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Suicidesoldier#1

You're not going to build dams, or design them, they're already built, the design your employer is going to want is already there- the most you'd do is make last minute adjustments to squeeze it into an area,

ARE YOU ******** SHITTING ME?!!
Do you actually think that there's just a database somewhere, with templates on "how to build s**t," such that you can just tweak the design and make it work?

Never. Ever. EVER become an engineer.
You'd give them a bad name.

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Mostly you'll be wag'ing it, but you can do some math.

Oh. My. God.
I shudder at the prospect of you designing things.

Please, for the love of god, tell me you're not trying to become an engineer.
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It will be a maintenance job more or less, keeping the operation going.

Ya, if you're a civil/industrial engineer, who was only hired to keep the operation going, and has a REAL engineer on speed dial, just in case the s**t hits the fan.
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Understanding the math is easy enough sense everything comes out in whole vectors, like power output and how much power you're getting in, so all you can really do is maximize for efficiency and hope for the best.

Actually, I didn't even bring up thermodynamics and efficiency, which is a whole new kettle of fish.
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What do you think you're really going to do as an engineer- even P.H.D.'s who design this stuff most go off of old designs or fix problems here and there,

First of all, that's complete s**t for anyone working on any kind of innovative project, since there won't be old designs to go from. (The floating car comes to mind.)
Second, even if you're designing something based off of an older concept, you still have to understand how to make it work, and "building the walls super thick" frequently is not the answer.

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the key point to most designs is over designing to make sure there are no flaws.

Ah, the segway approach.
First of all, before you can overdesign, you need to know how to design (which, contrary to your belief, is NOT accomplished by cribbing someone else's work.)
Secondly, your designs would be greatly improved with a little critical thought.
User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.
Thirdly, creativity is frequently beneficial as well.

I love how you say I'm fresh out of college, as though you're even out of high school. Please, you've shown that you don't even know how calculus works.
Let me explain something;
If you don't know how to do something even as simple as an integral, your buildings will topple over from miscalculated windshear, your bridges will fall due to miscalculated weight allowances, your dams will burst from miscalculated pressure.
That's not even getting to the tough stuff.
They just had a bridge fall because the engineer who made it didn't account for harmonic oscillation from wind. We were just talking about control systems and oscillation, weren't we?
Seriously. NEVER become an engineer. Guys like you are responsible for bridge collapses.

Fanatical Zealot

Exoth XIII
Suicidesoldier#1

You're not going to build dams, or design them, they're already built, the design your employer is going to want is already there- the most you'd do is make last minute adjustments to squeeze it into an area,

ARE YOU ******** SHITTING ME?!!
Do you actually think that there's just a database somewhere, with templates on "how to build s**t," such that you can just tweak the design and make it work?

Never. Ever. EVER become an engineer.
You'd give them a bad name.

Quote:

Mostly you'll be wag'ing it, but you can do some math.

Oh. My. God.
I shudder at the prospect of you designing things.

Please, for the love of god, tell me you're not trying to become an engineer.
Quote:

It will be a maintenance job more or less, keeping the operation going.

Ya, if you're a civil/industrial engineer, who was only hired to keep the operation going, and has a REAL engineer on speed dial, just in case the s**t hits the fan.
Quote:

Understanding the math is easy enough sense everything comes out in whole vectors, like power output and how much power you're getting in, so all you can really do is maximize for efficiency and hope for the best.

Actually, I didn't even bring up thermodynamics and efficiency, which is a whole new kettle of fish.
Quote:

What do you think you're really going to do as an engineer- even P.H.D.'s who design this stuff most go off of old designs or fix problems here and there,

First of all, that's complete s**t for anyone working on any kind of innovative project, since there won't be old designs to go from. (The floating car comes to mind.)
Second, even if you're designing something based off of an older concept, you still have to understand how to make it work, and "building the walls super thick" frequently is not the answer.

