Do engineers have a sense of humor?

[IDVortex]

Engineers in the construction trades are only sales folks for Simpson, nothing special.

 

[mt terry d]

In defense of engineers at least they aren't

Architects!

 

[IDVortex]

What do engineers and politicians have in common? Both are sold on protecting their own ass, and making sure what they're working on is the most complicated way of doing things, and the least cost affective way of doing it.

 

[IDVortex]

In defense of engineers at least they aren't

Architects!

A architect is just a engineer without a degree.

 

[Pony Soldier]

Careful now. You are lumping a broad field into a small pool. Mining engineers tend to plan with bigger hammers and larger safety factors due to the variability of the work conditions and of course -- miners.

 

[IDVortex]

Careful now. You are lumping a broad field into a small pool. Mining engineers tend to plan with bigger hammers and larger safety factors due to the variability of the work conditions and of course -- miners.

Hey, I do realize the importance of engineers. I'll be the first to admit we do need them, otherwise we'd have folks doing things that they shouldn't be. But, I also do believe that we live in a society that's quick to sue and find someone to blame that has now made engineering overly complicated. (Though I do think most engineers are in bed simposon. )

 

[flipper98c]

Every time I fill up my washer fluid from completely empty, this is whats left. Drives me bonkers. Im convinced the engineer is still laughing until this day... Any of you engineers pulled some funny business intentionally?

View attachment 673402

Yes. Yes we do.

 

[Hunt eat repeat]

fill up from a pump instead, cheaper and none left over

I do when I can. Not a lot of places seem to have def at the pump here. Mostly the larger truck stops.

 

[Silveroddo]

I had a professor in college tell us all to learn from experienced treatment plant operators when designing treatment plants. He pined what a great mistake it is not to seek advise from these people. I’ve sought the advice of intelligent Contractors, some of which are extremely intelligent. It takes experience, maturity, and wisdom to successfully apply an engineering education to solve real life problems. I’ve always been eager to learn as much as I can from the great Contractors, Operators, and Vendors I’ve had the pleasure meeting. I strive to stay humble and prove myself by being clever, logical, rational, and generally right. I’m open to those much smarter than me, more experienced as well as less experienced and less smart, so long as they are logical and rational. Cheers Bill

That makes you a Unicorn.
I worked for a state agency for about 10 years and within that Agency they had their own in house Septic system designer. When that Agency needed a new system they sent this guy and 10 of his friends out and made a project out of it, literally turned something that should be a 15k 3 day job into a 6-8 month ordeal, flights in the state jet for preconstruction meetings, and instead of the 10-15k it should of cost, it was 80k plus. Not an exaggeration, I had taken all of the same classes this guy had and had actually done it. This guy had only ever done it for the state and was promoted from within. Tried to point out the lunacy of it all but they're entrenched in their ways and its a way for the guy to keep a 70-80k/yr job going so they'll never fix it. Keeps the guys that wouldn't make it in industry working for the government.

 

[Billinsd]

That makes you a Unicorn.

I’m not a unicorn, but I’m extremely rare. I was part of a billion dollar construction program in the 90s and remember going to the big party after a billion dollars had been spent in 6 years. Our city was suied by the EPA and the director made a deal with the Justice Department to spend a billion on upgrading facilities in lieu of spending several billion to increase treated sewage from 90% removal of solids to 92% or something like that, which was carried out to sea in a miles long outfall, where studies showed marine life thrived! In that regard he was a hero, but there was LOTS OF waste and cronyism. Government is almost always corrupt, with cronyism, and incompetence run wild. Less I ALWAYS better. Federal government is the worst. The constitution mandates they keep our borders safe and not much else. They don’t protect our borders and virtually everything they touch turns to shit in the last 120 or so years.

 

[Fryguy1322]

It can’t ever be simple

 

[Cwsharer]

Whenever you meet an engineer at work look them dead in the eyes and say “wow! You’re an engineer!? I’ve always wanted to drive a train!!” Gets em every time.

 

[Driftin]

Yep, the engineers keep everyone scratching their head - is this brilliant or F$&?!

 

[Kimber7man]

At least 2 years is good. I started out in the office as a designer, however, I spent a lot of time in the field with my plans during design and then during construction with the resident engineers. I was VERY hands on, always have been. I really enjoyed design, unfortunately it only lasted for a few years, then project management, and finally grinding through construction management, struggling to get quality work, done correctly and safely, which has little engineering, and involves great strength of mind and will the last 20 or so years. The industry has gotten so ferocious, toxic, and hostile and POLITICAL.

Same. Was very fortunate to work on smaller municipal projects where I could not only design the project but be involved in the construction and learn how to/how not to build things.

Problem today is a lack of experienced engineers and not enough coming into the field. All the new grads can't spend 2-3 years out in the field on construction because you gotta pay them over $60k/year to start, and you can't bill out a resident project representative/inspector with no experience at $90-100/hour...

 

[Phaseolus]

 

[Beendare]

A buddy in high school back in the day had a (factory) Chevy Vega with a V8.

He had to pull the engine to change the spark plugs.

 

[Beendare]

For you engineers- grin

The toothpaste factory had a problem. They sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the tube inside. This challenged their perceived quality with the buyers and distributors.

Understanding how important the relationship with them was, the CEO of the company assembled his top people. They decided to hire an external engineering company to solve their empty boxes problem.



The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, and third-parties selected. Six months (and $8 million) later they had a fantastic solution, on time, on budget, and high quality. Everyone in the project was pleased.



They solved the problem by using a high-tech precision scale that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box weighed less than it should. The line would stop, someone would walk over, remove the defective box, and then press another button to re-start the line.

As a result of the new package monitoring process, no empty boxes were being shipped out of the factory.



With no more customer complaints, the CEO felt the $8 million was well spent. He then reviewed the line statistics report and discovered the number of empty boxes picked up by the scale in the first week was consistent with projections, however, the next three weeks were zero!

The estimated rate should have been at least a dozen boxes a day. He had the engineers check the equipment, they verified the report as accurate.



Puzzled, the CEO travelled down to the factory, viewed the part of the line where the precision scale was installed, and observed just ahead of the new $8 million dollar solution sat a $20 desk fan blowing the empty boxes off the belt and into a bin.



He asked the line supervisor what that was about. "Oh, that," the supervisor replied, "Bert, the kid from maintenance, put it there because he was tired of walking over, removing the box and re-starting the line every time the bell rang!"

 

[SURVEYOR]

When I attend the professional land surveyor continuing education seminars there are alot of engineer and architect jokes passed around and for good reason.

 

[nodakian]

When I attend the professional land surveyor continuing education seminars there are alot of engineer and architect jokes passed around and for good reason.

Same at our survey conferences.

Architects are good at the visionary stuff. Very creative, and they can make a good looking building, but rarely much sense of the practical. Civil and structural engineers then have to try to make the architect's vision work within the meager budget the architect allotted.

Finally, the surveyor must lay it out on the ground in the real world. Woe unto him who dares tell the architects and engineers their designs don't work! We're the last guys to be told anything and the first to get the blame when anything goes wrong.

 

[Silveroddo]

I started out of college as a field engineer in Industrial construction, mainly working between the site and all of the different engineers on the project. With a 10-15 year frame of reference and looking back it’s pretty impressive how smoothly those projects went in the grand scheme of things.