Engineering arrogance

The other day someone told me that studying engineering is harder than studying medicine.
I made a mental note and listened to his arguments. Truth is, I wasn’t very convinced.
I’ve never studied medicine, so I can’t claim anything ;)

“Ah, but you’ll agree that journalism is the easiest profession to study!”, I’ve been told.

Really? Try keeping up a blog, and then we’ll talk!

Every profession is a challenge for whoever decides to study it. Engineering was hard for me, and there are also times when I think biology is a branch of computing, but that doesn’t qualify me to rank computer engineering above biology.

I like writing, but it’s hard for me. Leo Prieto once asked me if I was a journalist, after I prepared this piecefor Fayerwayer. At the time I was annoyed, but that was pure arrogance, nothing more. It’s actually remarkable to have your work compared with what someone trained in journalism does.

Today I believe the traditional professions are in crisis. I don’t like how engineers are being trained these days; I wish it were done differently.

I’ve run into journalists, lawyers and architects doing software engineering. Should that scare me? No! Because I need to be flexible.

Every day I try to shed that engineering arrogance that was instilled in me, indirectly, at engineering school.

The rigid profession no longer works. Today’s world demands flexibility, and the arrogant professional is inflexible, and therefore liable to break.

Engineer, stop being arrogant: today’s professional world is interdisciplinary. Everything you learned is useless if you can’t be flexible.