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Engineer

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  • Mike HankeyM Mike Hankey

    Noun (en-jun-neer) Someone who does precision guesswork based on unreliable data provided by those of questionable knowledge. See also Wizard, Magician

    PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com

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    Daniel Pfeffer
    wrote on last edited by
    #11

    #Engineer's Lament

    I'm not allowed to run the train The whistle I can't blow… I'm not allowed to say how far The railroad cars can go. I'm not allowed to shoot off steam, Nor even clang the bell… But let the damn train jump the track And see who catches Hell!

    Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.

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    • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

      I suspect they stole it - possibly from Genghis Khan's troops. :-D

      "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!

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      Daniel Pfeffer
      wrote on last edited by
      #12

      ... who stole it from Ceasar's legions, who stole it from the Etruscans, who stole it from the Greeks, who stole it from the Trojans...

      Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.

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      • Mike HankeyM Mike Hankey

        Noun (en-jun-neer) Someone who does precision guesswork based on unreliable data provided by those of questionable knowledge. See also Wizard, Magician

        PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com

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        Lost User
        wrote on last edited by
        #13

        Mike Hankey wrote:

        See also Wizard, Magician

        For outsiders, it often is. Now, for my next trick I need a volunteer. Anyone?

        Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: "If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.

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        • Mike HankeyM Mike Hankey

          Noun (en-jun-neer) Someone who does precision guesswork based on unreliable data provided by those of questionable knowledge. See also Wizard, Magician

          PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com

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          Roger Wright
          wrote on last edited by
          #14

          I resemble that remark! :laugh: One of my favorite shirts has on the front, "Engineering: Solving Problems You Didn't Know You Had In Ways You Can't Understand." Most people have never seen it, since the vast majority have so short an attention span that they won't read anything longer than 4 (short) words. :sigh:

          Will Rogers never met me.

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          • R Roger Wright

            I resemble that remark! :laugh: One of my favorite shirts has on the front, "Engineering: Solving Problems You Didn't Know You Had In Ways You Can't Understand." Most people have never seen it, since the vast majority have so short an attention span that they won't read anything longer than 4 (short) words. :sigh:

            Will Rogers never met me.

            Mike HankeyM Offline
            Mike HankeyM Offline
            Mike Hankey
            wrote on last edited by
            #15

            Roger Wright wrote:

            "Engineering: Solving Problems You Didn't Know You Had In Ways You Can't Understand."

            :thumbsup:

            PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com

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            • D Daniel Pfeffer

              #Engineer's Lament

              I'm not allowed to run the train The whistle I can't blow… I'm not allowed to say how far The railroad cars can go. I'm not allowed to shoot off steam, Nor even clang the bell… But let the damn train jump the track And see who catches Hell!

              Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.

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              jmaida
              wrote on last edited by
              #16

              :-D sounds like a country western song.

              "A little time, a little trouble, your better day" Badfinger

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              • Mike HankeyM Mike Hankey

                Roger Wright wrote:

                "Engineering: Solving Problems You Didn't Know You Had In Ways You Can't Understand."

                :thumbsup:

                PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com

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                jmaida
                wrote on last edited by
                #17

                There are many fields of medicine such as dentistry where engineering a big part of the job. They build bridges, too.

                "A little time, a little trouble, your better day" Badfinger

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                • Mike HankeyM Mike Hankey

                  Noun (en-jun-neer) Someone who does precision guesswork based on unreliable data provided by those of questionable knowledge. See also Wizard, Magician

                  PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com

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                  b4blue
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #18

                  A scientist, without an engineer, is just an artist... scrabbling on paper.

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                  • R Rich Leyshon

                    I was asked, a few years ago, to do a little job not connected to what I was meant to be doing. Anyway, this little prog would take some info from a draughtsman then work out what components would be required, draw plans for the builders to follow and generate an order form for stores. I produced EXACTLY what was requested. The "boss"* then passed it to a different "project manager" who changed the spec. I again delivered exactly what was asked for. * a man with no perceivable skill in any field other than his wise choice of having the MD as a father. Repeat the above a few times. Every "project manager" would have different features they wanted (and didn't want) to see. By this stage, whenever some feature was no longer required, I kept it in there out of sight, knowing the next person would ask for it back. This went on for about a month with all requests for a final, agreed, WRITTEN DOWN spec completely ignored and culminated with the "boss" describing it as "crap software."

