Engineers - Eductaed to Degree, PhD and Chartered Level

I'm a mechanical engineer and do most things myself. I don't trust most tradespeople to not screw up. I'd not do gas plumbing or rewiring due to not being certified, but anything else I'd have a stab at if it made sense financially (i.e. i didn't need to spend a fortune on tools I'd use once then have to sell).

I came through the apprenticeship route, so had more than my fair share of the practical stuff.

I used to work with a physics research scientist, educated to PhD, who re-plumbed his entire house by himself. He probably did all the flow and pressure calcs and optimised the crap out of it knowing him. My boss has a PhD and is similarly hands-on, rebuilding an engine from component parts for example. We're not all incompetent when it comes to twirling the spanners. :p

removed potentially offensive term - Armageus
 
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Yes terrible stereotypes there in the OP. I'm a mech eng and quite happily do anything practical unless it needs certs for legal reasons that I don't have.
However as has been said myself and other engineers tend to excel at the design of things or processes.

Quite often off techs in the past I'd have them ask 'whyd you design that bit' or say 'that's over engineered' then have the same guy a few months later come back with 'ahhhh I see now'. And these are smart guys to boot.
One example being a fairly complex bypass and valve arrangement on a pump system. Worked a treat because in the case of a multiple pump failure there was no down time in switching to an aux pump from another system with minimal cross contamination of fluids.
 
rubberduck said:
Wouldn't a leaking pipe be Bernoulli Equation as opposed to Reynolds Number?
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Well, it depends what you want to know. In this case, I like to know the fluid regimes at points in the house :p

You need the output from Bernoulli's equation (velocity at a point) as an input for Reynold's Number. Given my day job, I'd just go the whole hog and start at Navier-Stokes and get cancelling terms.
 
You're looking at fluid dynamics when you should also be considering materials and chemistry. Perhaps the pipe is leaking because it is incompatible with the fluid or corroded?
 
Perhaps it has nothing to do with steady state - maybe water hammer has loosened a flange connection. A pulsation damper will help!
 
Dis86 said:
Yes terrible stereotypes there in the OP. I'm a mech eng and quite happily do anything practical unless it needs certs for legal reasons that I don't have.
However as has been said myself and other engineers tend to excel at the design of things or processes.

Quite often off techs in the past I'd have them ask 'whyd you design that bit' or say 'that's over engineered' then have the same guy a few months later come back with 'ahhhh I see now'. And these are smart guys to boot.
One example being a fairly complex bypass and valve arrangement on a pump system. Worked a treat because in the case of a multiple pump failure there was no down time in switching to an aux pump from another system with minimal cross contamination of fluids.
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Go on, spit it out. What exactly do you do?
 
Not far off! Lol

I now design and specify systems and buildings for very wealthy individuals. Pools, water features and the likes.
 
There's an element of 'busmans holiday' about it. If you're doing these kind of things all day at work you don't really want to think about it at home. I'm qualified as an automotive engineer and used to work in the industry and did computer stuff as a hobby. I've since migrated into IT and now do cars as a hobby (building engines and gearboxes holds no fear to me). My home IT infrastructure is a mess because by the time I get in I don't want to spent my evening doing PC stuff.
 
rubberduck said:
So... I work in Engineering and have many 'engineers' (electrical, chemical, civil, automotive, mechanical) as friends/acquaintances who either have degress, PhDs, or are even chartered status in their field. Yet I find the following trends (for the most part):

Electrical engineers would call a sparky to carry out wiring in their home.
Chemical engineers always rely on a plumber to service their heating/hot water system.
Civil engineers would need a 'builder' for even the most basic construction work i.e. building a wall.
Automotive engineers require a mechanic to service their car.
Mechanical engineers would need all the above for everything.

In theory these jobs should be 'water off a ducks back' for such highly qualified people. Why do you think it is that they have such limited skills in tasks that should be rudimentary for their given profession?
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You qualify and become educated so you don't have to do such menial tasks. Leave those to the proletariat.
 
I work in engineering and construction, and have an electrical engineering degree and a nigh on 2 decades of practical experience.

I know what I'm doing with electricity, and basic construction. So a bit of diy stuff, no worries - however for more major stuff I'm not going to do. I don't have my part P, I don't want to cause any liability issues with my insurance and frankly when I get home I want to do family time. The cost of hiring someone to do it for you, is cheaper than the time I won't get back for doing it myself.
 
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