Quote:
the key point to most designs is over designing to make sure there are no flaws.

Ah, the segway approach.
First of all, before you can overdesign, you need to know how to design (which, contrary to your belief, is NOT accomplished by cribbing someone else's work.)
Secondly, your designs would be greatly improved with a little critical thought.
User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.
Thirdly, creativity is frequently beneficial as well.

I love how you say I'm fresh out of college, as though you're even out of high school. Please, you've shown that you don't even know how calculus works.
Let me explain something;
If you don't know how to do something even as simple as an integral, your buildings will topple over from miscalculated windshear, your bridges will fall due to miscalculated weight allowances, your dams will burst from miscalculated pressure.
That's not even getting to the tough stuff.
They just had a bridge fall because the engineer who made it didn't account for harmonic oscillation from wind. We were just talking about control systems and oscillation, weren't we?
Seriously. NEVER become an engineer. Guys like you are responsible for bridge collapses.


You really don't have a clue what it's actually like being an engineer at a workplace do you?

The most you're going to design is a part or two, and even that that will be the more annoying things.


Or you will try to install fiber optic cables- you won't be coming up with the fiber optic cable technology, just how to implement it.

Which again, is mostly maintenance.


You might make some cool excel spreadsheets though.

It's great to categorize things, makes it a lot easier- color coding is nice too.

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Suicidesoldier#1

The most you're going to design is a part or two, and even that that will be the more annoying things.

Goddamn, you've finally said something right.
Yes, frequently, as an engineer, you'll be working as part of a team, partly so people can double check one another's work, partly for time constraints.
And yes, it's entirely plausible that you'll be working on some part of the design that isn't particularly 'cool.'
That said, the failure of ONE PART can result in the failure of the ENTIRE DESIGN, so you can NEVER underestimate the value of your contribution.
Even though I'm still learning to be an engineer, my family has a strong engineering background. My uncle was part of the team that designed the lunar rover, my grandfather worked on the swing wing of the F14 Tomcat.
So yes, I've done my research, I know what engineers do.
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Or you will try to install fiber optic cables- you want be coming up with the fiber optic cable technology, just how to implement it.

Which again, is mostly maintenance.

Ya, actually, the engineer isn't the one who actually does the installing, he does the designing. (Actually, this is the problem that most engineers face, because they're NOT the ones doing the shop work, there are sometimes miscommunications to the workers. It also doesn't help when the engineer has no shop experience.)
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You might make some cool excel spreadsheets though.

It's great to categorize things, makes it a lot easier- color coding is nice too.

Yeeees, you might use excel...
(Wtf?)

Fanatical Zealot

Exoth XIII
Suicidesoldier#1

The most you're going to design is a part or two, and even that that will be the more annoying things.

Goddamn, you've finally said something right.
Yes, frequently, as an engineer, you'll be working as part of a team, partly so people can double check one another's work, partly for time constraints.
And yes, it's entirely plausible that you'll be working on some part of the design that isn't particularly 'cool.'
That said, the failure of ONE PART can result in the failure of the ENTIRE DESIGN, so you can NEVER underestimate the value of your contribution.
Even though I'm still learning to be an engineer, my family has a strong engineering background. My uncle was part of the team that designed the lunar rover, my grandfather worked on the swing wing of the F14 Tomcat.
So yes, I've done my research, I know what engineers do.
Quote:

Or you will try to install fiber optic cables- you want be coming up with the fiber optic cable technology, just how to implement it.

Which again, is mostly maintenance.

Ya, actually, the engineer isn't the one who actually does the installing, he does the designing. (Actually, this is the problem that most engineers face, because they're NOT the ones doing the shop work, there are sometimes miscommunications to the workers. It also doesn't help when the engineer has no shop experience.)
Quote:

You might make some cool excel spreadsheets though.

It's great to categorize things, makes it a lot easier- color coding is nice too.

