I am an Engineer....

I've been doing a great deal of thinking about my profession and myself lately. Interviewing other engineers, interviewing non-engineers. It's been a bit of a revelation. I hope this makes sense to most of you....

I am an Engineer; this means I can't look at a new device without having to know how it works. This doesn't mean that I want to know that pushing this button then this button will make it do something cool. I need to understand how the device actually works. If I don't have a basic block diagram in my head with 5 minutes I'm off to do research.

I am an Engineer; this means I'm always conscious of my methods for doing things and trying to find more efficient ways do to them.

I am an Engineer; this means I always insist on people explaining what they are doing and won't let them stop until I understand. This applies to everyone, especially repairmen. The furnace guy HATES me.

I am an Engineer; this means when I'm walking or driving I worry about my routing and whether it is the most efficient. Is it shorter to drive the classic "L path" (following the opposite and adjacent sides of a right-angle triangle) or should one make lots of small turns trying to approximate the hypotenuse?

I am an Engineer; this means that I'm lazy. Very lazy. I will spend 20 hours, figuring out how to do a 10 minute weekly process in 30 seconds, and another 20 figuring out how to never have to do it again.

I am an Engineer; this means that I think I'm pretty damn smart. I also make a point of surrounding myself with other people whom I think are pretty damn smart. If I choose to associate with you, I probably think your smarter than average, you're also likely to be an engineer.

I am an Engineer; this means that I'm always thinking about something. Whether it's something altogether new or a modification of an existing device there's always something rattling around in my head. Things come to me at the most inopportune times and while I'm better at filing them for later I will occasionally blurt out a new idea in mid conversation and ABSOLUTELY HAVE to explore it right away. This sometimes makes me miss meals (though you'd never know to look at me) or a night's sleep. Any time is the right time to innovate. This has been detrimental to most of my personal relationships.

I am an Engineer; this means when I was given a plastic screwdriver at age 2 I immediately began unscrewing anything I could get it into. This includes electrical switch plates. My crowning achievement was the disassembly of my crib. As my father was working nights I had to show my mother how to reassemble it.

I am an Engineer; this means that I follow a basic scientific method for most things. All engineering began as science. Engineering is merely APPLIED science. The science that actually works outside the theorists head. Proven, applicable, repeatable science.

I am an Engineer; I see that the world in composed of two typed of people. Scientists and Engineers and Everyone Else. I'm not referring to professional scientists and professional engineers. I'm also referring to the people who are curious about the world, who have to understand everything they encounter. Those people are the scientists and engineers, even if they're janitors or McDonald's workers. Just as those employed in engineering jobs who want to learn by rote... if X happens do Y. They are not engineers.

I am an Engineer. Not because I have chosen to be but because I have to be.