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DanMarotta12-Amethyst
12-Amethyst
December 15, 2010
Question

Things not to say to an engineer

  • December 15, 2010
  • 35 replies
  • 32351 views

If you work in an office, you are no doubt subject to office cliches. The movie Office Space immediately comes to mind.

OfficeSpace.png

As an engineer, are there things that are said that especially irks you?

"Can you make this tiny tweak?"

"What would it look like if we added this?"

"Can we take this offline?"

"Someone has a case of the Monday's."

These are just a few of my guesses. I'm not a design engineer, so I would love to hear your perspective.


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    35 replies

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    BettinaGiemsa5-Regular Member
    5-Regular Member
    January 3, 2011

    All, this is a great thread and it inspired my latest blog post. I guess Fire Drill is among the things you don't like to hear too much...

    http://communities.ptc.com/blogs/hello_cad/2011/01/03/fire-drill

    Looking forward to your comments!

    Bettina

    C
    chris51-Visitor
    1-Visitor
    January 23, 2011

    Hi

    I have another one.

    "Can you set up a meeting with those guys?"

    Whith usually means you have to drawn everything all over again because those "guys" know something no-one ever mentioned before.

    Regards

    Chris

      D
      DanMarotta12-AmethystAuthor
      12-Amethyst
      January 24, 2011

      It's great these keep rolling in.

      Going off the responses, engineers must have traits like

      • the ability to be flexible
      • a great deal of patience
      • work quickly and efficiently

      -Dan

        J
        JoshH1-Visitor
        1-Visitor
        January 25, 2011

        You're very kind Dan!

        I think some of us just love a challenge

        N
        NikosKaminakis1-Visitor
        1-Visitor
        January 25, 2011

        Boss: We have to do some light modifications. Customers specs.

        Engineer: But this is completely different to that we had already done and test. We are at the end.

        Boss: "DONT FIGHT THE DATA"

          D
          DanMarotta12-AmethystAuthor
          12-Amethyst
          January 25, 2011

          Nikos, I guess the customers always right?

          G
          GrahameWard1-Visitor
          1-Visitor
          February 7, 2011

          Me: I've looked at it from every possible angle.

          Them: How about if you move this over here?
          Me: Grrrrrrr...............

          ____________________________________________

          "Can't you make it a bit smaller?"

          ____________________________________________

          "I think we should discard the mods you stayed back until 10 pm to do, and revert to the version we had at 5 pm, which was the time I went home for the day."

            P
            ptc-41318181-Visitor
            1-Visitor
            December 15, 2011

            Are you busy?

              B
              BrianMartin13-Aquamarine
              13-Aquamarine
              December 15, 2011

              Yeah "Are you busy" goes right along with... "Do you have a minute?" This usually means you'll be held up for at least an hour.

              Personally I hear "are you busy" and "do you have a minute" every single day. It usually spells trouble.

                D
                DalbeerSinghSoh1-Visitor
                1-Visitor
                December 16, 2011

                "move a littel bit" or "give slight thikness to it" ..... (everyday day)

                at the end of the day, keep it as it was earlier....

                  D
                  DavorGranic16-Pearl
                  16-Pearl
                  December 16, 2011

                  The one that tops it off for me is:

                  "I know we didnt mention it but we thought it was understood"

                    P
                    ptc-38509051-Visitor
                    1-Visitor
                    December 22, 2011

                    What does your schedule look like over the holidays?

                      T
                      TongQuan1-Visitor
                      1-Visitor
                      January 6, 2012

                      -- This is the information that I was given.

                      -- I'm as in the dark as you are.

                      Boss saids for a new project with no new resources

                        S
                        sshannon1-Visitor
                        1-Visitor
                        January 12, 2012

                        "Why did you put that there?"

                        (Then I pull out my CYA notes that was signed and dated by the person asking the question.)

                          B
                          BrianMartin13-Aquamarine
                          13-Aquamarine
                          January 12, 2012

                          "Can't you just..."

                          Those three words spell DOOM for most engineers and designers I know.

                          As in:

                          "Can't you just move everything back to the way it was?"

                          "Can't you just hit a button on that fancy CAD system and fix that part?"

                          Ugh!

                          H
                          hlines1-Visitor
                          1-Visitor
                          May 29, 2012

                          That goes along with the old proverb that "Everything is easy for the man who doesn't have to do it himself."

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