I no longer build software; I now make furniture out of wood.
this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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A large faction of engineers, especially software-type engineers, have these types of hobbies.
I'm sitting here right beside the heirloom quality (compared to most furniture) coffee table I made in my garage with my nearly complete wood shop.
I make stuff in two ways in my day job. I design something and someone else makes it, or it's just some idea as software.
Engineers are a type. We're just wired differently from most other people.
So. Many. DIYer/maker/woodworker/machinist/car mechanic/etc. Youtubers are former engineers, especially software engineers.
Agreed.
I might also argue that those people are all still engineers.
Engineer just means "problem solver". Everyone gets paid for solving problems.
The real question in my head is how far does this go?
Sometimes the problem is that these burgers need flipping. Protein disk translocation engineers? I'm cool with that.
I'd argue that engineering, like science, is a mindset. If science asks "what" things are, engineering asks "how" to do things
A more standard definition in my tenure in academia is that scientists solve problems because they want to know the answer. Engineers solve problems because they want the problem to be solved.
In any case, the difference is just, heh, academic.
I'm very much the latter.