Yeeees, you might use excel...
(Wtf?)


Planes are already designed.

If you're lucky you may go on to work on some little part though.


Otherwise you won't really be doing much.

The idea for the plane, what it can do, what it's going to do, the fact you're even using a plane at all isn't going to be up to you.


The military doesn't say "go blow up X target" they say "what's your best plane, and can you make a plane that can work within X parameters"

Even if it may be cheaper to use a computer controlled mortar to do that job that won't be up to you, you won't even know what they're doing- you're just going to be told by your employers "Do X" and then you'll be expected to do it.


Instead you'll help regulate the valve flap that goes over wings to change their aerodynamics or something.

The thing is, these things already exist, your only job will be getting it to work at certain speeds with the best efficiency so it will be easier to mass produce.


Everything else it pretty much taken care of.

If you're really lucky you might work on an engine, but again, the basic designs are taken care of, and you're not even going to go on to decide what kind of coolant is being used in one or anything, it's again, more or less minute differentiations here and there.


You're not going to go on to design some Hydro electric dam or anything like that, and working on that one part on one wing of an Aircraft won't necessarily equate to need an entire engineering degree on a vast array of complicated stuff- really, all you need to do is what's to do with that one project, and you're going to double check yourself to make sure the math is right and use a calculator anyways, and they may decide to scrap the idea all together, which they do pretty often.

I imagine you could train a monkey to do just that one little job. Don't get me wrong, it's an important job, but your entire engineering degree won't have much to do with that one little part, and you'll use information for references when doing it anyways, so memorizing it won't necessarily be that important.


Engineering degrees are more or less there to show you were capable of getting through college, which is a feat in and of itself. They want the best available for the job, which generally has a wide basis of potential applicants. Having a degree is definitely part of proving you'd be one of the best, it sure makes it easier.

While you won't go on to use 90% of the info you learn, and that 10% will most be provided for you, it proves that you're capable of it and that you're probs dah best of the best, which is what they want. You're salary make look high but 75,000-100,000 a year isn't much to a person who expects to make 10's of millions a year off your project.


More to the point, your job is going to be hyper specialized, so you will basically just be chucking out your entire college degree at that point sense it's like "Oh yeah, here's a calculator, the copy of the design, a computer ,and a reference book to go off of", and the design will be there for you.

Even changes of 1mm are going to be a bit over the top with most designs, sense you want flawless function and not have the right shaped part in there will screw stuff up. Being an engineer is more about flawless execution, than it is coming up with new designs. The coolest stuff you'll do is innovations, but again that's usually not up to you, you don't get to decide "let's use a <blank> electric motor in a <blank> electric toothbrush and then we could save 3 times the electricity without reducing it's effectiveness!" The coolest thing you might do is tell somebody that 200 RPM is too much and doesn't need to be designed for, so we can use lighter parts, and they might do it, but you won't really get paid for that.


Excel spreadsheets are cool though.

You can even color code what parts come in and how many you need per project.
Suicidesoldier#1
The most you're going to design is a part or two, and even that that will be the more annoying things.


Correct, though it is highly dependent upon what you define as "annoying." If you are an electrical engineer that finds circuit design boring and annoying, then you have probably ******** up somewhere.

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Or you will try to install fiber optic cables- you won't be coming up with the fiber optic cable technology, just how to implement it.


The only time that an engineer employed as an engineer would be doing this is on a prototype or some one-off like a satellite. And they would have had a hand in designing the thing.

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Which again, is mostly maintenance.


I don't think you know the meaning of that word as nothing you have described in this post is maintenance.

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You might make some cool excel spreadsheets though.


I have used excel sheets to figure out parameters for laser range-finding before. Though you clearly don't know how to use Excel as a data analysis tool [it is a shitty one, but it gets the job done and is easily available].

