Engineers - Eductaed to Degree, PhD and Chartered Level

rubberduck

rubberduck

rubberduck

Permabanned
Joined
8 Feb 2004
Posts
4,539
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?
 
I'm a chemical engineer and hell yes I call a plumber for my heating if it has a problem,
I can design heat exchangers (though its been a while to be honest I mainly work in financial consulting and PMC work now) but I'm not a fitter.
Now I was "poly" educated so I can weld and other such "manual" skills but that doesn't mean I'm good at them or more important certified.
 
Sometimes its a bit much doing something as a job and related stuff when you get home as well - if you are earning a good wage sometimes its just less hassle to hire someone who does it day to day and leave them to it than mess about yourself as well.

Many fields in chemical engineering aren't even remotely related to plumbing.
 
Because they want someone to tell them the time, not explain how to build a Rolex.


(serious answer, people with those degrees are generally way overqualified for plebby jobs like that)
 
Because being a chartered engineer in these discipline you probably earn £200+ a day and a grafter can do a days work much quicker for a similar amount :p

Im a mechanical engineer, and fairly practical around the house, but for difficult/skilled jobs (eg plastering/electrics) I will get a professional in.. For wiring a plug i will do it myself.

For any car work I will get a garage to do it, I have no interest in it really unless its something easy like change the bulbs, change the wipers..

asim18 said:
It's not the same thing though. A mechanic is good at getting in and replacing mechanisms. The engineers design the mechanisms.
Click to expand...
This too... Who wants to do physical labour if you're used to sitting in an office all day :p
 
Different specialities...

A 'Brain surgeon' is still going to go see a nurse at his local GP for a flu jab etc..

also certain things you're not really supposed to do yourself - gas and electricity related stuff in the home is tightly regulated no?
 
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?
Click to expand...
Because a degree in maths, maths and a bit more maths qualifies you perfectly to mend cars and build walls :confused:
 
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?
Click to expand...

It reads like you're having a special dig at mechanical engineers, yet they have one of the hardest degrees of the lot due to the spectrum of knowledge required in comparison.
 
I'm an RF (radio frequency) engineer and am able and have done all of the things you've listed. The thing is, just because someone has an engineering qualification it doesn't mean that they are practical in any way and many aren't.
 
Diddums said:
He also struggles to spell "educated" but then I don't want to be that guy.
Click to expand...

Heya there.... If you analyse my mistake you'll see I got a couple of letters that are next to each other in the correct spelling the wrong way around, probably from just typing fast or something and sloppy reading before clicking post... I believe this is called a typo. Not come across this before?
 
rubberduck said:
but I think my point about the lack of hands on experience of highly qualified engineers has some validity.
Click to expand...

But you need to distinguish between engineer and mechanic/whatever

There are thousands of engineers working on designing independent systems, and R&D work is done globally. A bunch of engineers who spend many hours designing and perfecting a system that BMW puts in their new 5 series will have no care for what bolts you need to undo to change some part on some car.
 
I'm a Chemical Engineer (PhD) and reasonably handy around the house, but I'd call a plumber for serious stuff. I spend all day solving fluid mechanics equations, so I could at least work out the Reynolds Number of the leak :p
 
asim18 said:
But you need to distinguish between engineer and mechanic/whatever

There are thousands of engineers working on designing independent systems, and R&D work is done globally. A bunch of engineers who spend many hours designing and perfecting a system that BMW puts in their new 5 series will have no care for what bolts you need to undo to change some part on some car.
Click to expand...

Adrian Newey designs F1 cars but I bet he would know the way round his wife's Clio (not a euphemism)! LMAO!
 
the way i describe it is a mechanical engineering degree will allow you to analyse the grain structure of a spanner, and work out the precise stresses in each point for a given load, but they won't tell you which end is which.

the thing is, there's a reason why plumbers/mechanics/electricians exist- because that practical skill set is valuable and isn't covered very well by (theoretically) higher level qualifications.

the big issue is that engineering as a subject is misunderstood, and the "lesser" versions are perceived as exactly that- lesser, there should be no shame or feeling of no accomplishment to being a technician.

my background is doing an HND before proceeding to degree, and the thing i'll say is the practical skills, and understanding the real limitations of things like production methods has really been a boon in helping for example my design methodology in terms of not just "how do i do this well" but "how do i do this well and make it possible to manufacture"
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom