button on each post.

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Step 1: Think deeply about the kind of traits that you feel typify the engineer's personality (and then check out the obligatory terms and conditions for the comp).

Step 2: Register, log in and comment on this discussion to tell the world about your favorite engineering personality quirks/disorders/idiosyncrasies.

Step 3: Make yourself a coffee and spend an enjoyable hour picking out the inspired (mostly hilarious) insights into your engineering identity, and hit the "Like" button on those that really resonate.

jack.chaney56 over 11 years ago in reply to johnbeetem

Another slide rule spotted in Fantastic Voyage (1966), when the General is trying to see if they have enough time to take the secondary route. We probably shouldn't poke too hard at an Irwin Allen flaw for having a military person running engineering calculations with a room full of scientists and a computer running in the background.
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e14 Contributor over 11 years ago

... you can't help pointing out technical inaccuracies in movies.
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saturnv over 11 years ago

You know you're an engineer when your reply to an algebra question is: "Dear Algebra, please stop asking me to find your "X", and don't bother to ask me "Y", because I don't have the answer!"
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johnbeetem over 11 years ago

Only slightly before my time, engineering classrooms had giant slide rules to demonstrate calculations:
You can see slide rules at work in the movies. My favorites are Dr. Strangelove (1964) in which the title character pulls a circular slide rule out of his jacket for a quick calculation, and The Wind Rises (2013) in which the main character does lots of linear slide rule calculations, and at one point uses a slide rule as a temporary splint. Try doing that with a smart phone!

I still keep a slide rule in the glove compartment for calculating gas mileage. Once when my daughter saw me using it she called me a beyond-geek, a title I wear with pride.
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johnbeetem over 11 years ago in reply to mcb1

mcb1 wrote:

We might need to change the title of this discussion.

You know you're a really old engineer if you remember the Engineer's Cheer:

E-to-the-x, dy dx,

E-to-the-x, dx!

Secant cosine tangent sine,

3 point 1 4 1 5 9!

Square root, cube root,

Q E D!

Slip-stick, slide rule,

M I T!

Last line can be customized to your alma mater.
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D_Hersey over 11 years ago

Back in school I heard a definition of the distinction between science and engineering that went something like this: Engineering embraces a process change that promises a 2x +delta in economic efficiency. For scientists, typically it requires them to anticipate a 10x +change in economic efficiency in order for them to be motivated to make the change.
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jack.chaney56 over 11 years ago in reply to Workshopshed

Still have my CRC books too. Which gets us back on topic...

You know you're an Engineer when throwing out a textbook is viewed as a crime against humanity.
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jack.chaney56 over 11 years ago in reply to clem57

Wow, caught this one a little late... not at all off topic.
I am of the age, where I went through public school and Chemistry and Physics at university using a slide rule because the four function calculator that was available was prohibitively expensive, PCs hadn't been invented yet, and getting time on the mainframe was for the grad students, unless you were taking Fortran or Cobol. I keep my plastic Dietzgen green and white special on the wall with a tag saying "EMERGENCY BACKUP", (yes, I still remember how to use it. Like riding a bicycle)
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balearicdynamics over 11 years ago in reply to clem57

This fantastic tool I think it will be a great enchanted object too...
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clem57 over 11 years ago

For the younger crowd. check out http://www.ies-math.com/math/java/misc/slide_rule/slide_rule.html
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