We aren't discussing whether a given engineer would still view themselves as being smart. We're discussing how it feels to be at the very top of your field and

We aren't discussing whether a given engineer would still view themselves as being smart. We're discussing how it feels to be at the very top of your field and then falling behind. Even if you are higher after the fall than you were before your rise, it will be very painful. I know more than one person who met with tragedy as a result of this. By their own standards of just a few years prior, they were doing amazingly well still. But by their new standards, inflated due to rapid success, they were doing terribly. One person took his life as a result.