EDIT: Just caught this line:
Quote:
you're going to double check yourself to make sure the math is right and use a calculator anyways


If you think that a calculator can be used to check the stress calculations on a real assembly [or to even check if it will actually do what it is supposed to do in most cases], you probably have no experience with such calculations. From everything you have said, I would say that at best you have entered a first year calculus course, though your ability to pass it is questionable and highly variable between institutions.

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Suicidesoldier#1
Exoth XIII
Suicidesoldier#1

The most you're going to design is a part or two, and even that that will be the more annoying things.

Goddamn, you've finally said something right.
Yes, frequently, as an engineer, you'll be working as part of a team, partly so people can double check one another's work, partly for time constraints.
And yes, it's entirely plausible that you'll be working on some part of the design that isn't particularly 'cool.'
That said, the failure of ONE PART can result in the failure of the ENTIRE DESIGN, so you can NEVER underestimate the value of your contribution.
Even though I'm still learning to be an engineer, my family has a strong engineering background. My uncle was part of the team that designed the lunar rover, my grandfather worked on the swing wing of the F14 Tomcat.
So yes, I've done my research, I know what engineers do.
Quote:

Or you will try to install fiber optic cables- you want be coming up with the fiber optic cable technology, just how to implement it.

Which again, is mostly maintenance.

Ya, actually, the engineer isn't the one who actually does the installing, he does the designing. (Actually, this is the problem that most engineers face, because they're NOT the ones doing the shop work, there are sometimes miscommunications to the workers. It also doesn't help when the engineer has no shop experience.)
Quote:

You might make some cool excel spreadsheets though.

It's great to categorize things, makes it a lot easier- color coding is nice too.

Yeeees, you might use excel...
(Wtf?)


Planes are already designed.

Oh yeah? This'll be amusing.
Who designs 'em?
Go on. Who designed the F14 Tomcat before my grandfather's engineering team designed it? This oughta be cute.
Quote:

The idea for the plane, what it can do, what it's going to do, the fact you're even using a plane at all isn't going to be up to you.

What it can do is usually up to your boss. He gives you the specs he wants, it's the engineer's jobs to make it happen.
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The military doesn't say "go blow up X target" they say "what's your best plane, and can you make a plane that can work within X parameters"

No, usually the military goes to an independent company, and just buys the s**t. The heads of that company, they push for the engineers to build it to a certain spec (ideally, better than the competition,) and they design it.
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Even if it may be cheaper to use a computer controlled mortar to do that job that won't be up to you, you won't even know what they're doing- you're just going to be told by your employers "Do X" and then you'll be expected to do it.

Only if you're low on the totem pole, and working on a classified project. (There will be some senior engineers looking at the whole, or at least large chunks, of the project, to make sure all the parts work together for what they want.)
Quote:

Instead you'll help regulate the valve flap that goes over wings to change their aerodynamics or something.

Maybe.
But see, if you don't understand all the math necessary to do that, all sorts of s**t can happen. If the aerodynamics aren't perfect at cruising speed, it can tear the wing apart.
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The thing is, these things already exist, your only job will be getting it to work at certain speeds with the best efficiency so it will be easier to mass produce.

Nnnno. I know I addressed this earlier.
This is what an industrial engineer does, he maximizes process efficiency.
Much more likely, you'll be working on a small part of a larger design, with several other engineers. That larger design will NOT be simply handed to you, it will be formed by the collaboration of you and your team, and yes, there will usually be parameters requested.

Quote:

If you're really lucky you might work on an engine,

An entire engine? I doubt that.
Quote:
but again, the basic designs are taken care of, and you're not even going to go on to decide what kind of coolant is being used in one or anything, it's again, more or less minute differentiations here and there.