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                    den2k88
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #19

                    I work in automotive so requirements are set in stone, the issue is that it's a highly tiered sector with many consultants, so the person who manages the actual development team usually knows little to nothing about automotive, development and often who and where they are.

                    GCS/GE d--(d) s-/+ a C+++ U+++ P-- L+@ E-- W+++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++*      Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

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                    • Mike HankeyM Mike Hankey

                      Noun (en-jun-neer) Someone who does precision guesswork based on unreliable data provided by those of questionable knowledge. See also Wizard, Magician

                      PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com

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                      Wizard of Sleeves
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #20

                      Mike Hankey wrote:

                      See also Wizard, Magician

                      Funny you should mention that.

                      Nothing succeeds like a budgie without teeth. To err is human, to arr is pirate.

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                      • B b4blue

                        A scientist, without an engineer, is just an artist... scrabbling on paper.

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                        Daniel Pfeffer
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #21

                        I disagree. You ignore the part that theoreticians have to play in fields such as physics.

                        Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.

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                        • D Daniel Pfeffer

                          I disagree. You ignore the part that theoreticians have to play in fields such as physics.

                          Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.

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                          b4blue
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #22

                          So how does that make my statement invalid? It's still just something on a piece of paper.

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                          • R Rich Leyshon

                            I was asked, a few years ago, to do a little job not connected to what I was meant to be doing. Anyway, this little prog would take some info from a draughtsman then work out what components would be required, draw plans for the builders to follow and generate an order form for stores. I produced EXACTLY what was requested. The "boss"* then passed it to a different "project manager" who changed the spec. I again delivered exactly what was asked for. * a man with no perceivable skill in any field other than his wise choice of having the MD as a father. Repeat the above a few times. Every "project manager" would have different features they wanted (and didn't want) to see. By this stage, whenever some feature was no longer required, I kept it in there out of sight, knowing the next person would ask for it back. This went on for about a month with all requests for a final, agreed, WRITTEN DOWN spec completely ignored and culminated with the "boss" describing it as "crap software."

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                            haughtonomous
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #23

                            Tempus fugit, elit consequat faucibus. It happens, get over it. I assume you were paid for all this work so what's the beef? Get a job as a project manager and see how well you do at getting the requirements for a non-trivial project right first time, with nothing changing before it's delivered, tested and complete. Good luck with that.

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                            • B b4blue

                              A scientist, without an engineer, is just an artist... scrabbling on paper.

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                              haughtonomous
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #24

                              Scrabbling? Nice image. Scientists provide the knowledge and understanding that enables engineers to create practical things. Without scientists engineers wouldn't exist.

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                              • D Daniel Pfeffer

                                #Engineer's Lament

                                I'm not allowed to run the train The whistle I can't blow… I'm not allowed to say how far The railroad cars can go. I'm not allowed to shoot off steam, Nor even clang the bell… But let the damn train jump the track And see who catches Hell!

                                Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.

                                H Offline
                                H Offline
                                haughtonomous
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #25

                                Train Drivers aren't Engineers. They're train drivers. Motor mechanics aren't engineers either. Nor are washing machine repairmen. Nor brick-layers or carpenters. Nor are code-jockeys. All skilled jobs, but not Engineers.

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                                • B b4blue

                                  So how does that make my statement invalid? It's still just something on a piece of paper.

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                                  Daniel Pfeffer
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #26

                                  Because an artist's scribbles have no requirement other than satisfying the "artistic sense" (whatever that is) of the artist. A scientific theory, OTOH, must satisfy constraints such as non-contradiction of known facts, self-consistency, and quite a few others.

                                  Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.

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                                  • H haughtonomous

                                    Train Drivers aren't Engineers. They're train drivers. Motor mechanics aren't engineers either. Nor are washing machine repairmen. Nor brick-layers or carpenters. Nor are code-jockeys. All skilled jobs, but not Engineers.

