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The observation re: engineers who never set foot in a machine shop is actually a real problem in industry, and a common cause of antagonism between engineers an
by zxcmx 6y ago
The observation re: engineers who never set foot in a machine shop is actually a real problem in industry, and a common cause of antagonism between engineers and the victims of their designs and drawings: machinists and fabricators.
There's a huge class divide in engineering between designing the the thing and making the thing, despite the fact that the two activities might require equal skill in different ways, or that sometimes making a thing to spec might be harder than doing the design work.
The best engineers have mechanical and process sympathy.
- ghaff 6y agoAnd, ironically, the better the school the more theoretically focused the curriculum tends to be. That said, I did take a manufacturing processes course (basically machine shop plus some related theory) undergrad and I did have project-based classes that involved actually designing and building things.
- Nasrudith 6y agoI think part of the reason is better schools are more selective and assume better students that will be able to pick up the shifting practice easier while the theory may last a lifetime for them. Needless to say the assumptions may not always hold.