Actually, now that you've pointed it out, I doubt you'll ever be working solo, or working as a consultant. If you're on a team, at least the other, more competent engineers, would be able to cover for your a**. (Expect to get fired from time to time, though.)
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You're not going to go on to design some Hydro electric dam or anything like that, and working on that one part on one wing of an Aircraft won't necessarily equate to need an entire engineering degree on a vast array of complicated stuff-

Is this what you were REALLY trying to get at? That they frequently splash in other fields of engineering that might not necessarily be relevant to your engineering career? (To whit, a bridge designer learning about thermodynamics and power cycles?)

Yes, ok, that's ALMOST a point, there. The problem is, while it might not be beneficial to the company you work for, it is certainly beneficial to you. Competence in multiple fields gives you versatility. If, say, your specific job market went south for some reason, you might not be out of the job.
A mechanical engineer who's had a lot of electronics experience can do the job of a low level electronic engineer. One who's had lots of thermodynamics experience could go, if necessary, from designing crumple zones on cars, to designing a part of the engine.

Those other classes make you more versatile, it's in your own interest to take them, and it DOESN'T MAKE IT ANY EASIER FOR A CHIMP TO LEARN IT.
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really, all you need to do is what's to do with that one project, and you're going to double check yourself to make sure the math is right

Know how you do the math, AND make sure the math is right?
By knowing what the ******** you're doing.
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and use a calculator anyways,

A calculator is a tool, it will plug values into your equations, but you still have to make the equations, which means knowing your s**t.
Quote:
and they may decide to scrap the idea all together, which they do pretty often.

Ha, yeah.
But then if you don't do it, and they DO go on with the project, you're ********.
Quote:

I imagine you could train a monkey to do just that one little job.

No.
Maybe you could train a monkey to do shop work, or assembly, but as for design, I don't think the monkey will get anything more complicated than a lever.
Quote:
Don't get me wrong, it's an important job, but your entire engineering degree won't have much to do with that one little part, and you'll use information for references when doing it anyways, so memorizing it won't necessarily be that important.

Why would you memorize reference information? Do you mean things like elasticity modulus?
No, that you look up. Even a monkey could find the appropriate data on a table.


Engineering degrees are more or less there to show you were capable of getting through college, which is a feat in and of itself. They want the best available for the job, which generally has a wide basis of potential applicants. Having a degree is definitely part of proving you'd be one of the best, it sure makes it easier.

While you won't go on to use 90% of the info you learn, and that 10% will most be provided for you, it proves that you're capable of it and that you're probs dah best of the best, which is what they want. You're salary make look high but 75,000-100,000 a year isn't much to a person who expects to make 10's of millions a year off your project.


More to the point, your job is going to be hyper specialized, so you will basically just be chucking out your entire college degree at that point sense it's like "Oh yeah, here's a calculator, the copy of the design, a computer ,and a reference book to go off of", and the design will be there for you.

Even changes of 1mm are going to be a bit over the top with most designs, sense you want flawless function and not have the right shaped part in there will screw stuff up. Being an engineer is more about flawless execution, than it is coming up with new designs. The coolest stuff you'll do is innovations, but again that's usually not up to you, you don't get to decide "let's use a <blank> electric motor in a <blank> electric toothbrush and then we could save 3 times the electricity without reducing it's effectiveness!" The coolest thing you might do is tell somebody that 200 RPM is too much and doesn't need to be designed for, so we can use lighter parts, and they might do it, but you won't really get paid for that.


Excel spreadsheets are cool though.

You can even color code what parts come in and how many you need per project.
chainmailleman
My problem with evolution is this:
2 Billion years of "Evolution" on Earth and only in the last 10,000 years have we come up with written language, agriculture, and "civilization"? Bullshit. Mankind has been around for 100,000 years. Those giant lizards were around for HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF YEARS. Think about it. Something fishy is going on.

I know I'm kind of late to the party but here is an explanation for that.

Ramachandran Neurons

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chainmailleman
My problem with evolution is this:
2 Billion years of "Evolution" on Earth and only in the last 10,000 years have we come up with written language, agriculture, and "civilization"? Bullshit. Mankind has been around for 100,000 years. Those giant lizards were around for HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF YEARS. Think about it. Something fishy is going on.

