Recognition for Engineers?

Did you get that link right? I don't see anything relevant.

The link takes you to a page with an assortment of video thumbnails to select from, a few are "Thank the engineers".

All I can say is Umm Ahh. Does this really help us? There's a reason why I don't tell jokes, I fail miserably. It's not solely an Engineering trait, for I've met some hilarious Engineers. But the two videos I watched seem to be more stupid than ego boosting.

Well different people have different senses of humour....

Especially from country to country I guess....

Humour is very personal. I may have not been in the correct mood or just lucked into two of the bad ones. But, I do give TI a lot of credit for doing something to boost our esteem.

Thanks EM ... a good laugh, but also reminded me ...

When I was in high-school (and as my kids went through high-school), there was never recognition for the scholars or those in the 'chess club' (or art class, for that matter). Only jocks get the recognition. Sadly, its no different today. CNN is filled with bad news and sports news, but never a mention of some interesting breakthrough or innovation UNLESS it leads to some catastrophe.

The 'stuff' we create just becomes 'stuff', and folks just want to go to the market and buy it. The frequent "how cool is that" does come, but never to the person or team or company who made it happen. I don't think this will ever change.

But, are we much different? I don't think so. We never remember the IT guy for what works, only for what is broken, even if it's because we spilled our coffee on it.

Ahhh, but it really doesn't matter. My 'points' and 'strokes' come from the creative process, and (thankfully) not from cheering crowds.

That's probably why I watch Discovery Channel instead of CNN. At least then I have some idea of who is doing what ... that is of interest to me.

Kind regards ...

Agreed DCaD, but slipping Joe public a reminder of where these innovative ideas come from surely can't be a bad thing can it?

Not a bad thing at all ... I do it to my boss every chance I get :-)

No. They'd just laugh at it, like the meerkat adverts.

Okay, but the basic principle of informing the population of what things were like before innovative ideas from engineers changed things. Maybe would be a gentle reminder perhaps?

I think a lot of people just accept that new devices, smaller, cheaper and with more functions, just appear from thin air or from China!!

Okay then Guest...... how would you improve the engineer's task in today's world???

Its not just salaries and its not because things were different 'back then'.... So what's wrong with trying to change Joe Publics recognician of engineerins folk???

This is awesome.

If not shown on national TV, at least shared on corporate networks for managers to appreciate.

Thanking an engineer may help them remove the sense of "doing a good job around here is like peeing in a wet suit...you get a warm feeling, but nobody notices".

Hey, let's start a home grown video "Thank an engineer" contest

I just love the idea.....

I tried it a few years back when I made a design for something..... the video I made , to me was quite funny as well as being instructive of what the machine could do....

But so many people thought it was (weird) or something for me to try to sell let alone publish a video of it.....

do you want to see the video?????? ;-)

Yes

NO

Zzzzzzzz ... We can say all we want about humour being different from country to country, but US and Canadian are pretty much in sync; and this Canadian engineer says that the 'Thank an engineer' are on the lame side.

For me, the gold standard in techno-humour is the opening scene of a Simpsons episode from waaay back when ... the one where a fellow wakes up from a nightmare in which zinc (the element) has ceased to exist because he wished it away. Simply hilarious ... ('Ziiiinc, come baaaack!').

'A modest man who has much to be modest about' (Winston Churchill, of Clement Attlee)

I think the rot started when engineers no longer owned or had huge influence over the things they designed - I'm thinking Brunel and Telford. There was a resurgence during the space race - but once the moon shots ceased, interest dropped, or rather swung towards the nascent IT industry. From there it has refocused on the entertainment industry - that which is carried by the technology rather than the technology itself. Technology has become transparent.

Perhaps a better theme would be "What would happened of the technology failed?" I know there have been various disaster films/books about this over the years - so it's time for one with an engineer as the hero. Can he figure out that complex intergral in time ???? Edge of the seat stuff

PS Those video clips won't display for me either.