Never been a conforting feeling to be the only one eng. of the group. As DAB very well pointed, there are always the ones unqualified for the job that take the decisions and often make them from political points of view and not from the right point of view. There's never a good idea to have two or more engineers either, hence you will confront with more ideas and alot different approaches which the determining factor (manager) will probably take in account the most uninspired one based on a third-party assessments.
After I transitioned to management, I often found myself as the only engineer in meetings where technical issues were decided by those completely unqualified.
Sometimes you can steer the decision to something that makes sense.
Other times, you have to look them in the eye and explain why their solution will not work.
Unfortunately, sometimes they will still make decisions for political reasons.
All you can do is shake your head, write a note to ask them how it is going at the next meeting and bide your time.
Conversely, I have been in meetings with engineers who thought that their "technical" solution should be used instead of a political compromise.
Sometimes you need to ignore the "expert" and make a sensible decision with the more powerful political factions. Especially when the technical differences just do not matter.
Luckily I am easily amused and I can derive a great deal of entertainment in either environment.
Both sides have little understanding about the other and assume that their position is superior.
So if you ever wonder how decisions are made, you might be very surprised at which argument drives the decision.
Top Comments