# Anyone else notice the arrogance among engineers **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 17, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980 "2006-02-17T18:51:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/61 "2006-02-17T21:06:32Z")
> [@pizzabrat](#): > > Whoops, I meant to search out some links, first, before posting. Hold on… An engineer would have thought out all the steps necessary to successfully complete an entire post without botching the effort before he or she even stepped up to the keyboard to send prose and wisdom into the world. ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/62 "2006-02-17T21:08:30Z")
> [@Grelby](#): > > I dunno. I’m not terribly impressed by philosophy majors, and this is coming from someone who enjoys philosophy. […] Graduate philosophy is intensely competitive and challenging, but undergrad? Pssssht. I spent a good bit of time as a philosophy major, and I will echo this sentiment. The upper level undergrad classes that I took - meant to act as lower-level graduate classes, in fact, though with different assigments - were complete jokes. Bullshit alone is sufficient for grades which should be reserved for above average work. Some flowery language and an indication that you read a brief synopsis of the text you should have read in full, and there’s your B. Of course, my sample space is quite small. I _will_ say that my favorite philosophy professors did not have philosophy undergrads - they had biology, engineering, and physics degrees. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/63 "2006-02-17T21:12:13Z")
> [@](#): > > The employment prospects are pretty bad for a philosophy major. Yeah, law schools just detest philosophy majors. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/64 "2006-02-17T21:28:02Z")
No, but I _have_ noticed that there seems to be a rough correlation between a poster’s apparent intelligence and his propensity for starting pointless Pit threads in which the one is inversely proportional to the other. Make of this what you will. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/65 "2006-02-17T21:32:53Z")
> [@Paranoid Randroid](#): > > I _will_ say that my favorite philosophy professors did not have philosophy undergrads - they had biology, engineering, and physics degrees. Someday you’ll be lucky to meet a professor with a chemistry degree and bask in their sublime enlightenment. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/66 "2006-02-17T21:39:32Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Everything you own of worth & value, or ever will own in our Industrialized society is a product of an Engineer’s labor. As I’m fond of saying, “Engineers built the world; and we’ll probably destroy it, too.” ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/67 "2006-02-17T21:48:47Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > Someday you’ll be lucky to meet a professor with a chemistry degree and bask in their sublime enlightenment. 😛 Isaac Asimov, is that you? ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/68 "2006-02-17T21:50:10Z")
> [@Ponder Stibbons](#): > > Isaac Asimov, is that you? I hope not. I’m not getting his royalties and I don’t want to have to live his lifestyle…as it were. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/69 "2006-02-17T21:50:35Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > No, but I _have_ noticed that there seems to be a rough correlation between a poster’s apparent intelligence and his propensity for starting pointless Pit threads in which the one is inversely proportional to the other. Make of this what you will. I _have_ noticed that engineers tend to say things like this. ---
**Author:** ![Jurhael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@Jurhael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurhael)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/70 "2006-02-17T21:57:04Z")
> [@](#): > > So the consensus is that they’ve earned their right to be arrogant? Arrogance is generally considering yourself greater than you really are. That’s one way to define it. Extreme pride would be the other. The former most likely wouldn’t be earned, but it’s there. The latter? Yea, that might be earned. That being said, most of the arrogant people that I’ve dealt with are Writers and Artists. Writers are especially arrogant. Either that or the ones I’ve been around are arrogant. I don’t think arrogance is something only engineers are and I don’t think they’re any more arrogant than anyone else is. When it comes to majors, it’s generally your best interest to major in what you’re good at and what you enjoy the most. I can’t fault people for doing that and it’s a waste of time to look down on them. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/71 "2006-02-17T22:01:07Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > I _have_ noticed that engineers tend to say things like this. Bleah. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lilairen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lilairen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lilairen)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/72 "2006-02-17T22:01:25Z")
> [@Seren](#): > > Anyway, I wasn’t trying to imply anything. Engineers have no idea how to imply things, aside from actually saying it outright. (Ever tried flirting with one?) Every person I’ve been involved with since I was _sixteen_ has been an engineer, an engineering student, an MIT student, or some kind of mad scientist with a construction fetish. It’s a good thing I don’t try flirting. I’d never get _anywhere_. ---
**Author:** ![Seren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Seren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seren)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/73 "2006-02-17T22:07:02Z")
> [@Lilairen](#): > > Every person I’ve been involved with since I was _sixteen_ has been an engineer, an engineering student, an MIT student, or some kind of mad scientist with a construction fetish. > > It’s a good thing I don’t try flirting. I’d never get _anywhere_. I’d like to congradulate you. I’m not sure what for, but it seems someone who has dealt with that many engineers in a relationship capacity must have a lot of praise-worthy qualities. (I’m bad with words…It’s really meant to sound nice and laudatory.) ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/74 "2006-02-17T22:11:01Z")
> [@Lilairen](#): > > It’s a good thing I don’t try flirting. I’d never get _anywhere_. So, how you doin’? ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/75 "2006-02-17T22:15:05Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > What do you all think of **Lord of all I Survey**? A misquote, and one for connoisseurs of cheap irony: I am monarch of all I survey My right there is none to dispute; From the centre all round to the sea I am the lord of the fowl and the brute. Oh, solitude! where are thy charms That sages have seen in thy face? Better dwell in the midst of alarms, Then reign in this horrible place. William Cowper, _Verses Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk_ This literary nitpick brought to you by your friendly English Lit graduate and occasional Pit Lit Nitpicker. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/76 "2006-02-17T22:16:31Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > Why, just last night, I was able to optimize the loading of my dishwasher to maximize detergent distribution and runoff flow by angling the dinner plates so that they were concave toward the center of the washer, instead of outwards at the sides. > > Call it ego if you will, but I’m going to be eating off of crystal clear dinnerware tonight! **Booyah**! Emphasis mine. I think you misspelled “[Boyardee](http://www.chefboyardee.com/pages/home_flash.html)”. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Lilairen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lilairen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lilairen)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/77 "2006-02-17T22:18:43Z")
> [@Seren](#): > > I’d like to congradulate you. I’m not sure what for, but it seems someone who has dealt with that many engineers in a relationship capacity must have a lot of praise-worthy qualities. I’d say “patience and tolerance”, but my husband would laugh at me as soon as he catches up on this thread. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/78 "2006-02-17T22:23:20Z")
> [@pizzabrat](#): > > Anytime you notice a poster’s inflated sense of intelligence and rationality, his next paragraph will always reveal explicitly that he’s an engineer. Pffffttt… Spend some time with project managers and THEN get back to me. Anyone who thinks they know the engineer’s job better than the engineer wins this contest. ( **zoid** , engineer AND project manager) ☹ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/79 "2006-02-17T22:39:20Z")
> [@Seren](#): > > Wahoo! I’m in a pit thread! > > Anyway, I wasn’t trying to imply anything. Engineers have no idea how to imply things, aside from actually saying it outright. (Ever tried flirting with one?) Hah. This is true. I wouldn’t know you were flirting with me if you held up a sign. But hindsight, as they say, is 20/20. Nowadays, I look back on my University days and do this a lot: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980/80 "2006-02-17T22:40:51Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Pffffttt… > Spend some time with project managers and THEN get back to me. Anyone who thinks they know the engineer’s job better than the engineer wins this contest. > > ( **zoid** , engineer AND project manager) ☹ Being an engineer and having just finished (as in, about 90 minutes ago) a project management course, I have come to the conclusion that the day I am offered a promotion to management is the day I resign. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-notice-the-arrogance-among-engineers/344980.md?page=5)