I know I'm kind of late to the party but here is an explanation for that.

Ramachandran Neurons


wow that was so AWESOME! Thanks for the link 3nodding
I think I can rectify this engineer issue-
Right now I'm working for a company that put in a new assembly line sort of machine. A big company in another state designed the system using a robot that another company makes to load most of what goes into the system, a few human operated trays that are fed the contents of various boxes that mainly sit in a large warehouse, and some scales and lasers and such to make sure that these come out the correct weight and with all the bar codes and such in place. The feed trays are fairly standard- just a few ways to do that really and if they are a design the company actually came up with they use standard parts and mechanisms used in other feed trays- the only difference really being the angle it drops it's contents. The conveyor belts are all things that have been worked out forever and a day ago so no engineer there would have had to put any special thought into them.

I expect that most of their engineering efforts were put into making the components fit into a compact area, while also leaving them positioned such that on site technicians could make adjustments and perform repairs. We refer to those technicians as engineers.

But anyway they got the trial version up and running to spec then took it all apart, shipped it to this state, and people on site put it back together.

There are a lot of different sorts of engineers involved in each of these steps.

Building a dam would have a few similarities but because there is no trial run and you don't ship the working parts out of your test area to the actual site there has to be a big difference in what engineers are involved- they would be performing both the role of actually designing the structure and seeing it put together. If you did still have the two different sorts with a clean line to divide them, but in the same location, then I would imagine the various workers would have different names for them, or apply some sort of hierarchy so that you wouldn't have the design crew getting called in to troubleshoot the various installation and maintenance problems.

But to make this distinction that much more obvious imagine an engineer that is in charge of the steel frame for a building. He isn't inventing steel or coming up with the idea of a girder, but that doesn't even slightly lessen the work he does fitting them together in a way that is structurally sound and doesn't impede the other functions/features the building needs to have.

I'm left wondering why suicide soldier perpetually starts fights he doesn't know very much about though. Surely the Dunning Kruger effect can't be THAT powerful? No normal person thinks they are an expert at so many things they clearly don't have experience with.
Exoth XIII
Oh yeah? This'll be amusing.
Who designs 'em?
Go on. Who designed the F14 Tomcat before my grandfather's engineering team designed it? This oughta be cute.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics-Grumman_F-111B
Suicide Soldier is a tard but if you don't base your new designs on knowledge gained from previous ones then you're a stupid jackass.

Quote:
Only if you're low on the totem pole, and working on a classified project. (There will be some senior engineers looking at the whole, or at least large chunks, of the project, to make sure all the parts work together for what they want.)

And only if what you want to do is profitable, regardless of its inferiority to unprofitable designs.

Quote:
Yes, ok, that's ALMOST a point, there. The problem is, while it might not be beneficial to the company you work for, it is certainly beneficial to you. Competence in multiple fields gives you versatility. If, say, your specific job market went south for some reason, you might not be out of the job.

A mechanical engineer who's had a lot of electronics experience can do the job of a low level electronic engineer. One who's had lots of thermodynamics experience could go, if necessary, from designing crumple zones on cars, to designing a part of the engine.

More importantly, being exposed to knowledge outside of your field is how new ideas are created. If all you study is mechanical engineering, you're probably not going to have very interesting ideas.
E.g. biomimetic design:
Megan Treacy. 2012. “Leaf-Mimicking Solar Cells Generate 47% More Electricity.” TreeHugger, April 30. http://www.treehugger.com/solar-technology/leaf-mimicking-solar-cell-generates-47-more-electricity.html.
Jaymi Heimbuch. 2011. “Creating The World’s Strongest Artificial Muscles With Biomimicry.” TreeHugger. http://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/creating-the-worlds-strongest-artificial-muscles-with-biomimicry.html.
Christine Lepisto. 2012. “Breakthrough Rivals Speed of Natural Photosynthesis, Sets Solar Energy World Record.” TreeHugger, April 15. http://www.treehugger.com/biomimicry/breakthrough-rivals-speed-natural-photosynthesis-could-revolutionize-solar-energy.html.
Kimberley Mok. 2012. “Zero-Carbon Skyscraper of the Future Biomimics Flowers (Photos).” TreeHugger, March 1. http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/fibrous-tower-taiwan-skyscraper-soma.html
.

