Engineers are often taught some degree of project management in school. Beyond the cynical reasons for offering/requiring this stuff, there are a few possible b

Engineers are often taught some degree of project management in school. Beyond the cynical reasons for offering/requiring this stuff, there are a few possible benefits: a) Engineering school normally requires some degree of (relatively) long-term project work (like a final year project) where some aspects of project management is useful b) Even in a work environment, it's often useful to understand whats going on (note, not expert) on at least a level above and below you. c) Understanding signs of project mismanagement is useful in itself so you can run away d) A lot of traditional engineers will walk a career path that will transition them to something akin to project management. Having some background is useful (but not sufficient obviously). e) In a sufficiently small environment (think startup) your engineers are often dual hatted into project management to some degree.