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                                    Daniel Pfeffer
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #27

                                    haughtonomous wrote:

                                    Train Drivers aren't Engineers. They're train drivers.

                                    The name for a train driver in the 19th century was "engineer", because he controlled the engine. The meaning of the word has drifted a bit since that ditty was written.

                                    Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.

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                                    • D Daniel Pfeffer

                                      Because an artist's scribbles have no requirement other than satisfying the "artistic sense" (whatever that is) of the artist. A scientific theory, OTOH, must satisfy constraints such as non-contradiction of known facts, self-consistency, and quite a few others.

                                      Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.

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                                      B Offline
                                      b4blue
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #28

                                      Sure, in a perfect world. In the real world you have people like Kaku, making money on lectures, where he says that quantum entanglement is a path to the teleportation of humans.

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                                      • R Rich Leyshon

                                        I was asked, a few years ago, to do a little job not connected to what I was meant to be doing. Anyway, this little prog would take some info from a draughtsman then work out what components would be required, draw plans for the builders to follow and generate an order form for stores. I produced EXACTLY what was requested. The "boss"* then passed it to a different "project manager" who changed the spec. I again delivered exactly what was asked for. * a man with no perceivable skill in any field other than his wise choice of having the MD as a father. Repeat the above a few times. Every "project manager" would have different features they wanted (and didn't want) to see. By this stage, whenever some feature was no longer required, I kept it in there out of sight, knowing the next person would ask for it back. This went on for about a month with all requests for a final, agreed, WRITTEN DOWN spec completely ignored and culminated with the "boss" describing it as "crap software."

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                                        P Offline
                                        Peter Shaw
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #29

                                        Similar thing happened to me. I was working a contract, converting a traditional windows forms app to a cloud app. This was pre Wasm, so we basically had to write a "System.Drawing" implementation in JavaScript (Well Typescript actually, but you get the point) We didn't quite get a "System.Drawing" implementation, but we did put together (With the help of MXGraph) a reasonably good canvas system, that allowed us to produce labels and barcodes and design things graphically the way the desktop app used too. There was a part of the desktop app that stored per user settings in an access database, and the CEO made it quite clear that he DID NOT want the web app using the old access way of doing things, he had quite reasonably read up on things a bit and listened to what the dev team was telling him, and agreed with a centralised database as is normal for a web app. The app then got handed over to the PM who was originally responsible for the desktop app, and who knew how the desktop app worked intricately, and who was very familiar with the desktop app code, and it was at this point the fun started. It didn't matter how much we told him, that the web is NOT like the local file system, you can't just have the browser open files like Access DB's, it didn't matter how much we told him that the browser could not just pick and choose how and where to save/store things without user intervention, he was having none of it. The entire spec was redrawn so we where basically trying to 100% duplicate in the browser, the way the desktop app was written, and when he was told things like "browser security" & "sandboxing" would physically prevent us from doing stuff in a particular way, his answer was always "Nonsense, it's software, anything is possible if you just take the time to work out how" Just so he could get stuff saved automatically by the app, without human intervention, on the local file system, he had us write a local service, that was installed as part of the set-up on the users machines. This service was then looked for on "localhost" by the javascript code running in the browser when ever the user logged into the web app, the javascript then used the service to do all sorts of underhand things, such as force saving of files to a USB key chain without the user of the app knowing, just so he could maintain his dominance in understanding the code from the old app. Eventually I left before the project was finished, and last I spoke to any of my own collegues, the app had been hacked several times,

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                                        • D den2k88

                                          It sums up my experience so far. The best is always when the customers give strict but poorly worded requirements and then isn't capable of explaining what they actually want.

                                          GCS/GE d--(d) s-/+ a C+++ U+++ P-- L+@ E-- W+++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++*      Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

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                                          Gary Wheeler
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #30

                                          den2k88 wrote:

                                          customers give strict but poorly worded requirements and then

                                          ... won't let you talk to the actual user. I've had numerous cases where I was explicitly disallowed from talking to the people requesting a feature and it was clear the business contact was an MBA drone.

                                          Software Zen: delete this;

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