Quote:
Maybe you could train a monkey to do shop work, or assembly

Probably not, monkeys don't have humans' exceptional sense of mass or fine motor control. Great apes can be taught to make stone tools, but I doubt they could do anything useful in an industrial machine shop.

Don't ask me why I'm being serious right now, I did it just for me.

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Exoth XIII
Oh yeah? This'll be amusing.
Who designs 'em?
Go on. Who designed the F14 Tomcat before my grandfather's engineering team designed it? This oughta be cute.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics-Grumman_F-111B
Suicide Soldier is a tard but if you don't base your new designs on knowledge gained from previous ones then you're a stupid jackass.

I didn't say it didn't utilize knowledge gained from previous designs. Suicides' under the impression that engineers do all of their designing by cribbing an entire design, then making a change or two, without actually understanding the concepts of the original design in the first place. He believes it's possible to become an engineer, in modern times no less, without college or previous experience.
He furthermore has asserted that a trained chimpanzee is capable of working as an engineer.
PLEASE keep up with the conversation.
Quote:

Quote:
Only if you're low on the totem pole, and working on a classified project. (There will be some senior engineers looking at the whole, or at least large chunks, of the project, to make sure all the parts work together for what they want.)

And only if what you want to do is profitable, regardless of its inferiority to unprofitable designs.

Granted. The more profitable a design promises to be, the more engineers the company can afford to pay to work on it.
Quote:

Quote:
Yes, ok, that's ALMOST a point, there. The problem is, while it might not be beneficial to the company you work for, it is certainly beneficial to you. Competence in multiple fields gives you versatility. If, say, your specific job market went south for some reason, you might not be out of the job.

A mechanical engineer who's had a lot of electronics experience can do the job of a low level electronic engineer. One who's had lots of thermodynamics experience could go, if necessary, from designing crumple zones on cars, to designing a part of the engine.

More importantly, being exposed to knowledge outside of your field is how new ideas are created. If all you study is mechanical engineering, you're probably not going to have very interesting ideas.
E.g. biomimetic design:
Megan Treacy. 2012. “Leaf-Mimicking Solar Cells Generate 47% More Electricity.” TreeHugger, April 30. http://www.treehugger.com/solar-technology/leaf-mimicking-solar-cell-generates-47-more-electricity.html.
Jaymi Heimbuch. 2011. “Creating The World’s Strongest Artificial Muscles With Biomimicry.” TreeHugger. http://www.treehugger.com/gadgets/creating-the-worlds-strongest-artificial-muscles-with-biomimicry.html.
Christine Lepisto. 2012. “Breakthrough Rivals Speed of Natural Photosynthesis, Sets Solar Energy World Record.” TreeHugger, April 15. http://www.treehugger.com/biomimicry/breakthrough-rivals-speed-natural-photosynthesis-could-revolutionize-solar-energy.html.
Kimberley Mok. 2012. “Zero-Carbon Skyscraper of the Future Biomimics Flowers (Photos).” TreeHugger, March 1. http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/fibrous-tower-taiwan-skyscraper-soma.html
.

Yes, the medici effect.
Quote:

Quote:
Maybe you could train a monkey to do shop work, or assembly

Probably not, monkeys don't have humans' exceptional sense of mass or fine motor control. Great apes can be taught to make stone tools, but I doubt they could do anything useful in an industrial machine shop.

Shush, I'm humoring him.

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